Getting paid in bottles of wine

[Sugar Magnolia]

Mr Sugar is doing an inventory control spreadsheet for a local wine distributor. He's going to get paid about $700 worth of wine retail, which is about $300 at wholesale. I don't know what wineries they represent. The owner services the local Safeway and Fred Meyer so she should have a good selection to choose from. She already gave us one bottle to just say thanks for bidding the job and it was I could barely drink it. I don't trust her to make any selections. We like heavy dry reds (Zins, Barbera, full body Shiraz, Charbono), but drink Cabs as well. We like buttery oaky Chards, and will drink Cab. Sav. We are not a fan of sweet whites.

 

Any suggestions on wine we should get? I want to keep it under $30 retail as I just can't justify spending more on wine.

[Lucky11]

hmmmmm. it seems like you should have a decent selection of wine to choose from. most grocery-stores carry a (relatively) broad selection of entry-level wines. Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot, Aussie Reds and Cali Chardonnay should be in good supply. do you know if you will be able to hand pick the wines you're going to get paid with, or if the distributor is simply going to hand over a couple (three, four?) cases of wine? if you get to make the decision, then it would be helpful to know what kinds of juice the distributor is dealing with...otherwise it's kinda hard to know what the options are.

 

also, i'm curious to know what wine you received that was so disagreeable. was it simply a style of wine you don't enjoy, or was the bottle flawed?

[detlef]

Mr Sugar is doing an inventory control spreadsheet for a local wine distributor. He's going to get paid about $700 worth of wine retail, which is about $300 at wholesale. I don't know what wineries they represent. The owner services the local Safeway and Fred Meyer so she should have a good selection to choose from. She already gave us one bottle to just say thanks for bidding the job and it was I could barely drink it. I don't trust her to make any selections. We like heavy dry reds (Zins, Barbera, full body Shiraz, Charbono), but drink Cabs as well. We like buttery oaky Chards, and will drink Cab. Sav. We are not a fan of sweet whites.

 

Any suggestions on wine we should get? I want to keep it under $30 retail as I just can't justify spending more on wine.

At very least it would be helpful if you could get a brands list. Just a list of the wineries and/or importers. Then we could hook you up with specifics. I certainly don't think it's too much to ask for you to be able to pick out your own juice.

 

BTW, I assume that your husband is not doing a job that he would typically charge $700 for because the bargain should go both ways. You get $700 worth of wine (retail) that only costs the client $300 for a job that you would have typically charged, maybe $500 for.

[Cameltosis]

BTW, I assume that your husband is not doing a job that he would typically charge $700 for because the bargain should go both ways. You get $700 worth of wine (retail) that only costs the client $300 for a job that you would have typically charged, maybe $500 for.

 

absofriginlootely

[Sugar Magnolia]

At very least it would be helpful if you could get a brands list. Just a list of the wineries and/or importers. Then we could hook you up with specifics. I certainly don't think it's too much to ask for you to be able to pick out your own juice.

 

BTW, I assume that your husband is not doing a job that he would typically charge $700 for because the bargain should go both ways. You get $700 worth of wine (retail) that only costs the client $300 for a job that you would have typically charged, maybe $500 for.

 

He is doing $300 worth of work, and she is offering the wine as payment at 10% below wholesale. She says that's her cost but I doubt it-I don't think you can make a living marking a product up at just 10% unless you're Costco or Sam's Club.

 

I could cut and paste a list but Mr. Sugar says that 1000 lines. He is going to see if it doesn't take too long cut the list down to just the wineries and delete the varietals. There are lots of import wines which I know nothing about. The only domestic I see on the list I know and also think are decent are Sausal and Trefethen.

 

I plan to buy the most recent Wine Spectator this week.

Edited November 18, 2008 by Sugar Magnolia

[detlef]

He is doing $300 worth of work, and she is offering the wine as payment at 10% below wholesale. She says that's her cost but I doubt it-I don't think you can make a living marking a product up at just 10% unless you're Costco or Sam's Club.

 

I could cut and paste a list but Mr. Sugar says that 1000 lines. He is going to see if it doesn't take too long cut the list down to just the wineries and delete the varietals. There are lots of import wines which I know nothing about. The only domestic I see on the list I know and also think are decent are Sausal and Trefethen.

 

I plan to buy the most recent Wine Spectator this week.

Now, despite the fact that I used to work for a distributor (which it sounds like she is), I don't know what they're typical mark-up is. I was merely in sales, so I didn't have access to our books. However, I'm rather certain that it is much less than what retailers do because there's less work involved compared to the volume.

 

FWIW, your typical retailer starts around 35%. They'll occasionally dip below that for sales but for big sales, they'll squeeze the distributor for an extra buck before they take it out of their own margin. Specialty shops will go over that number and trend towards 50% but only on the rarest occasions do they go over that. Basically if they go deep on something at an amazing price and get an exclusive on the product so nobody else makes them look bad.

 

I bring this up mostly in reference to your first post where the implication was you were getting $700 worth of wine for $300 worth of work. That number seemed high as, even if she was a distributor and thus there were two mark-ups being made on that wine, it seemed like a big spread.

 

Oh, and it's really hard to go wrong with Trefethen. Based on what you said about Chard, you'll find their right up your alley. Plenty of oak, judicious malo, but (at least for my taste) enough acid to frame it. Their cab is also pretty top notch. Look for the Bar T blend (something like that). It's a bordeaux blend they do that usually a bit cheaper than the cab but really good. The label looks like ass though. Well, at least it used to.

 

Of course, if you like Zin, Sausal is a fine winery as well.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Here are some of the domestic wines with the bigger selections:

 

Bonair Winery, Alexander Valley, Andretti Winerey, Au Bon Climat, Chateau Julien, Dry Creek Vineyard, Husch, L'Uvaggio di Glacomo, Lockwood, MacRostie, Marimar, Maripsosa, Robert Kennan, Saddleback, Shenedoah, Sobon, Stevenot, Sausal, Trefethen, Viano, and X Winery.

 

I'll get back on the imports.

 

Thanks all for your help.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Now, despite the fact that I used to work for a distributor (which it sounds like she is), I don't know what they're typical mark-up is. I was merely in sales, so I didn't have access to our books. However, I'm rather certain that it is much less than what retailers do because there's less work involved compared to the volume.

 

FWIW, your typical retailer starts around 35%. They'll occasionally dip below that for sales but for big sales, they'll squeeze the distributor for an extra buck before they take it out of their own margin. Specialty shops will go over that number and trend towards 50% but only on the rarest occasions do they go over that. Basically if they go deep on something at an amazing price and get an exclusive on the product so nobody else makes them look bad.

 

I bring this up mostly in reference to your first post where the implication was you were getting $700 worth of wine for $300 worth of work. That number seemed high as, even if she was a distributor and thus there were two mark-ups being made on that wine, it seemed like a big spread.

 

Oh, and it's really hard to go wrong with Trefethen. Based on what you said about Chard, you'll find their right up your alley. Plenty of oak, judicious malo, but (at least for my taste) enough acid to frame it. Their cab is also pretty top notch. Look for the Bar T blend (something like that). It's a bordeaux blend they do that usually a bit cheaper than the cab but really good. The label looks like ass though. Well, at least it used to.

 

Of course, if you like Zin, Sausal is a fine winery as well.

 

I assumed there was more mark-up in wine.

Edited November 19, 2008 by Sugar Magnolia