EPISODE #4 SPARKS STEAKHOUSE ADVENTURE

In this snippet from my upcoming book, I share a story about my first time on the streets of New York, calling on accounts and selling William Hill wines in only the second week after I had taken the position as VP of Sales for the 
Eastern Division at William Hill Winery. Some Division, I was a one-man show and responsible for half of the country east of the Mississippi. 

In this episode, I detail my account call at the famous Sparks Steakhouse in Manhattan. It would become even more infamous a year later when Paul (Big Paul) Castellano would be whacked sitting in his car outside of the restaurant in a Mob-related reputedly ordered by John Gotti.

This account call posed an immediate challenge to both my instincts and sales ability. However, I put to the test what I believed based on my experience, and that was, most people buy wine based on the way it smells, not on how it tastes.

Take a listen or read the transcript.

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Transcript

SPEAKERS

Fred Reno

Fred Reno  

Well, hi there, folks. Fred Reno here, and welcome back to the Fine Wine Confidential book podcast. I have episode number four for your listening enjoyment. In this episode, I share one of my early moments on the streets of New York City selling wine in Manhattan after having taken a position as vice president of the Eastern Division at William Hill Winery. Some division, I was a one-person show responsible for half of the country east of the Mississippi. This experience led me to spend the better part of one week each month in Manhattan for the next three years, building a following for the wines of William Hill Winery. As you listen, keep in mind that it is February 1984, and the selection of high-end wine from California was still very minimal. I was on a mission to change it. Take a listen.

 Only my second week on the job at William Hill Winery, I knew it was time to hit the road and sell some wine. I decided to go to New York City. In the words of Frank Sinatra, if you could make it in New York, you could make it anywhere. What I discovered during my several days in the market was that New York was the easiest market to do business in. You have more people buying and selling quality in Manhattan, rugs, China, jewelry, clothes, you name it, than in any other market. Therefore, if you have quality, there are more buyers in a concentrated area than in any market I would visit. 

In my home state of Michigan, for instance, you would have to sometimes drive 30 or 40 miles just to talk to somebody who was interested in quality wine, and then you would have to convince them to buy yours. In Manhattan, all I had to do was walk up and down the avenues, and for every buyer I met who said no, and believe me, there were plenty of them, someone would say yes, and they would sell the hell out of my wine. It was a lesson I learned early on. It stuck with me for the rest of my career. It was also in New York that I put to the test what I intuitively already knew, that people buy wine based on the way it smells, almost more than how it tastes. The following story will illustrate my point. 

 Winebow was our distributor in New York at the time, and I was working with one of their top salesmen. He told me that one of the accounts we would call that day was Sparks, a steakhouse. Sparks became well known just a year later when Paul (Big Paul) Castellano, the head of the Gambino crime family, got whacked in his car parked outside the restaurant in a mob-related slaying, reputedly ordered by John Gotti. I thought even before knowing this, this would be interesting, as I was about to meet one of New York's iconic restaurant owners, one with a lot of fame. The owners were two brothers, Pat Cetta, who did the wine buying, and his brother, Michael. The salesperson had let me know that Pat could be rude at times and harsh, and he might not even give us the time of day, but let's try to catch him before lunch. When we walked into the restaurant, Pat was sitting at the bar, holding court, talking to several people. We politely waited our turn, and when the salesperson I was with approached him, he turned and said something along the lines of, Now, what do you want? The salesperson persisted and told him he was working with a Napa Valley wine producer of Cabernet Sauvignon, which would fit well, he thought, in his selection, and he wanted to introduce me. Pat was a big supporter of California Cabernets like BB Private Reserve and Mondavi. In the past, he was also known to buy in quantities of 50 cases or more, cellar the wine until he believed it was ready to drink, and then, when the wine went on his list, he wouldn't mark it up in price exorbitantly. So, his customers became accustomed to purchasing well-aged wines at reasonable prices. He turned to me and appeared to be fighting a hangover or something, and it was only 12:30 in the afternoon. He says, What do you got? I began to explain who William Hill Winery was and about our wines, when he put his head in his hands, as if he was not listening to my pitch. Finally, he tells us he doesn't have the time to taste today and to come back another time. I knew I wasn't going to get another shot at him, so I jumped in and said, Sir, the nose on this wine is worth the price of admission alone. He looks at me like, Who is this kid? And says, Okay, open the bottle. I had the 1979 William Hill Gold Label Cabernet Sauvignon with me that day, and the nose and bouquet of the wine was a dead ringer for classified Bordeaux, similar to a top Ste. Estèphe like Chateau Cos d’Estournel. I opened it and poured him a small amount into his glass. He takes it, swirls it around in the glass, and then begins to smell the wine. Just as he is about to put the glass down on the bar, he stops and brings it back to his nose. He smells it again. He didn't taste the wine, but signaled to his brother, who was at the other end of the bar, to come over. When his brother came over, he asked him, Hey, smell this wine. Tell me what you think. He picks up the glass, goes through the same routine as Pat did, and nods approvingly. Neither of them had bothered to taste the wine. Then Pat looks at the salesperson and asks, How much of that wine do you have in your warehouse? He responds, 52 cases. Pat looks at him, says, Send it all next week. Now I'm busy and I need to go. He gets up, takes the bottle, and leaves. As we exit the restaurant, the salesperson says to me, “Do you realize what you just did? It was unbelievable the guts you had to challenge him like that. I just smiled and said, Well, this is great, because now you can get on with selling our current release in New York, the 1980 Gold Label, Cabernet Sauvignon. Lesson: I never back up or back down.  More to come.