The Wine Importer

Off to Maryland and DC to Meet Important Wine Buyers!
I'm off early tomorrow morning to meet with Maryland retailers on Monday, followed by several appointments in Washington, DC. We in the wine trade call this ritual the work-with.

The work-with consists of me being in a salesperson's car for hours on end and hearing their life story in-between appointments with wine buyers. Every so often I interject a detail of my life, but the salesperson is totally uninterested. And who can blame them!

I always try to pump the salesperson for juicy gossip about their company. Usually, they are forthcoming. I also enjoy hearing all about their marital and love problems and am quick to dispense sage advise. I've been happily married for many years and am one of the oldest men in the wine trade, so the salespeople are keen to learn life's valuable lessons from me.

One of my most enjoyable work-withs was years ago in DC. I was trapped in the car of a young saleswoman who was new to the trade. She knew nothing about wine and told me that she didn't find it necessary to learn, because she knew how to sell product. Her view was that she could always do work-withs with people like me who were "wine knowledgeable" and use their knowledge and her sales powers to write big orders.

The week before, I had happened to buy a new cell phone with a built-in camera and was fascinated with this new technology. During my all-too-brief time with the saleswoman, I took many pictures of her, her clients and people on the streets. At the time, T-Mobile had an unlimited free photos by e-mail policy and I sent these photos all over the world.

After several hours of doing this, I told her how I shared the ancient American Indian belief that you were robbing someone's soul when you took a picture of them. She was outraged and furious and told me she found it detestable and reprehensible that I had just spend several hours robbing her of her soul. I offerered and she insisted that I delete all the photos I had taken. I was sad to hear last year that this talented saleswoman was no longer in the wine industry but was off selling some other product.

This Monday and Tuesday I am going to be with salespeople I actually like. This will make the days even longer and I am likely to fall asleep as soon as they close the doors to their cars.

It's always exciting to go to the nation's capital and its surrounding areas. Even if it means catching the Amtrak at 7:00 am to get there. Those of us in the wine industry never forget that the work-with originated years ago in the DC/Baltimore area. I believe the first work-with was during the Eisenhower years, after Ike starting building all those beautiful interstate highways which paved the way for urban sprawl, shopping centers and a McDonalds at every street corner.

There are several important things for this week's customers to remember when dealing with me and the wines I will be bringing around. If we follow these easy steps, everyone will get along and we will be very happy to do business together.

They are:

Don't tell me how much wine Robert Parker buys from you.
Don't tell me how you started Pierre Antoine Rovani in the wine trade.
Don't tell me that I don't look like I'm 64-years-old.
Don't tell me how you love carrying our wines because no one else does and you can take a larger mark-up.
Don't tell me dirty jokes..
Don't take out those little dixie cups to taste wine and tell me how you taste all the wines in the little dixie cups ensuring that all the wines are tasted on a level playing field.
Don't tell me how much you loved the wine you just tasted but that its a hand sell.
Don't tell me how much much you loved the wine you just tasted but how you just bought a container from the same AOC direct, even though it is nowhere near as good, and have cut out all the intermediaries.
Don't tell me how you loved the wine you just tasted but that your Christmas catalog just went to press and I should have seen you two months ago with wines that weren't bottled then.
Don't tell me how you are close friends with Jeff Viera from K&L Wines in California!
Don't tell me how Washington is every bit as exciting as New York City plus you can find parking for your car.
Don't tell me how you attended high school with Bobby Kacher and buy all your wine from him.

I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow and Tuesday.

return to: Joe Dressner The Wine Importer

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