Wall Street Journal - July 2008

Cultivating a Taste for Inexpensive Wine

My friend Jonathan brought my attention to this article recently posted in the Wall Street Journal. The author discusses the wine markup in restaurants, whether or not it is worth it, and how studies have found that the majority of people can not tell the difference between regular and reserve bottles of the same wine (reserve being made with the best grapes of the crop).

In response to that, I agree with much of what the author says, except that he doesn’t acknowledge that one can acquire a taste for better wine...and genuinely appreciate it. Take caviar as an analogy. Not that I can afford top-shelf caviar on a regular basis, but after having it maybe 20 times in my life now, I definitely can tell – and appreciate – the difference between cheap salmon eggs and high-quality sturgeon. Same with wine, I’m not just imagining the improved appreciation that I have for quality wine. For me, it tops out in the $150/bottle range, meaning anything above that is hard for me to justify in a price/quality way, but the difference between cheap mass-produced wine and a quality hand-crafted wine – whoa boy, I get goosebumps thinking about it!

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MyCentralNewJersey.com - July 30, 2008

Cool Wines Available at CoolVines

Thanks to My Central Jersey for really capturing the spirit of CoolVines. It helps when a journalist is a wine lover. I recommended one of our Aussie Shiraz’s as a good example of a NOT over the top, fruit-bomb...and he loved it!

Most ordinary wine shops group their bottles by country, forcing customers to browse through scores of French, Australian or Italian wines before locating their libation of choice.

Most ordinary wine shops also have the same monotonous titles, rarely changing things up and hardly offering new, different tastes.

That can't be said of CoolVines in Westfield. That's because the small-yet-amply stocked store isn't an ordinary wine shop. It doesn't just cater to the oenophile, or wine enthusiast. CoolVines also is for the "average joe" of the wine world, and that's saying something for a store who shares a street with some pretty upscale neighbors.

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View original article in Courier News (PDF)

Press: NJ Savvy Living – June 2008

Tag…You’re It

Nope, it’s not a ring of paint chips. It’s the CoolVines way to keep a wine journal. The proprietary system starts in the store where every bottle is tagged with a description and a bar code. After purchase, the tags are easily removed and placed in the journal for future reference. The innovative wine shop also offers wine tastings and touchscreen kiosks for you to record your findings...

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Suburbuzz Press - July 2008

Wine Not?

Alright, we've all done it. Bought wine by the label. We hope that an attractive label equals a sumptuous wine. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Now there's a store in Westfield that makes wine selection so easy...

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Imbibe Magazine – July/August 08

Eight Great Wine Shops Coast to Coast

CoolVines sits about 150 from the Westfield, NJ Train Station, but if that seems like too far to drag your feet after the schlep from Penn Station for a bottle of vino, don’t sweat it. You can email them your wine selections, as well as which train you’re going to be on, and someone from the shop will be waiting to greet you at the station with your wines in hand...

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CommercialVigilantInc.Com - Spring 2008

Another Successful Project

From first contact to the completion of our new store, Vigilant has been a great business partner. Working together we developed a beautiful and functional racking system and we look forward to working with them on our next store.

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