Mary’s thread on Obnoxious T/R Behavior was kind of a parallel to the reps we encounter at our retail shop/wine lounge.
At some point in nearly every winery’s life, distribution has to go to a wholesaler out of necessity and efficiency. Once the wholesaler has the wine, control is generally no longer in the hands of the winery. Yes, we hear “Restaurant Only,” “Highly Allocated,” and “If you take 10 cases of swill that sits in floor stacks at every grocery store.” Some of the “major” wholesalers sell more whiskey than wine, and/or maintain numerous “books” within their portfolio, resulting in two, three and even four reps to deal with. The wines get lost in the shuffle. The reps push what inventory the company wants to promote and usually, those wines are not very well represented. Turnover of reps is regular. We have only two reps from the majors that have been our regular reps for eight years. Both know what Carrie is looking for and are helpful in getting product and introducing good new products. (Carrie does the research, tasting and buying, I watch.)
Some of the smaller wholesalers have reps that are very attentive to the details of most of the wine they sell. There are fewer and fewer wineries sending their own reps out, but they seem to be the most knowledgeable.
What about that rep who shows up wearing a half gallon of cheap perfume/cologne and wants to taste you on wine?!!!
Retailers: Are you having rep problems, trouble getting or tasting wines, having what you want held hostage for the purchase of lesser wines? Are you broad ranging in inventory or a niche retailer filling a need in broad market? (We have 18 small to medium retail/online wine shops in Napa County, plus all the wineries, liquor stores and grocery stores.)
Winery owners/ Winemakers: Are you getting feed back from the companies distributing your wine? Do you feel you are being fairly represented? At the end of vintage, are wines showing up in places you didn’t want, (Costco, Bevmo)? Are you winery direct?
We do all of our own sales for the many reasons stated above. It is difficult selling wine from an unkown/unproven place like Humboldt County, much less Syrah. Winemakers sell there own wine better than anyone else can, and I will continue to do it for as long as I can. This also helps to keep our prices down- cutting out the middle middle man. Building and maintaining personal relations with shop owners and restauranteurs is crucial to survival these days.
Randy, this is very interesting. Napa is one of the few places in the country where it is really important to have the winemaker visit the accounts, and not soley the sales person from that winery. You guys are surrounded by winemaker personalities, so to have a winemaker from outside your area really means alot more. Wineries need to plan and spend their time traveling where it’s most effective. In Napa, it’s the winemaker, and their schedules are…well, very difficult to manage!
You are right again. I have had the pleasure of meeting winemakers from Australia, New Zealand and Spain in addition to Washington, Oregon and California who have come by the shop. Its really great when they get here after 5PM, when we change from tasting to drinking.
It has become very clear to me over the 9+ years that I’ve been doing this, what a difference attitude and effort make on the part of the wholesale rep. The good ones have taught me about wine, merchandising, customer contact, purchasing, etc. and I have always tried to repay them by supporting their companies and working with their products. I have met winemakers and vineyard owners and seen so much more than the inside of the store I work in or the label on a bottle I sell. That has made me so much better at what I do and helped me really love my line of work because of the connection I now have to what goes on on the other side of the supply chain. Sharing that with my customers really helps them connect as well, and benefits everyone all around.
I’ve had good reps and bad reps. I’ve had bad reps that have gotten better and good reps that got worse.
I rarely hear “allocated” anymore. Sure, it happens but not even close to what it used to be. I figure that my familiarity with some of the wholesalers and reps, especially the good ones, has helped here. The economy may be “helping” the allocation situation. I think anyone is happy to sell anything to anyone right now. Of course, there are wineries who want their stuff only in certain accounts but that is different.
I have been asked to buy X cases of sludge to get some good stuff but not very often. I really don’t like playing that game. And, usually, if is a good portfolio you can find something of interest to get the case level up.