Consultants help customers uncork the secrets of fine wine
Expanded wine shop at the Ashton Place Kroger focuses on customer service
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Unless you are a wine connoisseur, it can be hard to know the difference between chardonnay and Riesling or pinot noir and merlot.
Add to that a lot of artsy labels with mysterious names like Wishing Tree, Ghost Pines, Fat Bastard, The Holy Trinity, Sasquatch, Tin Roof and The Little Penguin, and you can have one perplexing experience when it comes to buying wine.
Lisa Cicconi helps customers wade through the choices at the Ashton Place Kroger where what was a half-aisle wine selection has been upgraded to a wine shop that includes 1,700 varieties. Cicconi, the store's new wine consultant, is one of the biggest additions to the expanded section.
"Wine is a very subjective thing," she said. "Everyone likes something different."
Cicconi has helped arrange the new department in the front of the store by grouping types of wines together and guiding customers with shelf labels to point out specials and those highly rated by the popular guide Wine Spectator.
"I'm here full time just to help the customer with weddings, parties, gift wines and what to have for dinner tonight," she said.
The new wine shop replaces the former health and beauty section near the pharmacy. Wines are displayed on four "gondolas" and Cicconi is stationed prominently. Soon, the area will feature paintings of wine bottles by local artist Lynn Payne and offer wine tastings.
Cicconi can help a shopper find familiar and traditional wines like Beringer, Sutter Home and Clos Du Bois, but she might also steer them to some names they don't know.
"We're experimenting with small producers and specialty wines," she said. "We take the mystery out of wine and introduce them to some new things.
"I think a lot of people want to like wine," Cicconi said. "To enjoy a glass with dinner or out with friends."
She might question a hesitant shopper or admitted wine novice in order to better predict a wine they'll enjoy. And after they've bought it and tried it, she hopes they'll report back.
Cicconi is also able to special order wines not in stock and keeps track of requests in a notebook. Currently, the shop features table wines priced from $3.99 on up to a $280 bottle of champagne.
Some West Virginia wineries are represented, including Fisher Ridge and Forks of Cheat, and one called Falcor owned by local attorneys Mike Bee and Peterson but located in California.
