Wine Classics, A Wine Fair [27th February to 11th March 2012] @ Plaza Singapura

Hello Everyone,
Baby and I were at the Wine Classics Wine Fair last Saturday and it was organised by Carrefour at Plaza Singapura. Well, the reason why we were there was because we wanted to buy some bottles of wine and Champagne to keep for upcoming birthday celebrations that would be taking place in a few months time. So, we basically took a walk around the displays and see what were on offer.

From Wine Classics Wine Fair 2012

Being a trained wine sommelier and bartender and having worked in hotels and restaurants, I naturally asked the promoters about the products that they were selling and well, I must admit, I was quite disappointed with some of the answers that they gave me.

Some of the questions I asked the promoters were:

Is the wine that you are selling a New World Wine or an Old World Wine?
What is the taste and smell of the wine to you?
Do you have any French white wines?

And well, the answers to the above questions were as such:

1). Does it matter?/They both are the same./Is there even such a thing?/I don’t know./What is new world wine and what is old world wine?
2). “Standard answers that are read out straight from the bottle labels”.
3). French do not produce much white wines, so we don’t have it here./French Reds are more popular than French Whites so we only sell French Reds.

As Baby and I were also looking for sweet Champagne, we actually asked a promoter if there were any sweet Champagnes available and she directed us to a Champagne which is either Brut or Extra Brut! By the way, Brut means that the amount of residual sugar per litre of Champagne is 1.5% and so, a Brut Champagne is also otherwise known as a Dry Champagne. For sweet Champagnes, it ought to be either Demi-Sec or Doux and not Brut! Also, the promoters were really more interested in selling wines that would give them the highest commission rather than based on what customers really need/want.

Brut Champagne is not Sweet Champagne!

From Wine Classics Wine Fair 2012

So much for the negative points but well, here’s some plus points though. We actually came across a promoter whom was selling pre-packaged cocktail shots and we found it quite interesting. For a shot, it cost around $6++ and it is cheaper than the local clubs/bars! In fact, these shots are very suitable for a cocktail birthday party. While the shots can be drank neat [straight out from the shot glass, we prefer that it be built manually and served on the rocks for that classic premium feel and taste] For more information about these shots, you can visit http://www.shots.asia/index.php

Overall, it was quite a disappointing wine fair as the promoters didn’t know their products well enough to sell/promote them. In fact, for a wine fair like this, they ought to get promoters whom are knowledgeable and trained in wines and spirits so as to effectively up-sell/cross-sell the products that they are promoting, and also at the same time, engage and educate the customers about their products. Oh, and did I mention? You could get wine samples and go around tasting free wines without actually buying. [that’s a plus point though!]

Some of the wines that were on promotion!