Some questions are harder to answer.
Passion, Distilled
Before I started Pour Richard’s, I worked for wine distributors and importers. And although I enjoyed that work, there were some days that just made me tired. Tired and sad.
For someone who is passionate about what they do, there is nothing worse than trying to relate to people who just don’t appreciate that passion or knowledge. (And before you get your pitchforks out, I am NOT saying everyone has to agree with me.) But.
It is a special kind of hell to show a retailer or restaurateur an exquisite bottle of wine-your favorite bottle of wine, which you’ve spent your career learning about-the best wine you have, and have them respond with:
Yeah, it’s good, but I have to save enough money to buy the -insert large winery name- drop.
Yeah, it’s good, but I’ve never heard of it, so no.
I love it, but people aren’t going to buy that unless I sell it to them. Too much work. No.
So while there are aspects of that work which I miss, that is not one of them. Occasionally, I spot this syndrome- a frozen, horrified look and general hopelessness- in our reps. They’ve taken too much abuse with not enough upside. This is how I met David Suro-Pinera.
Mr Suro-Pinera is a tequila savant. He knows more about tequila than anyone I’ve ever met. He is fascinating to listen to, but on the day we met, he’d been dragged from pillar to post, farmed out to three different sales reps in one day, and faced a solid wall of people who just wanted to keep selling Cuervo. By the time he ended up in Franklin, he just looked sad.
I am certainly no tequila expert. I can, however, recognize a great spirit. After a few tastes, I wanted to know more. What IS this? Why does it taste like that? How is it made? And Mr Suro-Pinera lit up like a Christmas tree. Because finally someone cared enough to want his knowledge and passion.I had planned a quick appointment, but in fact we talked for over an hour. He was THAT interesting. In fact, talking with him was so fascinating that we decided he needed to meet our customers. So we invited him back for a tequila seminar.
On October 12, you, too, can learn from David. What is method ancestrale? How can you tell if an agave plant is ripe? How is the agave roasted? Upland versus lowland, anejo versus reposada versus blanco. And so on. Then taste them all. We have 24 seats for this seminar. The price is $40, which also gets you a bottle of Limited Edition Anniversary Reposada, and a big discount on anything else you buy that evening. The bottle alone is worth $60, so this is one killer deal for artisanal spirits lovers. To register, click on our ‘Specials’; the seminar is listed among our wine specials.
You can literally taste the passion.