Wine Buyers, Fine Wine Retailers and the Value of Reputation

The differences between Winc and Sherry-Lehmann.

It may sound trite, but any real measure of trust and reputation a person or concern possesses is almost always built on a willingness to look someone in the eye.

In 2011 the online “wine club” Winc began building an online retail business based on never looking their customers in the eye. They sold cheap bulk wine in bottles with labels depicting made-up wineries. The source of the wine in the bottles was always a little bit obscure and research didn’t often yield useful results. At the same time, Winc worked hard to convince prospective club members that the wine industry was filled with overpriced wines made by wineries committed to duping customers with slick marketing supporting average juice. Winc was in the business of putting real value in the hands of wine consumers.

Winc filed for bankruptcy a few days ago.

Sherry-Lehmann was founded about nine decades ago in Manhattan after the end of Prohibition. It became one of the most renowned wine merchants in America by making a habit of looking buyers in the face and selling them a wide selection of classic, collectible, common, inexpensive, interesting, and pricy wines produced by real wineries with easily accessible histories. There is no indication that the founders or the folks that made a career working the aisles at Sherry-Lehmann ever made a habit of denigrating either the wineries whose bottlings they sold or their competing wine retailers who also made a habit of looking buyers in the eye.