Great Lakes Wine & Spirits has taken the following action steps to ensure the safety of our employees and customers during the COVID-19 pandemic in accordance with OSHA and CDC recommendations:
Implement Basic Infection Prevention Measures
Emphasizing basic infection prevention measures. Implement good hygiene and infection control including frequent and thorough hand- washing, encourage employees to stay home if sick, and respiratory etiquette, including covering coughs and sneezes with tissue or sleeve
Employees to clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces (phones, computers, keyboards, desks, etc.).
Hands-free doors, trash cans, hand sanitization stations
Sanitize office, warehouse, and delivery vehicles between each shift
New café procedures including pre-packaged food, only handled by SERV Safe Provider.
Social Distancing and Hygiene Safety signs displayed in all facilities
Implement Workplace Controls
Any employee exhibiting symptoms must leave the facility immediately
Utilizing Telemedicine service for all employees
Sanitization kits in each delivery vehicle
Restructured and painted/marked zones in warehouse to (visually) ensure social distancing in warehouse workspaces
No out-state/country visitors allowed in building(s)
Flexible work schedules, staggered start times, work remotely if/when possible
Providing workers with up-to-date information on COVID-19 risk factors and protective behaviors
Daily discussions with union stewards and union leadership to address any issues ideas or best practices
We're collecting a handful of the best wine-related memories, preferences, decisions and dreams out there, and putting them all together right here! Feel free to flip through the book by grabbing any corner of the pages, and "flipping it over" as you would real book, beginning with the top right corner of the cover below.
Or, if you'd like to fill out your own questionnaire for the collection, just
click here to display the form for you! Then you can have your own place in wine connoisseur history.
Wine Memory Contributors
Select a contributor's name to jump to their entry
winegeek
wine geek, Great Lakes Wine & Spirits
geeky, handsome, charming
1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?
Lots! a 10 day old Barolo (to see how long it can last),a Santa Duc VV Cotes du Rhone, a 2009 Rose from Provence--to prove they taste good old)
2. What is your favorite wine region?
The one from which the wine in front of me hails from!
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?
Thailand--they do two harvests a year!
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?
Burgundy
5. What is your dream wine job?
being the wine geek at GLWAS
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?
Geek only eats healthy, natural foods, such as fois gras
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?
Champagne, magnums of Champagne...chilled
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?
The 'le nez du vin' kit...with all the labels removed
9. Sherry, yay or nay?
yay!
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?
Hmmm...probably Retsina, which would have made me a beer drinker if that were the only option. And all 'orange' wines are pretty weird to geek
11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?
As a server in a club, being offered a taste of a member's '62 Ch Latour, Pauillac--and pouring myself a hefty taste (he was a poor tipper!)
12. What is your desert island wine?
Champagne
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?
Wines from grapes they've never heard of before--Falanghina, Hondarrabi Zuri, St. Laurent for example. Restaurants should do away with Chardonnay
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?
Champagne & Buttered Popcorn
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?
A tie: Hugh Johnson and Ron Washam
16. What is your favorite wine quote?
I cook with wine; sometimes I even add it to the food. W C Fields
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?
Dinner?
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?
Magnum
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?
I don't remember...I passed out when the bill came
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?
Doing a staff training in a restaurant on how to open wine...and I couldnt get the cork out (I swear it was super-glued in there!)
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:
Robert Parker and Jancis Robinson--we'd rate the wines on a 60 point scale!
Rebecca
Great lakes Wine & Spirits
wine and beer nerd
1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?
Two bottles of Iron Horse in the refrigerator. The counter is bare.
2. What is your favorite wine region?
Champagne, of course!
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?
Loire Valley. Fairy tale castles and Muscadet!
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?
Burgundy
5. What is your dream wine job?
Own a small wine store in a university town.
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?
Brown ale or Gamay
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?
I have some beautiful stoppers (which are never used.)
No more wine-themed gifts, please. Wine is fine.
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?
A great opener or wine glass charms
9. Sherry, yay or nay?
Yay! One of my favorite wine "discoveries"
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?
My ex boyfriend's grandfather's homemade wine.
11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?
A couple of bottles of Champagne, freshly popped popcorn, a fire, an amazing person under a starry sky.
12. What is your desert island wine?
Special Cuvee is just fine.
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?
Cru Beaujolais. This is not your parents' Gamay
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?
Lingenfelder Bird-Label Riesling and Hot Chicken Panang Curry. The first time I ever had Riesling with Thai. Still crave it.
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?
Eric Asimov
16. What is your favorite wine quote?
Drink wine, and you will sleep well. Sleep, and you will not sin. Avoid sin, and you will be saved. Ergo, drink wine and be saved.
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?
Bubbles or a Negroni
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?
Sexy
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?
Domaine Romanee Conti , at an event
Purchased myself, Ca' Marcanda Ca' Marcanda
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?
Dumping a tray of full wine glasses all over myself in front of the table I was bringing them to.
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:
Antoine & Katie. Truth.
Rick Lopus
VP Great Lakes Wine & Spirits
Wine Educator & Geek (and not in that order)
1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?
Hmm, a Passopisciaro Etna Rosso, a Demiere-Ansiot Bl de Bl Grand Cru Champagne, a Santa Duc Gigondas 'Garanciers', and a Caesar Florido Oloroso
2. What is your favorite wine region?
Burgundy, followed by Piedmont, followed by Burgundy
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?
Sicily
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?
Really?
5. What is your dream wine job?
I have it already
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?
Bollinger 'Special Cuvee'
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?
a really cool WHITE wine decanter
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?
Wine books
9. Sherry, yay or nay?
Yay, Yay, Yay!
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?
I think all 'orange' wines are strange. I recently had one from Georgia (fka Russia) called 'Pheasants Tears'...it made ME want to cry
11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?
In the cellars of an esteemed Burgundy domaine when the owner asked my birth year (which happens to be a legendary vintage in Burgundy), yummy!
“Great Lakes Wine & Spirits is one of our major suppliers of wine and spirits. We have the pleasure of working with the same sales managers we’ve been working with for over 30 years. The knowledge, selection, and service combined with our long-term relationship provides meaningful value to our business.”
Kameel Chamelly CEO, Martha’s Vineyard Gourmet and Nantucket Baking Company
“Great Lakes Wine & Spirits and Plum Market have shared a symbiotic relationship for years. We rely on GLW&S to be our key supplier, and their range of products is unequalled. The leadership is outstanding and committed, and their level of service and attention to detail are excellent.”
Marc Jonna Co-Founder, Plum Market
“An incredible portfolio that speaks for itself. But what really sets Great Lakes Wine & Spirits apart from other distributors is their customer service! The whole organization from top to bottom sets the standard on how it should be done.”
The Chianti Classico Version Without going too far down a rabbit hole, in the 50’s and 60’s U.S. auto manufacturers practiced something called ‘planned obsolescence’ where they purposely built cars that were not too durable, thereby causing consumers to replace their cars/parts more quickly than could have been accomplished. As…
The Chianti Classico Version Without going too far down a rabbit hole, in the 50’s and 60’s U.S. auto manufacturers practiced something called ‘planned obsolescence’ where they purposely built cars that were not too durable, thereby causing consumers to replace their cars/parts more quickly than could have been accomplished. As lovers of capitalism, we sort of applaud the audacity. However, when Japan started shipping in better built cars—for less money—the jig was up, and the quality of U.S. built autos soared. Pertaining to wine, happily many, many in the trade these days pride themselves in having extensive technical and especially geographic knowledge about wine; any sales professional should know as much as possible about the products they sell, and wine is now no different. However,…