On the job

Wine Buyer, One Eleven Chop House, Worcester
Telegram & Gazette
October 2005


AARON W. FRANCISCO
Age: 44
Native of: Worcester
Current residence: Northboro
Time on job: 15 years
Marital status: Married with two children

What do you do?
"I purchase all the product, and research and develop our wine list. There's a team of people who work on the wine program, and I oversee all of them. I do the ordering of wine, I meet with vendors to discuss quantity discounts, reordering product. We have more than 6,000 bottles of wine on hand at any one time."

What do you like about the job?
"The wine program is one of the best aspects of the restaurant business. I cut my teeth on it as a bartender, and I like to think I'm pretty good at it. I like learning about the product. I enjoy learning about wine, tasting wines. If I didn't have the job I'd say I would have missed out on something. It's enhanced my life exponentially."

What do you like least about the job?
"Fighting off salespeople. Because we have a high volume of sales and we like to have sophisticated offerings, the distributors are very eager to have their product on our wine lists. They're good people, but they have their sales quotas to meet. That's the toughest thing to deal with."

Does the job require any special training?
"Not in my case. I was a bartender at The Sole Proprietor when their wine list was growing, and I just kind of stepped into it."

What goes into maintaining a wine list?
"A lot of the job is just day-to-day, week-to-week, with the list. The size of it can become overwhelming, making sure to restock some products and to remove something if it isn't selling, going to tastings. There's a lot of immediate work. And you have to think ahead: What do we want on the list in the fall? In the spring?"

Which wines sell the best?
"We're very successful with our California and American wines. The bulk of our list is California, and that's by design, because that's the bulk of what sells. We're trying to develop our French and Italian offerings. Italian wines sell well, but French wines don't sell as well. I can't tell why; it could be that they're more expensive or it could be political taboos."

What have you learned on the job?
"When we started the program I was intimidated. I didn't think we could sell it all. At first I was surprised at how much we sell. I'm not surprised any longer. There is clearly a market for good wine in Central Massachusetts."

What is your favorite wine?
"Meritage, the California version of the Bordeaux blends. Joseph Phelps Insignia is my favorite wine. It's the one I served at my wedding, and I have been quietly and nonchalantly collecting bottles of it for my daughter's wedding."

How should someone choose a wine at dinner?
"No choice is a bad choice. Choosing wine is a good choice. What flavors do you like? What have you had in the past that you enjoyed? To enjoy wine, you need a file of experiences. Try, try, try. Wine is fun, not something that should be intimidating. When you're young, you don't worry about which beer to drink. You just pick one and drink it. Wine is the same way."

Does the vintage year of a wine matter?
"Not really. The American consumer at this point is eager to drink wine right away. There are some great years that people will seek out, but most people look for a bottle from a maker they like or recognize. For a restaurant, that's a good thing, because we don't have to get caught up in having every year in stock."

Have you seen the movie "Sideways"?
"Yes, and I enjoyed it. I've been to Napa and the wine regions that are in the movie and watching the movie made me feel like I was back there. Our pinot noir sales have tripled since the movie came out."

Compiled by: Business reporter Jim Bodor