Sunday, May 19, 2013
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Food & Drink Free wine samples for the savvy
Posted by Matthew Schniper on Wed, Jun 2, 2010 at 11:48 AM
If you're the kind of person not to shy from free wine samples and a friendly pot luck, I have the club for you: the Colorado Liquor Outlet Tasting Club.
- Matthew Schniper
- Start with a local wine club ... then graduate to Aspen's annual Food & Wine event.
Gillum says classes last around an hour, with six to eight wines sampled and discussed. Attendees then receive coupons to purchase the featured wines at CLO — no pressure.
When politely asked if he's been overrun with freeloaders, Gillum replied that the tasting club strategy has actually increased sales at the store and seems to be working beautifully. And club members — average age around 40 to 45 he says — will soon be presented with an option to book some wine trips together and receive a group travel savings.
An encouragement to newbies: Gillum says the regular folks aren't really wine snobs, but in fact many beginners and folks who know just a little about wine varietals and the like.
The June 5 and 26 sessions are tentatively slated to cover Old World varietals grown in California; Gillum has named the presentation "Cal-Italia."
