Toasting a new concept: Encinitas store sorts wines with customers …

North County Times – Escondido,CA,USA
… Ed Peirson owns the Encinitas Wine Styles, a franchise
based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The only other Wine Styles in the county
recently opened in Chula Vista. …

For anyone who has ever felt their eyes glaze over when a wine expert tries to explain the differences in vintage, grapes and regions, Wine Styles may offer a way out of the maze.

“We don’t organize our wines by varietal or region,” manager Jill Agosti said about the store’s theme. “We do it by style.”

The simple concept helps customers quickly narrow the type of wine they are seeking. Stepping onto a floor painted a dark brown for a Tuscan feel, customers find walls riddled with cubbyholes filled with wine bottles. On the left wall, signs near the ceiling proclaim the wines below to be fruity, mellow or bold. On the back wall under a sign reading “If you insist” are wines that break the store’s rule of keeping everything under $25. On the right wall are more styles: bubbly, rich, silky and crisp.

The format isn’t a dumbing-down of wine appreciation as much as a way to take the mystery out of what to expect from a wine and how to pair it with a meal.

“The idea is to take a lot of the intimidation out,” Agosti said. “There’s no snobbery. We want people to feel like they walked into an Old World little winery, where there’s a lot of personalized assistance.”

Customers are greeted as soon as they walk in the door, and if new to the store, given a 30-second overview of the shop’s layout, she said.

Ed Peirson owns the Encinitas Wine Styles, a franchise based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The only other Wine Styles in the county recently opened in Chula Vista. The franchise is in 180 locations nationwide.

Agosti said she has been a wine enthusiast for 20 years, but only recently left the corporate world to follow her passion.

While the concept of listing wines by style may be new to some consumers, it’s common for people in the industry, she said.

“Winemakers make wines in various styles,” Agosti said. “Jeff Runquist makes wine in a fruit-forward style, where there’s very jammy, grapey flavors. Very fruity, bright. Then there’s, on the opposite end, one of my favorite winemakers, Frank Lead. He makes wines with more of an intense, heavy type of style. Fruity, mellow and bold.”

Keeping with the customer-friendly philosophy, Agosti said all wines are displayed with easy access in mind.

“Have you ever walked into a wine store and seen stacks all over the floor?” she said. “Our store’s not like that. Everything’s in a display.”

Agosti said she usually has at least one bottle open in the store’s tasting room for customers to sample. The store serves wines by the glass from 5 to 7:30 p.m. weekly during “Wine Down Fridays.”

“Basically, the theme is to wind down the week,” Agosti said. Wines are sold for between $5 and $8 a glass, she said.

At any other day of the week, customers can buy a bottle and drink it in the tasting room for a $10 corkage fee. The fee is waived Friday nights, she said.

Other tastings are scheduled by themes throughout the month. Tastings are 5:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and 4 to 6 p.m. Saturdays. The events usually are $10.

“Bold and Bubbly” is the theme Wednesday and Dec. 30, just in time for New Year’s Eve. “Crazy for Cabernets!” is the theme Saturday.

The store also offers a wine club for $34.99 a month. Membership includes two bottles of wine each month, 10 percent off all wine purchases, 15 percent discount on reorders of that month’s selected wine, and invitations to private tastings and special events.

The club also features a rewards program, where members earn one point for each dollar spent. Customers earn a $50 rebate for each 1,000 points they accumulate.

Besides wine, the shop carries a line of accessories including picnic baskets, gift baskets, books, chocolate and a small selection of CDs.