Four Days; Four Cities

The Lone Star state greeted me with gray skies and a dark hotel room. Suffice to say, we’re not in Florida anymore. I checked into a well-known hotel chain, was issued a keycard at the front desk and made my way to my assigned room. I opened the door and walked into a dimly lit space with pillows scattered on the floor, jewelry on the desk and a used coffee cup on the counter. It took me a moment to realize – I’m standing in someone else’s room! Freaky. The front desk sorted it out and gave me an “upgraded room”, which was identical to the otherwise “downgraded room” except this one was actually clean. I called home, brushed my teeth and caught the final hour of The Academy Awards. Sandra Bullock rocks.

The abrupt entry into Dallas was soon forgotten the following morning as Linda Torbica, Wilson Daniels Ltd. District Manager met me at the hotel lobby in her champagne Lexus and bright smile. I boarded the luxurious transport and headed out for a full day of visiting the locals.

Our first couple stops were with wine and liquor store chains. This means meeting corporate buyers found in rather mundane office buildings. Nice enough guys, but so unfortunate to have to work in such uninspired interiors – featured colors: gray, beige or cream. And the fluorescent lighting doesn’t help to brighten the situation. In contrast to the décor, our wines shined, including the just released 2009 Pinot Gris, and we successfully placed several wines.

Lunch at Newports was a delight. We met up with an ambitious, sharp, young distributor rep, Courtney Steinberg and an enthusiastic savvy wine buyer, Tiffany Ross of Cork. A girl’s lunch indeed. Topics involved my kids, our husbands, wine, diets, books, careers – the usual. Tiffany, already a Ponzi fan, made for fun conversation and an enjoyable lunch.

Courtney and I managed to dodge the heavy rain and meet with some friendly accounts including Andy Powers at Bob’s Steak and Chop House, Taryn Anderson at The Porch and Yutaka Yamato at Yutaka. Sold wine, enjoyed Courtney’s company and overall had a good day. Linda met us at our last account, Yutaka Sushi (a place where I promise to indulge on my next Dallas visit) and made our way to Hibiscas.

Here we ran into the wine buyer Taylor who has been supportive of our Tavola Pinot Noir over the past few months. Linda invited Stuart Campos, Sales Manager for Republic’s Fine Wine Division to join us. We had an engaging dinner, discussing the distributor’s recent trip to Alsace where the sales team was able to experience the people, the place and the wines of the region. It’s moments like these when I wish I could join their educational visits. We agreed – we’re so fortunate to be able to work in this industry.

Although, I have to admit I miss the palm trees, the Texan accents are pretty darn charming even if the portions are a bit large.

Ciao.

Maria