Dear Sokol Blosser Wine Drinkers,
While I typically really love the month of January (my birthday month), this year I was quite happy to round the corner and hop into February. February is the month of pruning in our vineyards and our last full month of wet and cold weather before Spring! This month’s newsletter will start in New York City and end in Tokyo.
There really is nothing like New York City. I have not traveled everywhere, but the intensity of Manhattan, and the diversity of human life, and the wine and food scene is just awesome. I had the joy of visiting the Big Apple at the end of January to launch with our new distributor in NY and NJ: Banville Wine Merchants. Barron Beltz (our VP of Sales) and I flew into town and kicked off this new relationship with Lia Tolaini Banville and her son Alex. Working the market there is always fun and exciting and the sales crew at Banville are pros. Thanks to Mike Papaleo and Keith Nelson for putting together a wonderful launch week for us!
We got some nice press from our release of our 2023 Estate Rosé of Pinot Noir due to our new ingredient and nutritional label on this wine. We are planning on rolling out nutritional and ingredient labeling on all of our Sokol Blosser wines so now everyone will know that a 5oz glass of our rosé has about the same calories as a banana. Yes, you can have both if you want. Transparency is important to us, and letting you know what you are drinking just seems like a good idea. When you see the label in the market, please drop me a line and let me know what you think!
Speaking of innovation, my older brother Nik loves aperitifs. He has been working on his own aperitif for a while and we released the first offerings in our Tasting Room and online earlier this month. You heard me right folks! We released our first Sokol Blosser White and Red Aperitif wines. We are producing a small amount for this first run and we will see how they go. Nik is already working on the 2nd run, and more to come on that. This is a wine product with the distillate coming from our wines, and the white and red add-backs also coming from our wines. If you come by our Tasting Room over the next few months, make sure you try this new product and let me know what you think.
February is also a busy month for sales travel outside of the US. Emily Zegar, Our Director of Sales – West and Export, will be heading to Vin Expo Paris this month and if you happen to be there too, please stop by and see her in Hall 5.2 booths E077-E109. The following month she will be at the wine show in Germany called Prowein and you can visit her in Hall 14 stand D50. I will end this month in Japan working with our amazing importer, ORCA International. I have not been to Japan since 2019, and am very much looking forward to seeing my friends there again. I mentioned how awesome the food and wine scene is in NYC, and the other town to give Manhattan a run for their money is Tokyo. What an amazing food scene! Wowza!
All my best,
Alex
