Florida Jim
Florida Jim
While production is the best job I ever had, sales is the worst.
Vendors who take your wine and don’t pay, those who take your wine and then wait for you to come to their market to sell it, vendors who take your wine and do not communicate, vendors who take your wine, sell it and then go belly up before they pay you, and, the many, many vendors who try to play you against your competitors for better pricing, extra wine or any number of other inducements.
Many times I would go to taste with retailers or wholesalers and they would look through me, not speak to me, stand me up on appointments, lie to me, etc.
Production is populated by many good folks; too many snakes and weasels in sales.
Of course, there are the good ones but too few.
One good one was a store on the Maryland/Delaware border called Stateline Liquors. It looks like a bait store from the front but inside it’s a football field of well chosen wine and well chosen spirits.
Every year I’d do a sit-down tasting of 40-50 people, at tables, staff to pour, me moving among the tables and engaging with the participants. I can’t even tell you how much I looked forward to this event. My wife there to fill in my mental blanks, the proprietors there to ask thoughtful questions, the wonderful staff who poured as needed and stayed in the background, and, the folks who came and actually communicated with me. I loved it.
Too many tastings were me pouring for people who didn’t care what the wine was, wanted to bitch because I didn’t have a Cabernet and just wanted to get drunk. So many times I wound up horse trying to talk over their conversation. If thin skin is your emotional state, this biz is not for you.
Still along the way I met people that became friends and people so devoted to great wine that I can only sit back and admire their passion. I tell you true, the older I get, the more important real passion becomes.
I am glad it’s over; all the running and being disappointed and trying to tell your story when no one listens or cares - it will make you tired. But I also miss it; those moments when you make a real connection or even, a friend. Sales is a tough task master.
Vendors who take your wine and don’t pay, those who take your wine and then wait for you to come to their market to sell it, vendors who take your wine and do not communicate, vendors who take your wine, sell it and then go belly up before they pay you, and, the many, many vendors who try to play you against your competitors for better pricing, extra wine or any number of other inducements.
Many times I would go to taste with retailers or wholesalers and they would look through me, not speak to me, stand me up on appointments, lie to me, etc.
Production is populated by many good folks; too many snakes and weasels in sales.
Of course, there are the good ones but too few.
One good one was a store on the Maryland/Delaware border called Stateline Liquors. It looks like a bait store from the front but inside it’s a football field of well chosen wine and well chosen spirits.
Every year I’d do a sit-down tasting of 40-50 people, at tables, staff to pour, me moving among the tables and engaging with the participants. I can’t even tell you how much I looked forward to this event. My wife there to fill in my mental blanks, the proprietors there to ask thoughtful questions, the wonderful staff who poured as needed and stayed in the background, and, the folks who came and actually communicated with me. I loved it.
Too many tastings were me pouring for people who didn’t care what the wine was, wanted to bitch because I didn’t have a Cabernet and just wanted to get drunk. So many times I wound up horse trying to talk over their conversation. If thin skin is your emotional state, this biz is not for you.
Still along the way I met people that became friends and people so devoted to great wine that I can only sit back and admire their passion. I tell you true, the older I get, the more important real passion becomes.
I am glad it’s over; all the running and being disappointed and trying to tell your story when no one listens or cares - it will make you tired. But I also miss it; those moments when you make a real connection or even, a friend. Sales is a tough task master.
