Trip West gains "biggest purchase ever" for LCB

Another buying trip down; more than 100,000 cases of largely Chairman’s Selection wine on its way to Pennsylvania between now and the end of the year.

Tony Jones, the chief of product management and pricing division for the state’s Liquor Control Board, said by phone earlier this week that it was the largest purchase that he and director of marketing Jim Short have ever made on one of these trips out West. They make two a year: one in June and another one in January.

But it wasn’t the trip per se that made this newsworthy. They were accompanied a couple of weeks ago by consultants from several of the state’s premium collection stores: Patty Meckley (my wine guru from the East Market Street store in York), Robert Skelly from the Pittsburgh area and Rian Poltrone from the east region, basically the area in and around Philly. It’s the first time that they’ve brought along the consultants, and this first trip was so successful that Jones said they’re going to be accompanied by a new group of consultants every time they head to California.

“They were definitely an asset on the trip,” Jones said. “Myself and Jim, we know what sells in stores, but to hear them kind of reinforce that; when we can turn to them and say, ‘Can you sell this?’ and all three nod their heads yes, that instantly certifies what our thoughts are.”

They spent the first three days in Napa, welcoming around 25 suppliers that represented more than 100 wineries. Jones then took them through Paso Robles and Napa and Santa Rita Hills to other wineries. If he’d change anything for next time it might be the route, perhaps setting up shop in Paso Robles and welcoming suppliers before heading to Napa and possibly to Lodi and Monterey. “Down there,” he said of Paso Robles, “we ran across some real good wineries and got a lot of real good insight into that region. So I think there’s a lot of opportunity for us there in the future.

Jones said they tasted wines from just about all the world’s major producers. “I would say about 40 percent of those cases are being ordered now, and then the reminder will be ordered in August, which will put them in stores for the October, November and December holiday season.” He said about 80 percent of the brands are recognizable. “We had a couple of brands that may be a little more obscure.”

Many of those will show up at what are called Chairman’s Selections luncheons for the store specialists in mid-August, one in Harrisburg and another the next day in Philly. “We’ll have about 20 or 30 of the wines and they’ll get to sample them, see what is coming into the stores that can help them with the sell-through. It’s something we always do after every trip.” Jones said the trio who headed to California will be invited. “At these two events, I’m going to ask them to stand up and just share their experience with everybody that’s there. And then that way hopefully their enthusiasm will kind of rub of on everybody else, get people motivated to sell these wines that come in.”

Hopefully no one will ask for every details of the tastings; Jones said they “had to suffer through” about 450 wines to come up with those 162. It gets a little laborious,” he said, the emphasis on “a little.” And his one piece of advice for the next crew that heads out? “You also learn to wear dark shirts when you go on these trips,” he said. “Wine splash back and all that kind of stuff.”