With the preponderance of wineries in Napa County, it’s a wonder any wine-based retail stores survive—yet they do. Bold contenders open up shop in the midst of a faltering economy, while old standbys do anything but stand still.
In much the same way that wine tasting is a personal affair, so too is today’s retail wine business. It’s a matter of mood, price and preference. Who has the juice and service that speaks most adeptly to the “eager to spend” consumer pool? Downtown Napa’s Bounty Hunter (also a restaurant and wine bar) has been at it for more than 17 years. In that time, circulation for the store catalog has grown from 40,000 to nearly 2.5 million recipients worldwide. Its scouts (also dubbed personal sommeliers, Wine Country advisers and, my favorite, wine gurus) taste between 5,000 and 6,000 wines per year. The shop’s mantra: “If it’s not great, we don’t sell it.” Makes sense, given that price-to-value ratio has never mattered more. While Bounty Hunter paved the road, many others have entered the market since, each forming a niche of its own, and all leaving the highfalutin’ wine attitude of yesteryear in the past—where it belongs.
Two of the more recent entrants, St. Helena’s 750 Wines and Napa’s 1313 Main St., have carved out their own slices of the action. 750 opened in 2009, positioning the retail experience around private, customized tastings and Wine Country concierge services. 1313 Main opened in 2011 and bills itself as a tasting room-cum-restaurant with more than 1,300 wines available for sale through the retail space. Winemaker Wednesdays and the Bubble Bar continue the enticements. Others, like Calistoga’s Wine Garage, St. Helena’s ACME Fine Wines and Napa’s Back Room Wines have been around for almost a decade.
Let me digress to sentiments of yesteryear. While diversification exists between each of these spots, there’s an important tie that binds: personalized service with a smile. Just like Grandpa always preached. Cookie-cutter wine clubs are as abundant as grapes in these parts, but these stores believe one size doesn’t fit all anymore and instead are opting for a customizable approach to retailing that not only acknowledges individual preferences, but caters to them.
750 Wines features anywhere between 160 to 180 different labels, all small case production (averaging 500 cases or less), professing a simple goal: “To be a solid force in the community and to be helpful,” says co-owner, Monica Stevens. In addition to its complimentary private tastings for clients and concierge services, it features an “As you like it” club, which delivers just what you’d expect: a wine club based on customer profiling instead of standardized shipments. Members call the shots on budget, frequency and wine types, with Monica and partner David Stevens, former co-owner of ACME Fine Wines, at the ready with suggestions and sips.
During the retail days of my youth, personal shoppers surfaced for department store giants as one of many ways to distinguish service during highly competitive times. Perhaps the resurgence of personalized shopping as it relates to the wine business is a reflection of our times.
Back Room Wines, open since 2002, built a loyal following by recommending and selling select small production wines from around the world, backed by more of Grandpa’s not-so-secret sauce—stellar service. The shop specializes in rare, hard-to-get, limited productions, without any agenda-pushing. Owner Daniel Dawson is quick to point out that more important than rarity is finding wines his customers will like best, as opposed to ones he might personally favor. Imagine that—purchasing wines we actually like, versus wines we’re told we should like (sorry Parker and Laube, we do have our own opinions sometimes). Back Room has built a communal following for its weekly tastings, serving more of that “try before you buy” concept I love. Community building is evident.
ACME Fine Wines, open since 2003, plays up a different aspect of community. In addition to specializing in rare wines and hosting wine release parties and periodic tastings that attract lots of locals, the shop caters to small-label winemakers. “We find wines before they’re household names,” says proprietor Karen Williams. “There are assistant winemakers who work with their mentors on projects and then decide to make a small batch of their own wine and need a place to start. ACME has become known in the business for helping brands get off the ground. Helping build those small labels from the time they first hit the market.” As with each of the other stores profiled, exemplary service and long-term client relationship building is tantamount. The shop specializes in local, world-class wines rarely found outside of the valley, plus a few special wines beyond the region to keep the local palates piqued.
Similar to Bounty Hunter, though not of the same magnitude, the Wine Garage markets itself as a merchant, negociant and producer, offering its own private label wines in addition to the rest of the store’s primarily California inventory. The model makes sense, given successful small production winemaker/owners are called upon to be not only savvy winemakers, but to be adept at sales, marketing and hospitality to survive—much like the retailers of today are driven to do more than just retailing to compete. The vibe is casual, reinforced as customers pump their own Wine Garage label wine into jugs through the shop’s proprietary “nozzles,” furthering the store’s filling station theme. The Wine Garage sets itself apart from the pack by talking the talk that many want to hear these days—affordability. All wines go for $25 or less, the perfect counter to the ever-inflated prices of wine.
Napa Valley, in my mind, has become most notorious for its abundance. Whether it’s grape vines, tasting rooms or retail wine shops, we have more of something for everyone. Success, however, hinges on the ability to distill that something into distinguishable services and goods that force people to stop clicking and connect.
