Invitation to AMA: wedding and party wines with The Showroom's Marjorie Cropp

[laura]

Our third Ask Me Anything is here just in time for wedding and summer party season!

Wednesday 16th May, 1-2pm: wedding/party wine AMA with The Showroom’s Marjorie Cropp

The Showroom is so much more than just a place to pick up a few bottles of delicious wine. Here’s a little bit of background:

• Read this Day in the Life of the Showroom piece to get a feel for the heart and soul that goes into our Showroom team’s work
• Have a look at the Showroom page on the website, particularly the wedding tastings and advice section.
• Find out more about our Showroom team - including the lovely Showroom assistant Marjorie, ex-sommelier and recent WSET Diploma graduate.

Send us your questions!

Marjorie has agreed to answer all your questions about wedding wine, choosing wine for parties and gifts, and general stuff about the Showroom, from what her favourite bottles in the Vintage Room are to recent stars she’s tasted at the Enomatic machine (and how they choose which wines to have available to taste!)

Send us your questions by replying to this topic.
Marjorie will then join us LIVE for 1 hour (1-2pm BST) on 16/05/2018 where she will answer all the questions you’ve asked and can try to answer as many follow-up or ‘live’ questions as possible. You can log in and join us, or follow the conversation later at your leisure.

---

Click here to see what happened during the last two AMAs with Head of Buying Pierre and our Burgundy and South America buyer Toby.

---

So what are you waiting for? Post your questions below…

[Leah]

Oooh sounds great !

[laura]

Just going to ‘bump’ this seeing as it got lost in all the #twstaste excitement!

We’re looking for questions on anything to do with party/wedding wines or Marjorie’s top picks from the Showroom. Ask away…

[Leah]

What are the best selling wines in the Showroom? I’d be interested to see whether they correspond to the online sales or do in showroom promotions influence buyers?

[Leah]

Second question, I frequently purchase this wine for my MIL, as she is an old skool “Will only drink Chardonnay” type of person,

Lascar Classic Central Valley Chardonnay 2017

I’ve also discovered this recently as a value for money summer wine

Marsanne-Viognier, Les Pierres Bordes, Pays d'Oc 2017

And this, which will now become the “friends over, summer fizz” wine:

Hortas do Caseirinho Frisante

What other Summer party wines do you recommend, that are A) inexpensive, (As I loathe to provide wine for friends who drink like fish and have no appreciation for decent wine).
B)Not well known… ie: Portugese/ Greek etc…
C) More upmarket (for smaller groups) higher quality but refreshing.

Thanks

[Alchemist]

On my visits to the showroom I’m always impressed with the available choice, but I wondered what percentage of wines currently on the TWS list are available to buy in the showroom? And, what factors drive the selection?

[JayKay]

Are bin end bottles all the ‘left overs’ of wines bought in quantity by TWS or are there any that are ‘special purchases’ which sometimes is the case in other shops’ non-wine related sales?

[szaki1974]

Are there better ‘bin end’ deals in the showroom than online?

[Bargainbob]

If you were getting married this weekend, what would you choose as your red, white and sparkling options?

[robert_mcintosh]

I’d be interested to follow up on a conversation I had with @cgoldin about events and Sale or Return.

Sale or Return wines

This makes me wonder - does TWS ever take back bottles not drunk at large functions and offer them for resale? That might explain why some wines go in and out of stock inexplicably…but I’d also want to know that the wine is moving around and has spent time uncellared. If this never happens, please ignore the question…but since TWS does offer sale or return I think its worth enquiring…

I gather that this is available for larger events when you aren’t sure of the volumes required. How often is this actually requested, and how often is any wine actually returned?

What state is this wine in, in your experience if/when it is returned, and what happens to it? I know that @Tim_S discussed this from a tastings point of view, but it would be very interesting to get the Showroom perspective too.

I know that if I was organising an event I would certainly keep this option in mind

[Nowt_in_my_glass]

Is there a plan to open a second showroom…?

[onlyawino]

In Leeds !!!

[Nowt_in_my_glass]

Oooo now there’s an idea…

[onlyawino]

Or Preston

[Leah]

Do you give any discount on large number of wines purchased for a wedding or party??

[tom]

What’s the:

• oldest
• most expensive
• most popular
• least popular
• most asked for

bottle in the showroom?

[cgoldin]

Who have been the

oldest
most expensive
most popular
least popular
most asked for

customers in the showroom

(OK - they don’t all work but you know what I mean)

[cgoldin]

I would add as well:

most famous
most difficult (and how)
most eccentric (and how)

[Leah]

most famous

Interested to hear the answer to this one

[NickP]

I’m interested what the average customer age is. I think of myself as being on the younger end of the wine enthusiast age range. I’m in my late 30s, but in my head I’m in my 20s. That is until I spend any time with someone in their 20s - then I feel like I’m in my 40s