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ou would have never
known that the rain
was coming down at
the Santa Anita Uncorked
Wine Tasting. In fact, because
of the rain, they moved the
event under the grandstands
right on the track. The food
was incredible, the wines
plentiful, and the horse
racing exhilarating (having
picked winners in the first
two races; skunked from that
point). Seriously, watching
these gorgeous beasts run
with all their might in the
pouring rain was inspiring.
Maybe it was the wine.
Regardless, don’t miss it
next year.
Paul Kalemkiarian
Owner/Cellarmaster
can’t make up my mind. This is really something. Every
Tuesday I have more great wine than I did the previous
Tuesday. Today an Australian wine importer came in.
Most of his wines were really good. In fact, I am taking
one of the samples home for dinner tonight. I said, “Your
prices are really good value for these wines. Why are you
discounting so heavily?” (Understand, my negotiating skills
need improvement.)
He responded, “We have great success with beer in our
company and we have extraordinary success with our
distilled spirits. For some reason (and he named a few that
didn’t make sense to me) we can’t sell wine.” I thought for
a second and agreed that selling wine was much different
than selling the other two products….and I began to think.
When I started my business career at Xerox, one of the
great sales organizations in the country, we were always
being trained on new products that were not part of the
mainstream reprographics side of the company. First they
tried typewriters, trying to unseat the prolific IBM Selectric.
I can tell you the Xerox Memorywriter was years ahead of the
Selectric, and really was an amazing product. I signed the
first multi-unit contract in the country. The whole thing died.
Can you imagine? Then they tried computers. Yes, Xerox
PCs so long ago, it was before DOS. How do you think that
went? Failed.
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks and can’t teach a liquor
rep to sell wine. Wine has to be presented by qualified
people to talk about it, to massage it, to romance it. It annoys
me to no end when a representative doesn’t understand
what they have and what it is all about. For now, I just turn
the other cheek and focus on the wine.
PK
Y
I
What’s
New
This Month?
What’s New?
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Classic Series: Villa de Mese Sangiovese
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Classic Series: Blonde Bombshell White Blend 4
Classic Series: Deer Ridge Syrah
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Classic Series: Pacific Oasis Chardonnay
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Classic Series Earlier Selections
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Cellar Notes
8
Vintners Series: Martin Fierro Malbec
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Vintners Series: Keyways Chardonnay
10
Vintners Series: Sol de Chile Syrah
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Vintners Series: Pinot Grigio Dancing Coyote 12
Vintners Series Earlier Selections
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Facebook
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Limited Series: Thornton Cabernet Sauvignon
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Limited Series: Noster Inicial Grenache/Carignan 16
Limited Series: Wattle Creek Chardonnay
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Limited Series: Jack Hammer Chardonnay
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Limited Series Earlier Selections
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For Members Only
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Gifts & More
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Recipe: Recipe: Lemon and Rosemary Chicken
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Recipe: Recipe: Veal Saltimboca
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Tasting Notes
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The Corkboard
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I N S I D E T H E T A S T I N G R O O M T H I S M O N T H
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MAY 2012