Whilst shopping for wine...

This is not going to be to helpful but I am ok with any of the three options as long as I can clearly see how they are being grouped.

A local place seems to just list them with no regard to order, we guess they are in order of being acquired to put on list. The first wine listed was the first wine they offered.

J~

lloyd wrote:

Hi Lloyd,

I usually have a country in mind(but do get side- tracked a lot), then check out to see which kinds of wine they have to offer (and do I feel adventuresome), and then see if the price is within my specs.

Larry Southern Ontario

In a store, I probably would want them organized by country and region.

On a restaurant wine list, it depends. If it's a short wine list, I don't care a whle lot, because I'll get through it any way. But if it's a really big list, I'd like it to be organized by grape/style, and within that by price. That would save me a lot of time turning pages past the wines I have no intention of spending that much money for.

Hi Lloyd,

For what it's worth, I generally prefer country grouping, followed by grape / variety grouping.

I've seen wines grouped by maker, which can be a little frustrating (it's a very large shop). Most often I think "Hmmm, I'd love a spicey shiraz tonight", but then have to walk up and down up and down looking looking at each wine maker for said grape (sometimes I prefer the browsing method tho).

But then it depends on how big a variety one has.

And what range in regards to price etc. Perhaps have a bargain section or something similar.

Generally as a customer you have a pre-determined price spread, and don't mind a little more or a little less price wise, so grouping by price is probably only for trade or bargain hunting small buyers. I wouldn't recommend it for a general shop.

Mat.

I like "B" segregated by price. Bi!!

C for me.

I prefer "B" (country/region followed by grape/style), then sorted by vintage & then alphabetically within vintage.

Example: FRANCE Bordeaux 1982 Chateau La Lagune $130 etc.

I'll go with the majority and choose B, further ordered by year if possible. To me, those are 3 of the 4 factors most responsible for the character of the wine: where it's made, what it's made from, when it was made (and who made it). The price is important, but is irrelevant if I'm not interested in the wine.

Mark Lipton

I've noticed that there are a couple of moderately priced wine "chain" store operations in the US (one is a franchise just starting up) that display their wine grouped by style, ie- "crisp, fruity, bold, mellow". The idea is, apparently, that many people are daunted by wine selection and the simplest way to help them select is to separate wines by how they are going to taste. Their shelf cards happen to be very informative as well.... and that's important to the strategy.

This idea makes some sense to me, but I wonder how others here view it IF, hopefully, they can put themselves in the position of the average US consumer who likely has a rather limited knowledge of wine, but is trying to learn. That's who these stores are aimed at. Personally I'm disconcerted by that layout in a store, but that's because I'm used to separation by region and know that many wine varieties exhibit characteristics that share more than one of these stores' category labels. It may not be a bad way to reach new wine drinkers, but is that too limiting a target?

I've been to a few of these (Best Cellars is the chain, the place I bought the Pannonia wine -Grape Expectations in Tarrytown NY- is another. I don't find it easy to navigate. I don't always agree with their classifications either!

As to original question, like other I prefer B. Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

] In article , Midlife writes: ] ] >I've noticed that there are a couple of moderately priced wine "chain" store ] >operations in the US (one is a franchise just starting up) that display ] >their wine grouped by style, ie- "crisp, fruity, bold, mellow". The idea is, ] >apparently, that many people are daunted by wine selection and the simplest ] >way to help them select is to separate wines by how they are going to taste. ] >Their shelf cards happen to be very informative as well.... and that's ] >important to the strategy. ] >

[] ] I've been to a few of these (Best Cellars is the chain, the place I bought the ] Pannonia wine -Grape Expectations in Tarrytown NY- is another. I don't find it ] easy to navigate. I don't always agree with their classifications either! ]

Seems like it would be much harder to navigate, because it depends on an entirely subjective classification. Dale has it right: if you don't agree, you are completely lost. I don't actually spend much time in wine stores, but when I am there I'm usually in a hurry, these days.

] As to original question, like other I prefer B.

I agree with the herd here, too.

-E

Hear, hear, J~. In Pennsylvania, the state-owned stores are somewhat chaotic. In parts of the store, the wines are grouped by country/region; in other parts, they're grouped by grape variety; in other parts, they're grouped by type of packaging. Yecch! I'll be glad if they make up their minds!

I have tried a few ways to arrange the displays in my shop over the years, the current method surviving the longest and greeted with the most approval. Wines are in sections according to variety, and displayed in price order. It also helps me spot a browser in the 'top end' of a section, so I can wander over and offer assistance...:>)

hooroo....swooper

If I'm in a shop, A. If I'm in a restaurant, C. The latter is motivated by ignorance - essentially I want something to complement a meal, and as I am not of sufficient wisdom to know what Chateau xyz is like a guiding hand can be useful (or I could just ask the sommelier, if there is one).

Cheers, Dan

The secondary arrangement by price rather than alphabetically does not help those of us who know what we want to buy.