“Wait, you guys serve wine?” That’s usually one of the first reactions we get when people look over their shoulder from the TEA-zer shelf to see the wine display. It’s typically quickly followed by, “What made you decide to do that?”
There are two parts to that answer.
First, we built what we felt like Salt Lake was missing. So many evenings (or afternoons) we wanted to go somewhere for a decent, casual glass of wine. Sitting in a bar wasn’t quite the experience we were looking for but taking up a table at a restaurant just to have a drink while placing a food order (as per Utah law) wasn’t appealing either… not to mention that the wine pricing at many restaurants has a steep markup. We’d been craving a place like you find in New Orleans at Bacchanal – the experience of shopping for your wine in an unpretentious way, assembling a few great snack items and then enjoying a bottle at your leisure in a comfortable setting. So that’s exactly what we did.
The second part of that answer is that wine has a lot of crossover with tea – it’s all made from the same plant, just different varieties of grapevines instead of tea trees. The flavor profiles are affected most by the soil and the climate in which they are grown as well as how the wine is processed after the grapes are harvested. Bringing together the experience of learning about and exploring tea and wine seemed like a pretty natural and complementary offering. In fact, they go together so well that you can purchase a pitcher of iced tea to build your own tea-mosa or tea sangria.
The core element of our wine program was providing a unique and engaging shopping environment. Shopping for tea at Tea Zaanti is so experiential, we wanted to mimic that with our wine program. Due to Utah law, you can’t exactly smell the wine and see how it looks like you can with tea leaves, but by working with the Utah Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control (DABC) we were able to build a system that’s similar. All the bottles are on display in such a way that you can rotate them to see and read the front and back labels and also see the wine itself in the bottle (which means, depending on the bottle, you can see the color and hue of the juice inside). We’ve also provided a hang tag for each with customer friendly descriptions (no mention of the nose and the palate) because the majority of bottles we picked are unique grape varietals and often from smaller producers. People get nervous about trying new things. Our goal is to take the stress out of expanding your wine knowledge and make people comfortable trying something new, just like we do with our 85 varieties of tea. It seems to be working because our two top-selling bottles are an Italian white grape, Favorita and a Spanish red grape, Garnacha. Once a customer determines their wine choice, they simply grab the corresponding hangtag and bring it to the counter, eliminating any anxiety around how to pronounce the vintner or grape.
Aside from the opportunity to experience and educate, our goal was to do it all at an affordable price point for our patrons. To accomplish this, we chose to provide casual, communal-style glassware (much like what you’d find at an Italian family dinner table) and only selling by the bottle. This eliminates the need for expensive preservation systems, staff time dedicated to hand washing and polishing glassware and fewer broken glasses. The savings here allow us to sell wine with a fairly minimal markup and the more expensive the bottle, the better the savings. For example, our most high-end bottle, RAEN pinot noir (from the grandsons of Robert Mondavi and legendary vintner behind Opus One), is available for $60 in the Utah state stores and we sell it for $95 on our menu. Nobody likes taking a risk on an expensive bottle that they know should only cost them a third of the price. Our approach to pricing reduces some of that anxiety if you decide to splurge and treat yourself. In turn, it allows us to keep inventory moving and reduce any risk of spoilage. For those who are concerned about obligating themselves to a whole bottle, Utah law allows you to recork and take it home with you, and we offer a variety of wine by the can for a single or double serving.
Lastly, because our alcohol license requires the purchase of food, we launched the market side of our retail space. Customers can peruse the market fridge and select their cheese, meat or vegan salami, olives, hummus, etc and browse the shelves for tinned seafood, specialty crackers and a variety of sweet treats. Pricing for the items includes us plating them and serving them with bread or crostinis, house mustard and other accouterments. No obligation to order from a fancy menu. Of course, you are welcome to shop and take items home for some last-minute visitors or build your own picnic.
And that’s how (and why) we built the Tea Zaanti wine program. We hope you’ll come in and give it a try soon! Please feel free to share your thoughts on the list or any requests for wines you’d like to see and try in the future, because once hanging out in public spaces picks back up again, we look forward to rotating our stock and inventory on a regular basis, featuring special orders and providing a regular education component.
P.S. One final note, if you must have your wine in a fancy glass, we do offer Riedel glasses for use for $3 each. No judgment here, we like a nice glass to swirl, sniff and enjoy every now and then too.
