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SALES & MARKETING High-End Retailers Talk Packaging Earn an elevated price-point with an elegant look and outstanding wine By Jane Firstenfeld M onday, Jan. 2, was a federal holiday, but The Back Room in downtown Napa, Calif., was open for business. When a pair of young women came in search of a special bottle to share that chilly afternoon, they had a rough idea of what they might like, but asked merchant Chris Foster for guidance. Familiar with the diminutive shop's ever-changing selection of small-production wines, Foster helped them zero in on some hard-to-find French red wines, which they discussed in detail. Eventually, the ladies whittled down their choice to Le Nain Violet, a French Grenache from the Côtes de Catalan district. At $21, it was a relative bargain in the shop, which (not surprisingly) special- izes in Napa Cabernets in the $45-$75 per bottle range. Bianca Ross, a local customer, examined the label before finalizing her transaction. She wasn't looking for glitz. "I like to see information: the region, the variety," she explained. The black script and violet fleur de lis on the label was attractive, but simple and traditional. "Simplicity is on the rise," Foster con- firmed. "But we don't really care about labels." Neither do his customers, he added. Staff at the Back Room personally taste and write tasting notes for each of the approxi- mately 1,000 SKUs they sell—virtually all of them from wineries with less than 1,000 cases of annual production. All are in bottles—no bag-in-box or pouches here. Despite its Napa roots and the pri- macy of pricey Napa Cabernets on the front shelf, a good proportion of Back Room's sales are imported wines, espe- cially those sold to local clients (as much as two-thirds of its sales are shipped to clients across the country.) With many 42 Wines & Vines MARCH 2012 overseas producers adopting screwcaps, is this a problem for traditionalists? "Savvy buyers don't really care," Foster said, especially for a $20 red blend or even a $75 Austrian Grüner Veltliner. Big, age-worthy Cabernets are another story: The only wine in the shop under screwcap was from CADE Winery. Does packaging count? For producers of mass consumer brands, you bet. These bottles must capture customers' eyes across the visual noise of a crowded supermarket and, sometimes loudly, remind casual wine drinkers what they've liked before. Wine lov- ers who frequent smaller, specialty retailers are not as easily persuaded by packaging or labels, according to top wine shops across the country, referred to us by local sources. As at Back Room, these wine shops cater to repeat customers who rely upon recommen- dations from the merchants via shelf- talker tasting notes or personal advice. Like Back Room, the other merchants we inter- viewed favor small- production wineries or more "adventurous" wine varietals to keep their stock rotating and their regulars intrigued and coming back for more. According to Dan McCallum, owner of Vinopolis Wine Shop in Portland, Ore., most of his repeat customers are looking for something new. "Most buy wine types they are familiar with. If they don't like the wine, they don't care about the label." Packag- ing, he said, "doesn't affect my purchasing decisions" in a business where the average bottle sale, even reduced by the recession, remains $40-$50 per bottle. Recession-proofing In one way, these retailers agreed, the past few years of recession have not af- fected wine purchases: Their clients have not reduced their consumption, just their favored price-point. McCallum said the "sweet spot" for his regulars is about $20 less than it was pre-2008. At Zeto Wines in Greensboro, N.C., "Shoppers lowered their everyday wine purchasing points," but, "over several years, we've begun to see a slight increase during the holiday season," said owner Su Peterson. "I think people are more value-shoppers than we used to