PR Web: With the economic climate tight this year, consumers are witnessing retailers going the extra mile to get their business this Valentine's Day. One wine retailer, Cellar360, approached nine international winemakers and one sports legend to sign their wine bottles for gifts and is even dipping wine in chocolate.
Called the "Signature Series", Cellar360 is offering a collection of wines signed by the individual winemaker. These are then wrapped in tissue paper and gift boxed along with the tasting notes. Winemakers include the 2005 and 2008 Wine Enthusiast Magazine's "Winemakers of the Year" Peter Gago of Penfolds and Margo Van Staaveren of Chateau St. Jean. Other powerhouse celebrity Winemakers include Ed Sbragia of Beringer Fame, Kevin Morrisey of Stags' Leap Winery and Jon Priest from Etude, among others.
"We realize that people are thinking harder about where to spend their money," explains Sales Manager Susan DeMatei. "As retailers, we need to go the extra mail to provide something truly unique to gain their business."
Another example of creative packaging is dipping a bottle in eight ounces of chocolate. "I was reaching out to my local Napa chocolatier for our typical 'wine and chocolate truffles' gifts, when we thought, 'how cool would it be to dip the entire bottle in chocolate?'" After some experimentation, they came up with a perfect pairing - a dark artesian chocolate over a Souverain Dessert Syrah. This port-like wine from Sonoma is cleaned and wrapped in cellophane, then dipped in chocolate and gift wrapped. Instructions come with the wine on how to pull off the inner cellophane so the wine comes off in decadent chunks around the bottle.
"I gave one to my mother's bridge club as a test run," says DeMatei. "It was a huge success - they want five more!"
The "Signature Series" is only available online at www.Cellar360.com. The Chocolate dipped Dessert Syrah is available online or at the San Francisco Store.
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