plonk's posterous

The trials and tribulations of creating a wine label

Plonk wine pics for the plonk.com website

Just wanted to share the good fortune in having my future wife, Jane Crites, be an amazing artist.  We just purchased adobe illustrator CS4 and a Wacom Graphics tablet so that she could learn how to create original images for the plonk.com website.  She has just gotten started but is already creating some great stuff.  Here are 4 wine bottles and a drawing of me.  I think at my age, drawings of me look a lot better than real life pictures so I love this idea. 

Anyone have any favorites they would like to vote on?

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Plonk wine, Missoula and a 1970 Grands Echezeaux

A quick recap of my wine selling trip to Missoula, MT.  First of all, if you've never been to Missoula, you're missing out.  It is an unbelievably well kept secret.  The town is about as cool as you'll find and the wine scene here is much more sophisticated than you would ever imagine.

Anyway, my distributor, Kurt Winegardner and his rep for that market, Lacey Capps, were kind enough to escort me around to various places and introduce me to some of the local wine hot shots.  Places of note:
  • Scotty's Table http://scottystable.net/  Beautiful restaurant located next to the river in an immaculately restored building.  One of the owners, Katie Gill, was gracious enough to taste with us even though she's pregnant, don't worry, she didn't swallow.  I think they will be adding plonk to their list and I couldn't be more excited.
  • Liquid Planet  http://www.liquidplanet.com/   Killer wine shop, great design and super selection.  The wine buyer, Heather Thuesen, was super busy but still gracious enough to take a few bottles to get started.  I would typically prefer my wine to be in restaurants and wine bars to start but this place is a perfect complement to cool wine spots in this town.
  • Red Bird Restaurant and Wine Bar  http://www.redbirdrestaurant.com/  This place was the big surprise of the day.  This place is somewhat legendary in Montana and everyone I spoke to before going to Missoula said, "you have to be in Red Bird".  Lots of pressure but I was willing to give it a try.  We entered through the kitchen and as we were making our way to the bar I noticed a young woman whom I thought I recognized.  I pointed at her, she pointed at me and sure enough we had worked together in Yellowstone National Park back in the mid 90s.  Her husband, who is also a part-time server at the restaurant, is an old compatriot from Texas.  His name is Tom Catmull (http://www.tomcatmull.com) we had also worked together in Yellowstone.  I then meet the wine buyer and it's someone who used to sell me wine at my old wine bar.  To make a long story just a bit shorter, I ended up knowing almost everyone there.  Small world story.  I had such a good time with those guys that we went back for dinner and brought a bottle 1970 Grands Echezeaux from Domaine de la Romanee Conti, courtesy of Kurt Winegardner.  We shared it with the owner, Laura Waters and the rest of her staff.  The wine turned out to be a magical Pinot, only the way old Burgundies can be, and the night was a blast.  Best of all, they said they would pick up my wine.
Great trip, great town, great people.  Try it some time.

Cheers

MW

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A word about the business of Wine Tasting - Taste like it's your job

Now that I'm getting in to the routine of going out to meet with potential buyers of 'plonk', and when I say buyers I mean store or restaurant owners, I'm reminded of a rule that I always had when I was buying wine for my restaurant/retail shop - no matter what I was doing or how busy I was, I always took the time to meet with those who came to see me and taste their wine.

To me, the main role of anyone closely associated with the wine program of a store or restaurant is to know every wine.  Don't rely on someone else's ratings or recommendations.  If you do that, there is nothing unique about your business and you will be shopped on price alone.

The other reason to always taste is an old school rule - to be courteous.  Wine distributors do an unbelievable service for restaurants and wine shops by continually showing them the latest wines from all over the world.  And when I say show, I mean bring open bottles of wine directly in to their place of business for the purpose of tasting.  All the owner has to do is sit, taste and decide if that wine will make it on to their list or shelf.  That is 1/20th of the work involved for the Distributor to have their employee there with open wines and, from time to time, someone like me who is associated with the winery.

Now I understand that Restaurant/Shop owners are busy people and wine reps can be like annoying insects always buzzing around looking for more business.  Try to think of them as honeybees helping you be the best at your business as opposed to mosquitos trying to suck the blood from your body.

One last HUGE pointer.  Just because you're buying wine today doesn't mean you won't be selling wine tomorrow and the wine world is very, very small and people always remember someone who was not nice.

Cheers

MW

 

 

Wine Library TV and Plonk

Well, I just received an e-mail from Gary V from Wine Library TV.  I met him at Blog World Expo in Las Vegas and I told him about starting this wine label.  He seemed genuinely interested and asked me to send him some wine.  He said that he would put it on his show. 

I sent him the wine as well as an email and he was somehow able to respond within 1 day.  The guy must get thousands of e-mails a day so I was humbled at his quick response.  I have my fingers crossed that my wine will get a stellar review from Mr Vaynerchuk.  It would make my year and make finding distributors for my wine much easier.

I hope the Jets win the night before he decides to review 'plonk'.  

Cheers

MW

State by State Distribution Issues

We're just starting to work with a broker in Wyoming.  We would love to blanket Jackson Hole with Plonk wine.  It's in our back yard and it has a lot of exposure to people from all over the country.

But whoa, the distribution rules are head spinning.  The states where the state runs the distribution seem almost communist.  Anyone out there with some good info on this?

Cheers

MW