November 2011

seeing red part two… vindication

November 30, 2011

Dear hated Winebuyer, Yep, still hate you. HOWEVER, I’m feeling a little better about our relationship as I just heard through the grapevine that you are interviewing for a sales rep position in my territory with a little tiny company that I’m going to call… um what to call it… let’s call it Smothern Wine [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

seeing red

November 29, 2011

Dear Winebuyer, OHMYGAWD I hate you. You are a thorn in my side, you are a joke of a sommelier, and you are ruining a great wine program put in place by your predecessor. You even look as stupid as you are. The phony affectation in your voice makes me want to SCREAM every time [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Open Cattle Call, day 2: another dreaded workwith… from supplier

November 22, 2011

Dear My Work With, Good morning, Work With, thank you for calling me at 10am as we were supposed to meet at 9am for a coffee and talk about the day ahead. No, I’m not the winemaker. It would be ideal if we could have the winemaker travel year round. Yes, I’m just some soulless [...]

13 comments Read the full article →

Open Cattle Call: a few days in the life of a Wine Buyer

November 21, 2011

Dear Wine Rep, A few days in the life of a Wine Buyer… Day 1: Thank you so much of thinking of me, Wine Rep, for this new wine of yours. It sounds awesome! I am familiar with the producer in previous vintages but a huge score from Robert Parker and only $– per bottle, [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Attention Winebuyers! It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

November 21, 2011

… but not if you’re a wine rep. I didn’t even have time to zip up my boots before hitting the streets this morning. Make-up was applied in the car at high speeds. And the iPhone is attached to my ear. I’m actually talking to a buyer on the line right now AS WE SPEAK. [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

if you want a do-right-all-day woman…

November 17, 2011

Dear Winebuyer, We’re friends, right? I mean outside of the whole wine rep/wine buyer relationship thing… before you were a buyer and before I was a rep… we were friends. So off the record, friend to friend, you gotta get this whole professional relationship figured out. Not just with me, with all your reps. I [...]

4 comments Read the full article →

love letter

November 15, 2011

Dear former Winebuyer, I miss you terribly. You were my palate soulmate, my favorite appointment of every week. I would make up excuses to spend more time at your account, did you notice? If you did, you never mentioned it. You always seemed as happy to see me as I was to see you, as [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

The Cattle Call: Dear Winebuyer from Producer

November 11, 2011

As wine reps, we do a lot of the ol’ smile and nod. Every day I listen to a small parade of windbags go on at length about wines and their flaws, the buyers’ likes and dislikes, comparisons to wines from other regions… and many of what is said makes no sense to me, at [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

From the REPublic: can’t we all just get along?

November 4, 2011

The lovely 3-tier system in our country ensures that each little post or submission that’s put up on this site has at least 2 other viewpoints. And we haven’t even dragged the consumer into this whole mess. So let’s see, we got winemakers, supplier sales managers, importers, distributors, territory sales managers, brand managers, sales reps, [...]

8 comments Read the full article →

frankie says relax

November 3, 2011

Dear short-fused Winebuyer, I’m very sorry that your order was entered incorrectly and you received that extra case of allocated wine. I will make sure it’s picked up immediately and delivered to one of my other forty accounts clamoring for that wine, and your invoice will be amended right away. What I don’t appreciate is [...]

0 comments Read the full article →