Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/898117
november 2017 / the tasting panel / 81 Luxury Resort and its award-winning Ninety Acres Restaurant. Fisch was familiar with Sabel's work and jumped at the chance to add her to his team. A mutual colleague connected the two via email and, as Fisch tells it, "she was hired an hour later." Joining forces has enabled the two to not only expand the retailer's existing business, but to better arm the company against the rising tide of online vendors such as Amazon and Wine.com. "Amazon was a game changer from day one, and they will continue to be," Fisch says. "But from my point of view, it keeps us honest. We have to be better than them. And that's one of the reasons I wanted someone like Brooke. I wanted somebody as passionate as I am about wine." That passion goes a step further through Sabel's interest in creating educational opportunities. She's already started a program for training Fisch's wine team and is also organizing classes for his customers. Sabel says, "We have to keep in mind that everyone has to start somewhere. So if we can take that novice and turn them into a highly-educated consumer, then everyone wins." Fisch can relate—he's been winning for 30 years. When asked for his secret to success, he insists there are many contributing factors. "As a merchant, you've got to have all the bases covered," Fisch explains. "If you're just getting into wine and $10 is your budget, we've got you covered. If you want First Growth Bordeaux, we've got you covered! Cult Napa? We got you! The best hand-cut cheeses in the state, we've got that too!" As large swaths of the wine-drinking population are increasingly priced out of many top-tier restaurants, retail stores continue to represent a space where everyone from the Millennial hipster to the soccer mom to the serious collector—and everyone in between—can shop for a wine specific to their taste. "Wine is wine; people are people. And I love matching the two of them together," Sabel says. Her hiring is a brilliant example of just one way retail- ers across the board can boost their business savvy, because the competi- tion is fiercer than it's ever been—and there's no indication that will let up anytime soon. Fisch cautions any cavalier wine enthusiasts contemplating a jump into the retail game about the intensity of that competitiveness. "Just because you drink wine doesn't mean you can sell it. And whether it's online sales, whether it's Costco or Trader Joe's, or whether it's some other national chain coming across the country—it's a war," he says. Having an esteemed som- melier as your not-so-secret weapon, it turns out, can only improve your chances of victory. Gary Fisch, Founder and CEO of Gary's Wine & Marketplace, hired Sabel to expand the retailer's existing business and better arm the company against the rising tide of online vendors such as Amazon and Wine.com.