Mezze Bottiglie? No, Grazie - Half Bottles? No thanks

A feature on half bottles and other techniques to help increase wine sales in restaurants by Slawka G. Scarso. First published in Bibenda May-June 2005.

INCIPIT
People have always been attracted by new forms of sale. No wonder it is commonly said, when faced with a genial idea, that “this is the best invention since sliced bread”- which, by the way, was first on the market at the end of the Twenties, thanks to the invention of 26 year old Otto F. Rohdwedder who didn’t pay any attention to those who told him that the bread would have gone stale straight away, and thus his project would be destined to failure.
Since then, inventions of this kind have covered supermarket shelves with precooked and mono-dose food. From snacks to single dose cornflakes and laundry detergents in tablets which cost a fortune in comparison to the traditional powder but who cares when they’re so practical?
And at a time when globalization thrives in the wine market, could this sector remain a happy oasis where these things do not happen? Not at all.
So here comes every sort of newer (and slightly older) strategy to sell the same product as yesterday, because you cannot avoid meeting the needs of the consumer, especially when he is so price-sensitive.
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Arrivati al successo, in silenzio - A silent success

A feature entirely dedicated to Sardinian wine producers Argiolas, including a comprehensive tasting of their products: not just wines, but olive oil, grappa and liqueurs. Written by Slawka G. Scarso, first published in Bibenda - May-June 2005.

INCIPIT & EXCERPT
Forget the isolation of Sardinia. Argiolas is today, without any doubt, one of the most representative Italian wine estates on an international scale. Its competitive advantage is probably linked to two elements: on the one hand, the initial efforts aimed especially at the foreign market, and at consumers who were more inclined than national ones to purchase Sardinian wines; on the other, a strong trade marketing strategy directed at motivating trade and restaurant owners.
Founded almost 80 years ago by Antonio Argiolas, this wine estate can now count on the participation in the production and promotion activity of three generations of the same family, with a great contribution given, in this second sector, even by the younger family members, and in particular by Valentina Argiolas. A large range of wines defines the production. Wines made of the grapes from vineyards all situated on the hills of Southern Sardinia, where rain is usually scarce and the summers finely ventilated.

...All wines have a powerful structure. While the white wines’ only weak point seems to rest in the important alcoholic component which slightly dims the acidity, the red ones all flaunt a particularly amiable personality, on various levels of interpretation: starting with the simpler, if one may say so, Perdera, and culminating with the powerful and gigantic Turriga, in a decisive crescendo con brio and elegance which comprises Korem, a younger brother to Turriga, in which a palate of international style counterpoints a range of scents all of which are reminiscent of the Mediterranean scrub-land.
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