bitter wine rep

Just a Teaspoon of Sugar…

February 9, 2012

Dear Winebuyer, Look, you’re really nice… and I can tell you work very hard at trying to be everyone’s friend. But I don’t need you to be my friend. I need you to be my Winebuyer. Every week I bring you a random smattering of wines that have nothing to do with any requests you [...]

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first quarter blues

January 27, 2012

I don’t even know who I want to address this letter to. Dear supplier? No, you’re only part of my problem. Dear Winebuyer? No…. It’s not YOUR fault that it’s the January after a slow fourth quarter. Dear world? No, that’s a little overdramatic. So I suppose this isn’t an actual letter. Just a general [...]

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From the REPublic: Go ahead, make my day

January 11, 2012

I secretly love it when a Winebuyer thinks he or she could do my job better than I. Or when they scamper off to try their hand at winemaking because they “know what sells.” Yes, my job probably does look pretty easy, doesn’t it? I just fill a bag with the hundreds of samples I [...]

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wine rep turned fortune-teller

December 29, 2011

Today I met with a new account opening this week. I’m constantly amazed by how many people wake up one morning and think, “I know! I’ll open a restaurant!” with no other background in the industry. Some have never even waited a table in their life. And yes, I suppose there has to be a [...]

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spreading holiday cheer

December 21, 2011

Every year during this week I fill my wine bag with treats handmade by yours truly for my favorite and/or most supportive Dear Winebuyers and sprinkle my territory with a little holiday cheer. This is the third year I’ve used the winebag to transport said treats, and it still catches my buyers off guard when [...]

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so many shades of pathetic

December 20, 2011

Dear Winebuyer, Please excuse me while I pretend to be impressed. I widen my eyes as you regale me with tales from the previous night’s debauchery and I grimace as if I too can feel the effects of your massive hangover this morning. I even feign empathy as I push the corks back in my [...]

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Bah Humbug.

December 12, 2011

‘Tis the season…

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requests warning, please

December 7, 2011

Dear winery, First off, let me just say that I love selling your wines. LOVE. Really truly, no sarcasm here. You pick from fantastic vineyards, use minimal intervention in the winery, the juice is great, the packaging is spot-on, pricing is perfect, and programming is attractive and appropriate. All in all, a wine rep’s dream [...]

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From the REPublic: Top 10 11 Winebuyer “Experiences”

December 5, 2011

I read through this list, nodding my head fervently at every single one of these. I feel fortunate that I don’t have a single winebuyer that embodies ALL of these annoying qualities at once, but they are traits that are sadly very familiar to me. And OH MY, the parking tickets. There is really nothing [...]

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What the eff?

December 1, 2011

This here site has been getting a lot more traffic in the past two days, and to be honest, I can’t really tell exactly where all you people are coming from (some website called Facebook or something?) but welcome to any new readers… So just as a quick refresher for any newbies, posts that are [...]