Wine Cellar offers a lot of local meats and cheeses from around the city , appealing to tourists who want a taste of the area .
Highlighting what ' s local includes a large assortment of craft beers .
BUILDING WINE SELECTION
Wine Cellar takes pride in its expansive array of offerings . Over in the wine section , the store has recently explored uncharted wine regions .
“ Wines from Eastern Europe ,” Patrick explains . “ Wines from Greece , Cyprus , Croatia , Lebanon . You get these areas that have amazing quality for the dollar .”
This time of year , late summer into early fall , Patrick sees customers purchasing lots of sparkling wines , Italian whites and sauvignon blanc .
“ We do have a huge selection of cabs , as well ,” he says . “ There are plenty of people in their comfort zones buying their cabs .”
Wine Cellar has found effective ways to compete in wine with Big Box stores and grocery .
“ I always try to offer good values on great brands ,” Patrick says . “ I work with smaller distributors to try to avoid overlapping with Big Box stores , because smaller distributors carry smaller producers .”
THE STATE OF WHISKEY
Like many other stores in recent years , Wine Cellar has developed a reputation for their store pick single barrel whiskeys .
“ It ’ s an obsession of ours ,” Patrick says . “ We get competitive with our single barrel program . We want to outshine the competition .”
And they have . A Four Roses Single Barrel Barrel Strength dropped by Wine Cellar last year was named best SiB in Wisconsin in a statewide tasting competition .
Other recent notable whiskey picks from the husband-and-wife team include a pair of Penelope Architect single barrels . Named “ Patrick ’ s Choice ” and “ Desi ’ s Choice ,” these two picks let customers take part in a competition that pits the palates of the married owners against one another .
Whose bottle has sold better ? “ So far , it ’ s Desi ’ s ,” Patrick admits . “ Her bottle has additional complexity over mine , and I think the people are liking that .” Whereas Patrick ’ s choice is more of a big blast of flavor and spice , perhaps not ideal for the mass market , but geared more for high-proof whiskey nuts like Patrick and this article ’ s author .
On the subject of cask-strength monsters , the store also recently released a single barrel of Chicken Cock Reserve Cask . One of only 17 barrels available of this bottle in the country , Wine Cellar ’ s pick clocked in at 8 years old and 125.2 proof .
Sharing a challenge with beverage alcohol retailers across the country , Patrick and Desi must deal with a high demand for limited allocated whiskey bottles . And among those demanding is a core group of intense bourbon hunters and flippers .
“ There ’ s a pretty obsessive group that we have in this area ,” Patrick says . “ We see all the familiar faces on a weekly basis , all asking the same questions .”
Which presents the tricky problem : How to handle allocated products fairly ?
“ I try to take care of as many people as I can ,” Patrick says . “ I do try to put these bottles in the hands of people who are actually drinking them .”
Wine Cellar will hold back some allocated bottles for a special raffle come holiday season . Otherwise , “ I handle them with a loyalty program ,” Patrick says . “ I ’ m not tracking anything , but I know who ’ s supporting us the most , who ’ s in our store buying stuff every day , who ’ s not just buying bourbon here but also their wine and beer .”
These bottles may also find their way into gift baskets that the store puts
12 Beverage Dynamics • Fall 2024 www . beveragedynamics . com