Don's Gillette's Wine Blog
Musings from our store's resident wine guru
Don has over thirty years experience in the wine industry. For the last eighteen years his attention has been focused on the growing local industry. Don has a large following of customers who search out his opinions (never in short supply!) on new releases and on what's currently most distinctive on our shelves. Others seek his insights on wineries and trends that are still under the radar. Read Don's full bio...
Email Don directly with your wine-related questions.
Strategies for Restocking the Larder
Strategies for Restocking the Larder
For wine guys like me, January and February invariably provide a "breather" after a busy holiday season. We use the New Year lull to cleanup the wine store, assess remaining inventory and decide how and when to restock the shelves.
The 2008 holiday season was atypical by any standard, but the same issues still need to be addressed despite a different economic climate. Also, even in the face of an extremely uncertain marketplace, there will be purchasing opportunities that make sense for both the store and its customers.
Our first priority for 2009 was to re-supply the Pinot Noir shelf. On December 1st, 2008, we had over one hundred and fifty Pinots in stock: with multi-case quantities of more than fifty percent of them. This may sound strange, if you have visited our Taylor Street store, as our Pinot rack has facings to accommodate only seventy-two labels.
However, we sell oceans of Pinot, much of it from our backroom. An advantage of never selling a less-than-delicious Pinot, is that customers feel comfortable buying any new one we recommend and regulars learn to ask what else is wonderful, that isn't on the shelf.
As of January 15th or so, our Pinot Noir inventory was down below 75 labels. We had multiple-case quantities of only 7 of them. We had less than 6 bottles of another 35 wines, and were ready to buy.
Finding the Glass Half-Full
As Pinot lovers well know, the finest examples are invariably "small production". Another sad fact (for retailers and those with personal wine cellars) is that the majority of that wine is reserved, at winery insistence, for restaurant use. Retail purchasers must be fleet-of-foot to get such bottles before they evaporate from retail shelves. If the wine ever graced a retail shelf.
The current economic woes hit local restaurants even harder than retailers. That has created an opportunity, as many eateries can't add inventory, regardless of its quality or scarcity. Great wines that we saw only briefly, months ago, are now being released from "restaurant hold", creating a chance to get another bite of a very tasty apple. Some great wines that don't normally see a shelf are becoming (until supplies run out) available.
I have written before that 2007 would provide a plethora of delicious to great Pinots, and even before the recession I predicted that there would be fine bargains. Our strategy now is to buy the best Reserve-level 2006s (as they reappear) to backstop the finest 2007 bargains. It should make for quite a collection. Keep in touch!