Whole Foods Market Tustin expanding wine bar business - Fast Food ...

If you?ve been to Whole Foods Market in Tustin, you know it stretches the meaning of the word ?supermarket.?

The gargantuan store could easily swallow several Albertsons without indigestion.

And the inventory is mind-boggling. Want some pickled kumquats to go with your Russian caviar and Vosges chocolate? No problem!

Not surprisingly, the store is moving into fresh realms for selling wine and beer as well.

A new marketing supervisor, Michael Hack, arrived early this year from Detroit. A wine, beer and spirits expert, Gina Cook, came at around the same time; she held the same job most recently at Whole Foods Buckhead location in Atlanta.

Their mission is to make the Tustin store a destination for the discriminating wine buyer. The in-store bar has 24 enomatic machines, which dole out small samples of wine. There are also three to six microbrews on tap.

?Gina and I are working together to create some events for wine lovers,? Hack said. ?She?s got a vast wealth of knowledge.?

Cook has been a wine buyer for Whole Foods for more than three years, and she?s been in the wine and spirits business since 1998.

?I kind of fell into it by accident,? said Cook, who used to work in advertising. When she decided she was serious about her new field, Cook rented her home and moved to London in 2001 to study at the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. She recently passed the challenging Certified Specialist of Wine exam.

At Whole Foods, ?I specialize in focusing on what people tell me they?re looking for,? Cook said. ?Sometimes they don?t even know how to verbalize that. It?s kind of like getting a pearl out of an oyster.?

After several months on the job, Cook said one of her main goals is to ?get people out of their comfort zone to try something I suspect they?ll really like. Cabernet, Chardonnay, Pinot and Merlot is what a lot of people know. At the wine bar I often feature less common varietals that I think people might really like.?

Her other big goal?

?To take the pretentiousness out of it. That?s a problem in our business. I want people to feel comfortable about wine.?

The store?s wine bar hosts regular tastings and is available for special groups of up to 20. Cook started an e-mail newsletter about two months ago to keep regulars up to date on events and bargains. ?Sometimes I?ll throw in a secret password that will get them something special that isn?t on the normal menu.?

Cook likes to feature a wide range of wines on the enomatic machines, all of it available for purchase. ?You can taste everything from a Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling to a Silver Oak Cab.?

Hack emphasized that Whole Foods is trying to shed its ?Whole Paycheck? reputation, and that applies to wine, too.
?We?re focusing on value. We try to stock 90-point wines for under $20. And all our Top 10 wines (a company-wide list published twice yearly) are under $15.?

Whole Foods? wine bar opens at noon every day and closes at around 8:30 p.m. (an hour earlier on Sunday).

The best thing about Whole Foods? wine bar, Cook said, is that patrons can take advantage of everything the store has to offer while they?re there. ?You can have a steak grilled or a lobster steamed and they?ll bring it to you. And you can watch the game on our flat screen TV.?

Lobster? Silver Oak? Couch potato-ing? This isn?t your grandpa?s supermarket.

?No,? Cook said with a laugh. ?People come in here for the first time and they?re just gob smacked.?

If you want to get Gina?s newsletter, e-mail her: Gina.Cook@wholefoods.com

Upcoming wine events at the Tustin Whole Foods Market:

Friday, June 10

Wine Tasting: An Enchanted Italian Evening with Pirovano
2-7 p.m.
$10 flights

Meet Raffi Abadjian, professional Sommelier and member of the Italian Sommelier Association, for an exclusive wine tasting featuring special selections from Pirovano and Malenchini Wineries.

Abadjian works closely in Italy with the Pirovano and Malenchini families to develop new wines for Whole Foods Market. He travels to the U.S. four times a year to conduct wine tastings and education. His philosophy is to help customers buy an inexpensive good wine rather than an expensive bad wine. No registration necessary. Must be 21 to drink. Free munchies.? (Note:Abadjian is hosting a wine tasting event Thursday (June 2) from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Whole Foods in Huntington Beach.)

Saturday, June 18

2 ? 7:30 p.m.
$10 flights

Join a ?Burgundy showdown? with the assistant winemaker of Oregon?s Domaine Drouhin. Taste Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the old and new worlds. No registration necessary. Must be 21 to drink.

Whole Foods Market, 2847 Park Avenue
Tustin (near corner of Jamboree Rd. and Barranca Pkwy.)
714-566-7650

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Paul Hodgins is The Register?s arts critic and wine columnist. He pens the Booze on a Budget column focusing on beer, wine and Happy Hour news every Tuesday and Friday on the Fast Food Maven blog. Got a tip for Paul? Send him an email at: phodgins@ocregister.com

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Source: http://fastfood.ocregister.com/2011/05/27/whole-foods-tustin-expanding-wine-bar-business/96609/

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