Travel Reference
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promotions as compared to an annual stock item. He explained they would probably in-
clude us in their annual French wine promotion as a first trial. I told him the prices and he
didn't baulk. This was just the break we needed.
I was convinced I had a sale. 'So when do you need to order for the promotion?' I asked.
'Around August but I can't commit yet. We like the wines and your story but I need to talk
to our consultant before making a buying decision. If we don't go for the 2006, we'll look
at the 2007.'
I tried not to show my disappointment, swallowed the rest of my coffee and prepared to
leave. We couldn't work with decisions by committee; we didn't have that sort of time.
'Thierry was right. It's a long sales cycle,' I said to Sean that evening.
'Well, tough luck for them. If they don't get in on the 2006, they won't get a look in on the
2007.'
Sean sounded bullish, but he wasn't the one meeting the buyers.
That evening Aideen and Barry organised a dinner with old friends. No longer was a din-
ner simply a chance to socialise: our wines were on show. It was great to see old friends
but I couldn't relax.
'I love this rosé,' said Doug, 'not so sure about the white.'
'It's a well-made wine,' said Conor.
Each comment was sparkles from heaven or a knife through my heart. This wine was so
personal. Now wine was our life, no social occasion would ever be free of marketing or
analysis if wine was involved. The next day I met a group of people I had worked with
for many years for lunch. The jokes started flowing and I laughed until my sides ached.
I missed this repartee. Our second bottle of New Zealand sauvignon blanc arrived and I
sniffed it critically.
'That's exactly the same wine but can you pick up how smoky it is compared to the first
bottle?' I asked.
'She's right, you know,' said Andrew, surprised. 'That is smoky and the first one had no
smoke.'
Soon they were all sniffing and nodding, impressed that I could pick up such nuances in a
wine. In the old days, as their colleague, I'd been someone who knew a bit about wine but
not an expert. In the intervening two years I had become a winegrower.
The last day of my trip I met our highest priority target customer, the chain of twenty-five
wine shops. Walking in with a copy of the cover story that had been published about us at
thetime ofmyprevioustrip,Itried tolookconfident. Davehaddark,somewhat unrulyhair
and was skinny and hyper with a disarming smile. His office was mayhem: strewn with
samples of wine and marketing brochures awaiting his approval. He gave the impression
of being disorganised but I realised through the meeting he was a savvy business man and
a serious wine expert.
