SPLASH DECANT 12/25/17

What worked in 2017 – A Review

Merry, Happy! We are in the home stretch of 2017, so here we go. Fast and dirty-style: What worked in 2017 — some top-line themes and categories.

All views from the street, not the desk.

2017 – What worked?

Retail
I have to start large: I am calling the whole Retail category a winner. It was a good ‘un.
Even in this a super competitive retail landscape with moats forming around states and making out of state shipping an issue, enough people in this city are drinking at home to make Retail really roll. Maybe the customers are drinking to soothe the pain or to save a dime here or there, but either way, the competent retailers who served well made good business happen this year.

Alternative format
I wrote about the alt-format movement earlier this year, and we are still in the middle of a giant crescendo. Millennials aren’t the only members of the alt-format libation nation – it is bigger than anyone can imagine. Cans, Tetra-paks, 40 oz wine that isn’t actually 40 oz., and more, all slaughtered it this year. I see nothing stopping this train in the near future – full speed ahead.

The Sommelier Wine Brand (wines or otherwise)
If you buy mine, I will buy yours.
The Somm Brand was a Gargantuan mover of BTG placements and off of shelves this year. Sommelebrity + Sommpreneur equals #winning.

Alto Piemonte
I love you, Alto Piemonte, for sentimental reasons.
Alto Piemonte is the little engine that could on lists and shelves this year and for my money, still wildly undervalued. AltoP offers vintage depth, spiced, lifted, lesser alcohol Nebbiolo (and Nebbiolo blends) that are just off in the fringe to many of the mainstream buyers on the green. But AltoP isn’t that far off. The upside here is huge, and I am all in. The patient believers in the area win, the bean counters abandon ship…

Somms like us buy things like this
If you were selling wine in 2017 and noticed this phenomenon, you probably moved an extra box or two (or hundreds). The hive mind of buying exists – especially since buyers are obsessed with having all the correct wine answers, at least for now.

Ribeira Sacra
One of the most magical regions in Spain got noticed this year by the Somm crowd – finally. And they like you Ribeira Sacra, they really really like you. The fact that this region has been doing under-the-radar well for years and is now being knighted by the Somm set is worthy of some attention. Who is deciding which regions are now deserving? And does it ultimately matter? There is gold in the answer.

“ Is there any way we as a community can kill the sabering champagne thing once and for all? Asking for a friend, again.

Champagne
Huge year for Champagne in the city. Huge. All types did well, but Growers, in particular, got in the Octagon again and tapped more people out than ever before. The numbers the Big Houses did naturally dwarf the Growers, but the attention these smaller houses achieved was ginormous. Marguet, Laval, Bereche, Savart, Suenen, Pierre Peters, Gimmonet, Filaine, Brochet, Chartogne-Taillet, Dhondt-Grellet…the list goes on. These Champagnes were in all the right places.
Sidenote: Is there any way we as a community can kill the sabering champagne thing once and for all? Asking for a friend, again.

Wine Fairs
So many fairs, so little time. Every wine fair that was relatively well executed was PACKED. How did these cut through the noise of this busy market? It is all about the mission. Clarity in mission won the attention of consumer and industry – and deservedly so.

Agave
Tequila, Mezcal, and basically anything that could be called an agave spirit ran like the wind this year. Even brands that aren’t part of marketing machines had a more than fair chance to win a runner placement. We are working into the cycle of an impending agave shortage right now but I don’t see any slowdown coming, even with an imminent price increase or two.

And the Comeback of the Year is…drumroll…

Orange wine

Anyone remember this article: “Orange wine hits a wall” by Jon Bonné citing the Richard Betts article in Vogue “Why Tecate is Greater than Orange Wine”?

Up to as recently as early last year, I watched Orange wine barely register a heartbeat and then – the resurrection. Orange wine had a very good 2017. Praise poured out from the journalists in mostly annoying, trite articles about Orange wine – and I actually think it worked on the consumer. And, once customers start calling for it, you get a comeback.
Orange wine is back in the big show.

THE REORDER 12/18/17

o’mast – the craft of an artisan salesperson

Over a coffee a few weeks ago, a good friend and wine director gave me a gift. He asked me if I had seen a 2011 released documentary on Neopolitan tailoring called o’mast and recommended I see it as soon as possible. At the time I didn’t realize that this movie was the key to opening my eyes – the playbook of an Artisan Salesperson* on film.

That night, I watched o’mast, and I have been incredibly inspired ever since.
It is filled with older Italian tailors speaking in dialect, stunning sartorial stories and a Jazz soundtrack framed within the beauty of Naples, Italy.

For those that know me, it is not shocking that I loved this movie. But looking beyond the obvious, this movie is about the mastery of a craft. Mastery accomplished through a rigorous and thoughtful quest – and even further, the profound pursuit of what I would call the Artisan Salesperson*. This is a concept I am obsessed with.
I have never seen laid out so clearly what I believe is the absolute best way to sell wine and spirits in NYC today (what I attempt every day, and fail often in the pursuit of). These craftsmen are onto something and if you really listen, the properties of a spectacular, genuine salesperson are woven into the stories these men tell.

Artisan Sales – the starting point

Listen more, talk less
This is where to start, and I don’t mean it as literally as it reads.

Passion
There is no craft you can do without it. Without passion for some elemental aspect of wine or spirits sales, you will wither and/or burn out in a flash.

Don’t say yes all the time.
Sales without tension is boring and dismisses the elemental part of choice that has to be there in any real relationship. Look at the computerized automatic check out line… That is the left turn to meaningless. You don’t want to do that — you need to engage. And the act of saying no sometimes helps.

Imperfection is interesting
One of my heroes, Seth Godin, famously said (and wrote): Perfection is Boring.

Admittedly, I struggle with this, but you don’t have to. Accept that mistakes and imperfection are not only a given but opportunities. They are never the indication of an imminent death or absolute failure. In one of my favorite moments in the movie, one of the tailors says that you need imperfection in a jacket or it is lacking. Exactly.

“ In the craftsmen’s language, O’mast is the man in charge, the master. He is the one that really knows the craft.

Dialogue wins over any product.
If you have a good dialogue with your client, you can have a real conversation. It takes zero dialogue to sell a wine or spirit everyone wants, that requires little to no nuance. Having the real dialogue helps connect customers to things they didn’t know they wanted. It also requires genuine honesty.

Repeat
Again and again and again. “Make,” “practice” or “do” the act of sales so often that the very action requires attention to detail, but no strain. Then, and only then, can you tune your attention towards the people you seek to serve.

The Movie

I would recommend o’mast to anyone who is interested in the qualities of an Artisan Salesperson. Watch it now, there is a free link below. It is all there, you just have to notice it. And if you don’t want to go that deep, no big deal. It is still a beautiful documentary.

Link to: o’mast – the full movie

Artisan Salesperson – A salesperson that is committed to the craft of sales and places practice, service, detail, respect, and honor into every element of the work. The artisan salesperson pursues mastery, with the knowledge that mastery will not be attained.

I am defining this today acknowledging that it must evolve.