Our philosophy
When you venture into a wine shop pretty much anywhere, it is likely a bit daunting. Questions run through your mind. How is this place organized? Are all the white wines in one spot? What if I want something specifically from Spain? I wonder if they offer a discount for 6, or 12. Do they have a wine club?
Since we opened our shop 12 years ago, we have learned much. From answering questions from our customers, to analyzing customer preferences, we have adjusted and readjusted to curate a wine collection that is thoughtful and that covers all of the major appellations and varietals.
Here are some of the key tenets of our philosophy, of our shop, our wine club and our collection.
We always make sure new customers know how the shop is laid out. We do this to take away some of the intimidation of walking into a new store. We split the collection into domestic and new world in one area, ranging from whites to reds and lighter bodied to fuller bodied. Our “Old World” selections are spread among three free-standing racks, one each for Italy, France and the rest of Europe. Our more gently priced wines from all regions are in one section of the shop, where all bottles are $16 and less. Finally, we have a “Collector’s Cabinet” that holds all of our higher end, hard to find bottlings, as well as our large and small format bottles.
Most wine consumers want to know about our wine club. This is where our philosophy and our strategy for the shop really come into play. We started our club shortly after we opened the shop. We made the decision early on that our club was going to be about education and adventure. We felt then, and feel strongly now, that if all we put in our wine club is Chardonnay and Cabernet, to pick the two most requested varietals, then we really aren’t doing our job. Our goal with our wine club is to introduce our club members to new and different varietals and growing regions that they wouldn’t normally choose. The club is designed to infrequently repeat varietals and regions. We keep our historical selections so we know when the last time we selected a grape type, a region or a winery.
The rewarding thing is, it has worked! With every club release we have members who come back and say, “you know, I never really liked…” this particular grape, or that growing region, “but I just loved this wine!” We have also found that with every club release there is one wine that resonates with our members, and it is always interesting to see which one “hits.”
If you are looking for a wine club that provides variety in choices of winemaking style, varietal, winery and region, we would very much like to have you as part of our club. Four times each year we pick out three bottles for our club, a white and two reds. Each bottle averages about $20 and they come with tasting notes and food pairing recipes for each wine. Our club members enjoy priority invites for all of our events, 10% off all in our shop and discounts at an array of other area businesses. While we discourage it, we do have club members that opt for an all white or all red option. We like our members to take the full club selection each time for the adventure of trying new wine. We feel if we are doing our jobs and executing on our philosophy, we will likely introduce you to your new favorites!
We take the same approach to our events. When we book winemakers for our dinners with our partners at Fleur de Sel and for tastings at our shop, we always strive to invite wineries from new and varied areas with unique wine portfolios. By attracting wine professionals from across the globe we are providing a unique and educational experience for every one of our guests. Already scheduled we have wineries from Uruguay and Italy joining us in the next few months, two examples of how far we reach for unique offerings.
Our pricing philosophy is to, at all times, be fair on our wine prices. Most every time we are competitive with “big box retailers.” It is not about price for us, though. If we are bringing deep knowledge and understanding of our customer’s likes and dislikes then we believe we are delivering value on every bottle. It is why our software keeps every bottle you buy in memory so it can remember your favorites and you don’t have to.
We take our job seriously and work hard to do the best we can for every wine consumer regardless of their experience or budget. Stop by the shop and see for yourself and, by all means, let us know how we are doing.
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George Balling is co-owner with his wife, Mary Lancaster, of the dinner party, a wine and gift shop in Coeur d’Alene by Costco. The dinner party has won the award for best wine shop in North Idaho twice, including for 2018. George is also published in several other publications around the country.
After working in wineries in California and judging many wine competitions, he moved to Coeur d’Alene with Mary more than 10 years ago to open the shop. You can also follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/#!/dinnerpartyshop.