Taking Flight
Wine Trends That Will Matter in 2007

This year on-premise should be all about expanding your wine selection and making every wine available in as many formats as possible. Every wine should be offered by the taste, by the glass and by the bottle.

Flights Take Off
    This will be the year that wine flights finally take flight en masse. Your customers want to be entertained, and there is nothing more entertaining for a wine consumer than to be able to build his own flight of wines for sampling. It’s easy to participate in this amazing trend, and here is how to get started:
• Determine which wines are the best sellers at your venue.   
• Source additional great values in wines that would sell for $6 to $16 per glass.
• Decide if you want to offer set flights of wines or let the customer decide.
• Produce your wine tasting placemats.
• Decide how you want to transport the wines to the table.
• Decide if the wines are to be poured by the bartender or at the table by the server.
• Tell the world.

Determine What Sells Best
    First, determine which wines you presently stock are your best sellers. Involve everyone associated with your wine service with what sells best and why. Now ask yourself if these are the best examples of these types of wines available in your market(s) in terms of brand recognition, quality and value. Have you chosen your wines based on these attributes or for other reasons, such as personal preferences, personal relationships with certain suppliers or lowest pricing? Now, re-evaluate these selections in view of the criteria suggested and consider this your core list.

Source New Values From Everywhere
    Okay, now let’s improve that core wine list. You need to become one mean, competitive wine destination. The new world wines have been going strong. So, stock up on the best wines you can afford from the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States (California and Oregon).
    At the same time the old world has been working overtime to catch up, so we can’t overlook the best values from France, Italy and Spain.
    Try to select the most popular red and white varietals from each country; the ones for which each country is best known. So, you would want to source Gran Malbec from Argentina; Pinotage or Cape Blends from South Africa; Shiraz from Australia; Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand and South Africa; Pinot Noir from New Zealand, California, Oregon and France; Bordeaux blends from France, as well as just about everywhere (in California, Bordeaux blends are referred to as Meritage); Pinot Grigio from Italy and cavas (some of the best sparkling wine values in the world) from Spain.
    Most restaurants offer their most popular values in the $6 to $16 price range, although of course, depending on your customer base, your positioning and your competition, your range may start at $5 and go to $10 or start at $9 and go to $19 (or more). If you are offering great quality along with exceptional value, don’t be afraid to charge for it. 

Who Decides the Wine Flights
    The first question that must be answered is who decides the wine flights — the management or the customers or both. Some bars and restaurants simply let their customers create their own customized flights of any three wines on the list, two ounces each.
    But if you go this route, it is important to code your wines by price tier so that the price you establish for each flight is an average of the wines in that tier or some formula that protects your profitability. Depending on the size of your wine list, you may have two tiers, three tiers or even four or five tiers. Flights can be organized by varietal — i.e., Chardonnays, Sauvignon Blancs, Cabernet Sauvignons, Merlots — or by region, type, color or any other common denominator.

Wine Tasting Placemats
    A big part of the success of any wine sampling program is the quality and creativity of the wine placemats. It is imperative that both the customers AND the servers know which wine is which, and, trust me, once the three sample glasses are on the table without a placemat identifying each one, it is only too easy for the server to lose concentration and become confused as to which is which. And if the server is confused, you know the guest will be confused.
    I suggest you center from left to right across the placemat three circles that exactly fit the base of your wine glasses; then centered below the circles should be the name of the flight, then below center the name of each wine with the appellation and vintage in relation to one of the circles, along with your logo and bar or restaurant name in living color centered below each wine.
    Then allow a space below the logos and indicate the grape variety, followed by a two- or three-line wine description and a few blank lines for tasting notes.

Tell the World
    Okay, so now you have designed and implemented the ultimate wine flights program on the planet. Get the word out every which way. You’ve now incorporated one of the hottest trends in wines by the glass, and your wine sales and customer wine appreciation are about to go through the roof. Provide a meaningful incentive for every server to embrace the tasting program, so that everyone in the bar or restaurant, whether they be customers or staff share equally in their excitement over the new possibilities.            NCB

Fred Tibbitts Jr. is president and CEO of Fred Tibbitts & Associates, a global national accounts agency developing beer, wine and spirits programs for chain hotels and restaurant organizations around the world. Visit him online at www.fredtibbitts.com.