pino della pietra, owner of the wine shop

Finally there is a way to train yourself to drink wine, because the historic “San Pietro” wine shop in Salerno (Campania region, south of Italy) has opened a gym to train the taste, the taste of wine drinking and drink well. And we are not surprised considering that Pino, owner of the wine shop, is a well-known body-builder!

This wine shop is a historical one in the area and now it includes a tasting room where one can taste about 48 wines perfectly preserved by machines dispensers which offer 3 different doses according to preferences and, why not, the pockets! One should just walk into the store and activate the card to be recharged when needed, then it has to be inserted into the machine that will tell us immediately the remaining credit. At this point one can choose the wine preferred and click on one of the 3 buttons indicating the dosage: 25, 75 or 125 ml with prices varying depending on the cost of the bottle of course. But to give you an idea if the bottle costs less than 10 euros, the tasting will have more or less the following costs:

• 25ml:0.50cents;
• 75 ml: 1 euro;
• 125 ml: 2/2, 50 €

While a bottle of Supertuscans (which costs about 200 Euros) will start from a minimum of 5/6euro for 25ml up to 20euro for 125 ml.

One can range between whites, reds and rosè wines produced all over the world!

And my curiosity is the following ones: how this system will increase sale of the lesser-known wines such as Californian or Australian ones; will it vary the sales of expensive wines that until now, one does not buy because ensure about the shouted quality; and which are the female or male preferences?

That is why Pino and I have made ​​a pact: we will write an article made of 3 acts,this is the first one, a presentation, then we’ll publish a couple more in the next months to see how the system will work…

In short, this is the “Amusement Park” for those who love wine and finally have the chance to try wines never tasted before, those not readily available. Yet, it will be nice to taste expensive bottles by purchasing a single glass at 6 Euros. Not only,this system guarantee the chance to try a wine before buying it for a dinner or a gift.

I find it an exciting initiative that does not have many competitors around the country also because of the high cost of these machines, but that provides us with a perfect preservation of wine.

Finally, it seems to me a very valuable communication action, more powerful than any blog or newspaper. These cards will be a powerful tool and I will have the pleasure of analyzing the data step by step.