My Wine Journal

Roux Wine is Open for Business!

After months of permitting, remodeling and inspections, we are finally ready to open our shop and wine bar!  Our official opening date is August 2, but we opened the shop on Friday to invite our friends to taste our wine by the glass selections.  We actually had a couple of walk-in customers on Friday and Saturday, so we are off to a great start!

I really want to take a moment to thank all of our friends, family, and Founders Club members who gave us their help and support throughout the process.   Lance and I are humbled by your kindness and generosity and we can't wait to celebrate our opening with you! 

If you are in the area, please stop by the shop to say hello!  We will be open Tuesday through Saturday.  For our hours of operation and more details, please visit our website at www.rouxwine.com.

 

Preparing for August opening of Roux Wine and Spirits!

I missed blogging last week - things have been hectic, between my archaeology dig and trying to get ready to open the shop and wine bar.  My schedule the last few weeks has been rising at 5:45 am each morning, heading to the dig site for 7am, working there until about 3pm, then going home, taking a shower, and heading to Roux Wine to meet with distributors, and work on getting open.  A crazy schedule, but I am immersed in two activities that I am passionate about and I really am thriving on the excitement of both projects.

Our health inspection has been scheduled for July 28th, and we have a few action items to complete prior to that, but once we get our health permit, we plan to open! We have beer, spirits and wine in,and our shelving is almost completely installed.  We will be posting some photos soon on our facebook page (www.facebook.com/rouxwine).

We are also planning some events for August - August 10 will be our Founders Club Wine Tasting, a special tasting where I will offer some of the premium wines and spirits in the shop to our Founders.  If you haven't joined yet, you have until July 31!  Visit this link to find out more about the Founders Club benefits.

On August 16th, I am hosting a Wine Tasting 101 Class for the Baton Rouge Wine Tasting Club at the store.  If you are interested in participating, please visit the Baton Rouge Wine Tasting Club to sign up for it.

And finally, on August 19th we will be hosting our Grand Opening party at Roux Wine and Spirits.  We hope you will come by to help us celebrate our opening.  We are actually hoping to open the store on August 2, but this will be the date of our Grand Opening Party!

During August we will start our Free Friday Wine Tastings, where I will offer two wines for free tasting 
every Friday from 4:30 to 6:30pm. The first one will be on August 5, 2011 and we hope to see you there!

 

Big Week for Roux Wine & Spirits!

 
Last week was a big week for us!  We got countertops, ceramic tile and the store got painted, which really changes things.  We only have a few more things to do before we can open, and it looks like we are on track for August 1.

I have been spending a lot of time figuring out what inventory to buy, and have about 50% of it allocated.  I have already put a few items into inventory.  See what I have so far at this link.  But, I have a long way to go!  

We had a very successful preview event with friends on June 29th, which was assisted by my distributors at Mockler and Moises Wines.   We picked up several new Founders Club members and sold a few bottles of wine, so things are going great!

This week I start my archaeology dig at Galveztown.  This is a project that I committed to way before I ever had the idea to start a wine shop, so for the next five weeks I will be spending my days in the field digging for Spanish Colonial artifacts and my evenings getting Roux Wine ready to open in August! 

Vinexpo, Roux Wine Update, and Wine Certification Results!

Lots to report this week.  

Vinexpo - First, our trip to Vinexpo was an amazing experience.  Tasted a lot of new wines, visited Saint-Emilion, and got to spend some time in Bordeaux and Paris.   The number of tasting opportunities available at Vinexpo were somewhat overwhelming, but my friend Carolee and I managed to make the most of them.  The highlight of our trip was a tasting at Chateau Angelus, where we were able to taste the 2005, 2007 and 2009 vintages of their famous wine.  We met many wonderful wine makers from all over the world. 

Roux Wine & Spirits - The construction continues this week.  While I was gone, the store was painted.  Now we are working on laying ceramic tile, and that should be completed this week.  We will be having a small preview wine tasting on Wednesday for friends and Baton Rouge Wine Tasting Club members, so we hope to have the countertop installed by then also.  But, we will see!  Everything is coming together for our August opening.

Wine Certification News-  I am relieved and excited to report that I passed both the Certified Specialist of Wine and the French Wine Scholar Exam!  So, now I can use both designations on my business card.  Next up is the Certified Sommelier and the Certified Wine Educator, although I have decided to postpone both until next year.  With getting the shop ready to open, I really don't have a lot of time to study, and have decided to take a break from classes for a while to focus on Roux Wine.

Roux Wine & Spirits Start-Up Update - Construction Begins!

 
Last week was another big week in the wine store startup for Roux Wine & Spirits!  On Wednesday, while I was in Houston taking the Certified Specialist of Wine Exam, our utilities were turned on!  I am not sure if I passed the exam, it was extremely difficult, but I haven't had time to dwell on it because we have been way too busy trying to get ready for our August opening.  For the first step, our friends Blake and Brent have been helping us strip the ugly commercial tiles so we can replace it with ceramic tile.  It's a hard job, and we are glad to have their help!  And Trey has been helping us build our bar.

We have had meetings with wholesalers, 225 Magazine, and counter top and flooring professionals.  We also held the Baton Rouge Wine Tasting Club's South American Wine Tasting on Friday, which was  a great success.  I was able to provide a special treat by bringing a bottle of Concha y Toro Terrunyo Carmenere that my wholesale rep at Glazer's recommended.  It was delicious!

I am excited that I can now order wines wholesale for re-sale and to use at tasting events.  So if there is anything you want, or if you just want me to recommend something, please let me know.  We are spending a little more than we anticipated on building out our space and any wine you buy from us now will help us offset that a bit!  We can usually get whatever you order in a few days, so don't hesitate to contact us.  You can use this link to send your request, and if you are not sure what wine you want you can just ask for the kind of wine you are looking for, such as "a cabernet sauvignon from Napa" or a "refreshing white wine for summer" and I will give you some options for you to choose from.  You can also email your request to me at myrna@rouxwine.com or call me at (225)341-2486.  I can pretty much get anything available in Louisiana and arrange delivery or shipping (although I can only ship to certain states).

This week is also off to a big start!  Today I ordered our building sign from Greater Baton Rouge Signs, and we should have it in about 3-4 weeks.  And, to top it all off, I am going to Bordeaux on Friday for VinExpo!  Next week's update will come from Bordeaux, France, provided the wireless internet service promised in the hotel website actually works!  

Till then, au revoir, mes amis!

Wine Store Start-up Update for Roux Wine & Spirits

Last week was a great week for Roux Wine & Spirits LLC!  On Monday, I completed my testing for my French Wine Scholar Certification.  I am now impatiently waiting for the results!

On Tuesday I meet with our talented interior designer, Andre Savoie, to select colors and materials for the interior.  We are doing a gray/black/and red color scheme that plays off on the colors of our logo and will look beautiful!  He is also helping select cool bar stools and seating which is going to make our wine bar really cool!

Isral Duke has been helping us design our sign for the shop, gift cards, and recently blogged about how he approached designing our logo in his blog.    Check it out, it is really interesting to see his process, and some of the early sketches he developed for our design!

I also met with representatives from 225 Magazine, and Streetcar Shops to discuss advertising.  

And, we finally have the final permits in place!  Our utilities will be turned on Wednesday, and we will be able to start our buildout!  We are so excited that this is becoming a reality!  Our plan is to open in late July or August, and we can't wait!  Stay tuned for updates on our Facebook page and on this blog, or follow us on twitter at @rouxwine.

Win 2 Tickets to a Wine Tasting in Baton Rouge on June 10!

Video - A Taste of the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience

 

Roux Wine & Spirits LLC is looking for our first employee!

There comes a time in every entrepreneurial venture, when you realize that you simply are not able to do everything it is going to take to get your business off the ground.

One of the lessons I have learned from being in business for myself for many years is that, although sometimes I would like to, I simply cannot do everything myself.  So, I have decided to seek some outside help with certain aspects of my operation.  I have worked with a great graphic designer to develop our logo, and I am working with a great interior designer on the look and feel of the store and bar.  And, when I can afford to, I plan to hire an excellent marketing firm to help me with advertising and branding strategy.

I had originally planned to run the store and bar entirely myself in the early days, to save my limited capital.  But as it gets closer to opening day and I contemplate the list of things that need to happen to make for a successful bar, I realize I need some help there.  Not just a part-time bartender, but someone who has run a bar before and knows how to do it.  Someone who can help me set it up, figure out what supplies I need, and help me with day to day operations of the bar so I can focus on bigger issues, like marketing.

Here's my descripton of the person I am looking for.  Now I just need to find them!

If you are interested, or know anyone in the Baton Rouge area who might be, please let me know!

 

Wine Store Start-up Update for Roux Wine & Spirits LLC

 
Yesterday was a great day for Roux Wine & Spirits LLC!  We were granted our liquor license!  We also got our logo last week, for those of you who haven't seen it.

Our Facebook Page has 50 fans, so if you haven't checked it out yet, please do!

Today, I excitedly began to move forward with the next steps - insurance, design, signage, utilities.  But when I called to turn on utilities, I was informed I would need my health permit, an occupancy certificate and a flood certificate.  The health permit I already have worked on, and the health department officer, who has been incredibly helpful, gave me verbal approval and told me he would go ahead and let the electric company know to turn on my power.  The occupancy permit, however, will be more complicated, since they won't give it to me until I get a letter from the Fire Marshall, and that will take about two-four weeks.  This is all because the unit I am leasing has been empty for about two years and everything has to be re-permitted as if it were a brand new building.  So, it looks like I have more delays before we can start working on the space.

However, we have our liquor permit which, although it was the one I was most nervous about, has turned out to be the easiest permit to get.  And that means I can be working on a lot issues in the next few weeks  that were on hold for that.   It looks like we can shoot for opening sometime in August.  I can't wait!  Meanwhile, I am trying to figure out if I can ship wine.  It looks like I cannot within Louisiana, but I can ship to certain states.  As soon as I figure out the logistics, I will start my Explorers Wine Club.

In other news, I am done with the French Wine Class from the French Wine Society, and our test is on Monday 5/23/2011.  It has proven to be a great class, although pretty challenging.  As soon as I finish this blog post I need to get studying!  I hope by this time next week I am a French Wine Scholar!  I am holding off on ordering business cards for the store until I get my certifications, so I can print them on my cards.