DAHL'S MAY UNCORK AN IN-STORE WINE-SAMPLING PROGRAM

RICHARD TURCSIK

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Based on the success of a holiday promotion, a Dahl's unit here may offer more in-store wine tastings.

"We may sample some champagnes in May for graduations and weddings. That will probably be our focus for now," Jim Martin, store manager of Dahl's University Boulevard store, told SN.

The plans come on the heels of a highly successful first-ever mass wine tasting the store conducted Nov. 23. Representatives from Dahl's wine suppliers -- Messer Distributing, Johnson Bros./Iowa Wine, Quality Wine and Demitre Wine -- gave out samples of 11 varieties of wine. A nonalcoholic wine also was sampled.

Dahl's also used the wine tasting to showcase other departments in the store.

"We did cross merchandising by sampling cheese from our deli and crackers from our grocery aisle," Martin said.

The tasting was held in two shifts, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The sampling tables were staffed by personnel from the wine companies.

"We tried to emphasize some of the more unusual varieties,"

Martin said. Martin said Dahl's decided to host the event after reading a magazine article that discussed different wines approppriate for holiday dinners.

"This was the first time we had all of our wine distributors together on a mass basis," he added, noting that Dahl's has periodically hosted wine tastings for individual products.

Although Martin was unable to provide specific sales figures, he said the wine tasting boosted sales.