Since the first ‘Stock Report’ (such as it was) got sent to probably 100 people back in February of 1985 (we were actually called ‘Liquor Exchange’ back then), our approach has remained the same. We see ourselves as part wine finders, part educators and part librarian. The ‘wine finders’ part is obvious. We are always looking to find new genres, new producers and new ideas to present to our customers. We have been, and still are students of wine, secure in the knowledge that nobody knows everything about this ever changing subject.
Our job as educators is extremely important, and maybe a little bit self serving. We feel it is essential to offer people the opportunity to learn and experience more in the world of wine, be that explaining new growing areas, helping you understand new techniques, essentially trying to get as many people as we can comfortable with this vast, very ‘subjective’ subject.
We understand our role as storytellers as well, as we seek to offer a wide range of different approaches to get to the point of why this or that wine tastes like it does. Wine is varietals, regions, weather, soils, and a litany of other things we can recite. But the wines don’t make themselves, so sometimes the ‘people’ story matters, too. The librarian part is simple…to help you find what you are looking for within our large and ever changing collection of wines or using our network to find you something you are looking for we don’t have. These are the things that, in our minds, are what a wine merchant is supposed to do.
In the beginning, the newsletter, via ‘snail mail’, was our only outreach. Things started to change in the 90s with the internet and the continued rise of wine information in the computer age. Essentially, the fax machine, the computer and and ultimately the Internet, sped up the dissemination of information and the sales cycles for wines in general. While the ‘Stock Report’ was always something of a personal expression of the wines we had found and our ideas on them, the timeliness of a ‘monthly’ publication was compromised in the New Era.
“It will be the ‘old’ Stock Report, written by the same old dudes, presented in a different ways.”
Email marketing was something we embraced early (2002) and the fastest, most cost effective way to let you know what was happening. But the Stock Report always served to fill in the smaller categories and specific- interest wines that weren’t best served by the direct email format. As we have experienced, trying to make an all encompassing ‘monthly’ missive, on top of everything else we do, wasn’t necessarily doing the best service to those cool little things we find and love to talk about. Yet we didn’t want to eliminate that geek driven message that has been such an integral part of our program since the start.
It’s all about communication, but the ways people can communicate is ever changing. The email program is important, to be sure. But there are only so many days in a year, and we can only highlight maybe 300-400 wines using that format. We have ten times that amount on the floor, exciting things we had good reason to purchase, and each has a story to be told. To that end we are making the Stock Report a more ongoing type of information source, with regular updates as often as daily.
New things come in almost every day and the ‘new’ Stock Report format can be updated on a continuous basis for you inspection and referencing. There will be content referring to wines we have talked about before that we think should have gotten more attention. Rants from the editorial team will also be regular features, as will the one or two line ‘Briefs’ giving ‘quick hit’ updates on a variety of wines and subjects. But, most important, it will provide a platform for us to make notes on some of the other cool, fun juice we get in.
Some might be a little too eclectic, or too limited in quantity, or for some other such reason, not be best suited for the email format. Yet they are worthy of attention. Plus, like the site itself, you’ll be able to access it 24/7.
It will be the ‘old’ Stock Report, written by the same old dudes, presented in a different ways. It aspires to be more dynamic and ongoing, as well as, ultimately, intended to provide more information in an easier-to-access format. We hope you enjoy it.
-Steve