I always like to hear about good customer service as this maintains customer loyalty. I have mentioned enough times that I was in retail all of my life (but not wine retail) and I think of the little things that one can do to keep the customer happy. One of the adjunct services that I used to do was to keep abreast with the local restaurants around the metropolitan area, so that I could potentially send someone to a new place that they might not have been aware. If they were travelling to a city that I had been, I could also make some recommendations there as well.

People would also ask me about wines, not that I am a maven, but I try. Well just a couple of days after helping The Messenger pick out some wines for her Thanksgiving table, she sent me a photo of another bottle of wine. It seems that she had gone and selected a new automobile and when she picked it up, she was given a bottle of wine as a token of appreciation and she asked me my opinion. She even joked that it may make another article, and yes I think she is right.

The Messenger sent me a photograph of the label of the wine and asked me about it. The wine is Tenuta Santome Cabernet Sauvignon Marca Trevigiana IGT 2013. The winery was new to me and so was the IGT. The IGT stands for Indicazione Geograficatica Tipica and well, I knew the region Marca Trevigiana in Veneto for Prosecco, this designation refers to wines made in the district that are not Prosecco. The IGT covers any red, white or rosé, a blend or a varietal and the wine can be still, sparkling or sweet, so it allows a lot of leeway if the winery wants to do something different and in this case that are using Cabernet Sauvignon grapes for the wine. The principal grapes found in Veneto are Prosecco/Glera and Pinot Grigio, but now Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay is also used and there are red grapes that are new to the area as well like Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. So even though The Messenger is not a wine drinker, especially dry red wines, she has received a nice bottle to put out for company during a dinner in the future, and I would say that it was a nice gift.