My Wife’s Quest for Holdredge Wines

Upon reading my recent post about Whole Foods, my wife reminded me of additional assistance she received from the wine department at our local store.

This story begins at her firm’s Christmas party at Bacco, a wonderful New Orleans restaurant. During the lunch, the group ordered, and consumed, several bottles of a delicious red wine.

As we perused the Whole Foods wine selection the following week in preparation for our family Christmas celebration, she suddenly flashed back to her Bacco experience and tried desperately to recall the name of the wine. She could remember it started with an “H” and came from California. She first asked one of the Whole Foods staff, and he diligently searched for the wine in both his memory bank and the store’s offerings. He came up with some ideas, but none were it.

At the same time, she dialed the restaurant, speaking to the manager about her situation. The manager asked for some specifics, took her number and said she’d call right back. A few minutes later, while we were still browsing the wine section, her phone rang, and the manager identified the wine - Holdrege.

We went back to wine guy at Whole Foods, but they didn’t carry it, nor did they have it listed anywhere. There was something he could try, however, and that is to get one of the distributors to order it in. Failing that, he’s going to see if the store can get it directly from the winery.

And even if Whole Foods is not able to stock it, that is OK. If we so choose, we can order the wine ourselves for home delivery. The important thing is that they are going out of their way to meet our desires, not just our needs. They want to delight us, not just serve us. I also have to give it to Bacco. The manager quickly did the research and gave us the answer we needed.

Both have created great experiences for us. That is what allows organizations to thrive long-term.

Now, I must add a post script to this entry. Just before writing, I read this post on Qipit about an odd and outdated policy at Whole Foods that almost flies in the face of the two entries I’ve posted. If their policy doesn’t change, perhaps they can devise an alternative solution. Something as simple as writing the name of difficult-to-pronounce-and-remember-products on a card. It would give them additional opportunities to educate and cross-sell. Just my two-cents.

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