Grapevine Secret: Ask, Listen, Deliver More Than Expected

Usually employees of boutique wine shops use price as a starting point when a customer enters the store. Once they determine the customer’s budget, they can start the sales process.

The difference between shops often begins at this point. While most wine retailers offer numerous fine bottles that carry a range of price tags, few tend to undersell.

, of Kirkwood, aims to be an exception.

“We’ve been in many wine stores where the salesperson asked us what price range we were thinking about, and if we said $15-$20, then the salesperson ended up trying to take us to a $25 bottle, and we didn’t like that experience,” said Michael Gray, who along with his brother, Bob, and his wife, Diana, own and operate Grapevine.

Since opening in 1996, Grapevine has attempted to, in the words of Michael Gray, “wow customers” by surprising them with quality wines that often may cost a little less than their specified price range.

"Well, we love to sell expensive wines too, but most of our customers are looking for a $10-$15 bottle, and we don’t automatically take them to the $15 options, because if we can find something closer to $10 that they love, then we’ve made our customer happy,” Michael Gray said.

The business moved to its current location 10 years ago this summer, and the shop features a small cheese and specialty food section, as well as some gifts and a selection of wine-related products such as stemware, and a nifty cooling sleeve designed to bring wines to their correct temperature quickly.

When I inquired about some bottles that Grapevine considers examples of wines that over deliver relative to price expectations, Michael Gray grabbed his brother, Bob, and went to work. Eventually, they narrowed the list down to three picks.

First was a 2009 Cortese, by Castelvero, who is based in the Gavi area of Piedmont, Italy. A refreshing, crisp, white, with a nose of lemon and light fruit, the Cortese ($10.99) would pair well with any grilled white fish.

The real star of the show was up next, in the form of a 2004 Volante Petit Sirah. At $13.99, the Thompson Vineyard red settles in the glass with a deep dark purple color. It offered the nose of a lightly intense Cabernet Sauvignon, with dense blackberries, and the finish was warm but direct. I imagined it standing up to a hearty stew with extra garlic.

Moving up a bit, Bob Gray poured a 2005 Conn Creek Cab, and though the price ($19.99) is a bit above what I’d consider for an everyday wine, the layers of vanilla rolling off this beauty quickly made me forget the whole “value” angle, as I leaned back and enjoyed the lush soft finish of a wine one could only imagine pairing with a delicious filet (grass-fed, medium-rare, please). 

With nearly 15 years of business under their belts, the Gray brothers obviously have figured out a little bit about what it takes to make their customers happy. It starts with a simple formula: Ask, listen and deliver an experience that exceeds expectations.