I’ll get this out-of-the-way right away. I am so stoked that the Eagles beat the Patriots that words cannot express how I feel. For all of you that know me, you know I have hated the Patriots since I was in grade school. It has nothing to do with Brady or anyone currently on that team. I’ve just never liked them. Come to find out, my brother confessed that he actually liked Steve Grogan and the Patriots back in the day. It took every ounce of self-control not to throw him out of the house. That aside, it was a very fun Superbowl to watch. The highest offensive yardage total in Superbowl history. Hard to believe, since the Eagles have one of the best defenses in the NFL. At least their defense came through during the Patriots last possession! At least I can watch Sportscenter now without hearing over and over again about how great Brady is. Phew!
I actually had a sales rep tell me that I was weird. He was referring to his inability to nail the wines that I am looking to buy for the store. He brings samples and maybe one out of ten come close to what I am looking for. One thing I think he fails to understand is that I am not looking for wines that I like. I am looking for wines that my customers will like. There are wines out there that I love, but I would be hard pressed to sell them at the store. I have become accustomed to what most of my customers like and I try to please at least 80% of them when I make a purchase. I have a few friends/customers who like different styles of wine that are not in the eighty percentile. I have wines for them as well, but they don’t move out as fast as the others. When my department has three or four of these taking up space, I have to hold back from buying any more until those are gone. I’m talking wine stacks here, not shelf space. My advice to all my reps is to try to learn my philosophy for purchasing and bring me wine that fits into that philosophy. Most of the reps who come to me do an excellent job, but there are still a few who think they can convince me to buy something from them that they are totally stoked about. It doesn’t work that way and it never will.
I noticed quite a few of you watched my interview with Ryan Crane on You Tube.. Ryan is one cool cat and I love his approach to wine making. His wines (Kerloo Cellars) are unique and everyone who I’ve shared them with, loved them. Although they are not in the inexpensive category, they are a tremendous value for what you get. They could demand a higher price tag, but Ryan wants his wines to be accessible to as many as possible. I am going to continue to write about his winery throughout the year. As my 2017 “Winery of the Year”, Kerloo Cellars deserves as much attention as possible. There is more to come, so stay tuned.
Susie and I are getting very excited for our trip to South Africa! Believe it or not, it is only two months away. I have on my itinerary a visit to Indaba Winery, Excelsior, Constantia Glen and Simonsig. I hope to interview a few wine makers and of course will be documenting the trip for my You Tube channel. I will also be writing some articles related to the trip on my two blogs, stanthewineman.com and The Blue Collar Wine Guy. We also plan on taking in all the sites around Cape Town and Franschhoek as well as go on a safari. Susie will visit some of the wineries with me, but I will not ask her to endure all of them. She is very supportive of what I do in the wine world, and I am very supportive of her individuality. Bloody hell, it seems to be working quite nicely!
Cheers!
Stan The Wine Man
