Building a Wine Business - continued

Wine Bar Thriving

"We have an on-premise license at the Montgomery store, which houses a bar area where we also feature live music, light foods and wine. People hang out but it's not a 'night scene,' since we close at 10 p.m.," Giannangeli said. A highly democratic bar, customers can buy any bottle they choose from the store at retail price and pay a $5 corkage fee to sit and sip at the bar. Guests can order antipasti plates of salami, cheese, pate, olives and a variety of cold foods. Giannangeli is currently trying something new by teaming up with a local Argentinean bakery to make empanadas for the bar. About eight to twelve wines are available by the glass. "We partly base our choice of wines on the weather and the season, and we'll try and relate it to our topic of the month. We always try to vary the offerings, from something light to something big and brawny."

The Maryland store features a wine bar that serves light foods and wine, which customers can purchase at retail and pay a $5 corkage fee to consume on-premise. The store also occasionally features live music and "singles" nights.

Casting the spotlight on a different grape or region, finewine.com focuses on a new topic each month. Whether it's California, Spain, Pinot Noir or Oregon, there are several focused articles in their newsletter and online, and topic of the month wines also go on sale. All combined, it gets the customers to try new wines. Every year, the special monthly wine sales are punctuated with one storewide sale, in September, to celebrate their anniversary.

Paying Attention To Detail

It's the little touches that make a wine store special, and finewine.com pays attention to detail. Customers can print up tasting notes from kiosks situated throughout the store for any bottle of wine. Another computer benefit allows customers to keep track of all their purchases, from case purchases and deliveries to single bottle buys. "It has proven to be really helpful, and it means they don't have to peel the labels off bottles anymore," Giannangeli chuckled. She added, "The history profiles are also useful for gifts when a customer isn't quite sure what to get someone else. If that person shops here we can just pull up their history and make a recommendation based on their purchasing choices."

The 12 full-time and up to 20 part-time members on the staff are valued and encouraged to excel. "We have a great and interesting staff. With a relatively small company like us, everyone gets to be very hands on and try different things."

The website was developed so that anyone without an IT background could handle it, and staff members are able to update and offer their input when it comes to content. Even more of a rarity occurs behind the scenes: staff has a say in buying. Giannangeli stated, "We have specialists in different wine regions and they should have a say in what we buy. There's usually so much ego in this business, but we really are into empowering our staff."

Giannangeli says that sales were up dramatically last year and that this year looks to be even more of a hike. She added, "We have managed to increase sales every year since we've been open, whereas most businesses have experienced dips in sales." Their success in drawing customers has little to do with advertising because, save for the occasional holiday seasonal ad, they don't place commercials. "Our newsletter is our biggest advertisement. We also do a lot of private functions and cooperative events -- that ends up being advertising in itself."

The newsletter reaches a stunning 18,000 addresses via e-mail, twice a month. They also produce a dry-print, which they run six times a year. The snail mail newsletter usually focuses on the topic of the month, seasonal wines, such as heavy reds in winter and lively whites in the summer, hot topics in the press, along with wine tasting notes, rated wines and information on special events and sales at the stores. The e-letter tends to focus on monthly themed sales, such as a recent All-American wine sale and a Washington Post sale, along with information on who's pouring what and when for the many festivals and events that finewine.com hosts.

Web Site An Invaluable Tool

Their website is an invaluable source of information that lists the inventory for both stores along with the option to order online, although Giannangeli said, "Most shoppers still prefer to purchase wine in person. We mostly use the Internet as a tool for customers to find us. A lot of people like to research online." The site also has features on hard-to-find and cult wines, which Giannangeli says appeals to the demographic of shoppers at the Virginia store. There are also tips on learning about wine with links to frequently asked questions, types of wines, serving suggestions, how wine is made and a wine glossary. There are restaurant reviews on eateries in several states and different countries, and customers can e-mail the staff a question and expect a response.

It is clear that Cecile and Al Giannangeli's stores aren't just about selling wine but about bringing the community together, having fun and, yes, learning about wine in the process. Cecile puts it this way: "We're unique in the sense that our principle is to sell a lifestyle and not just wine." *

Wine Festivals

Finewine.com offers a wine festival every month at the larger-spaced Maryland store. The festival ordinarily features 12 to 20 different wines, and distributors, importers and winemakers are invited to talk about their products to customers. The event has proven to be so popular that the store has had a problem handling the vast numbers of attendees. Owner Cecile Giannangeli said, "It was drawing too much traffic at one point so I decided to charge a $5 admission fee just to keep the crowds down." These days, the popular gala draws 200 to 350 wine
enthusiasts.

Since 1989, Cecile has been going all out twice a year at the Virginia location, where she rents a tent and sets up in the store parking lot for a free wine festival. They usually have a blues or rock band playing live, and a silent auction to benefit a charity. About 25 wines are offered for sampling from distributors, importers and wineries. Cecile and her staff get to pair the wines with a selection of artisan cheeses and sausages. On average, 200 to 400 people have attended these festivals.

On The Prowl

Always on the lookout for distinct and interesting wares, Cecile Giannangeli travels a fair amount and imports products that have never been available in the U.S. "I love to go to wineries to find unique wines, especially from small family-run producers in California, Oregon, Italy, France, Spain and occasionally from Portugal and Greece. We always seek them out; it literally involves us going there and knocking on doors in search of good wine."

The most exciting venture for her right now is Spain. She said, "It is a very cool place right now; it is probably where Italy was 15 years ago. Areas like Ribera and Priorat are particularly exciting." The search delves into edibles, too. Carrying a selection of cheeses, aged meats, olives and olive oils at both stores, Cecile is on the pry for lesser-known condiments. She noted, "Everyone reaches out for Italian olive oil, but Spain makes some of the most amazing extra virgin oils. We recently discovered olive oil from Priorat that is really delicious." Of course, her passion for sharing amazing products from off the beaten path led her to offer the aromatic huile at her store.