Selling Wine is Selling Moments

Every time I sell a bottle of wine I think about how it’s going to be the partner of an utterly unique moment. From a tranquil dinner at home with family, to boisterous parties with friends, to a private cry over a broken heart, wine is so intimately entwined with these experiences that they almost become the experience. Ryan will at times say, “Well, I sold 100 cases of experiences today!”

This past weekend I had one such experience. Our very dear friends Mario and Nicole are getting married in a couple of weeks, and Ryan and I attended a BBQ thrown in their honor by Mario’s father and step mother. While I love BBQs of burgers and beer, this was not that kind of BBQ. The couples’ lovely friends gathered together in a lush and lovingly tended garden filled with flowers and ripening tomatoes. As the home is close to the Puget Sound, scents of salt water drifted over the fence to mix with the sweet smell of briquettes cooking a baby pig that was roasted for the occasion. Strangers from different corners of Mario and Nicole’s life melted together into one big family as we toasted their future happiness and fortune. As the sun set, the summer sky was painted in brilliant orange as the guys swapped Simpson quotes and the gals quizzed Nicole on how she was going to do her hair on the big day. And acting as the social lubricant of it all was a charming collection of French white and rose wines staying cool in a lovely bucket of ice -- its condensation dripping onto the patio.

I wonder what experiences Elemental wine has graced over these past months. What did it look like? Was it happy or sad? Did someone get drunk? Was the wine noticed or was it a quiet companion to the moment?

How surreal it is to think of our wine being part of a stranger’s experience.