For Release on July 2, 2006

The Sunday Paper

Wine & spirits kiosk
Vino info just a scan away

The WineandRecipes.com kiosk demystifies the wine selection process for the average consumer, says company president Jon Holland.

By Jason Tesauro & Phineas Mollod 

Long before digital cameras ruled the roost, there were the wondrous days of dropping off 126-speed film from your Instamatic to the Lilliputian drive-up Fotomat kiosk, where some poor minimum wager dispensed photographs and leered at the racy, chesty shots in between servicing customers. Until recently, the Fotomat booth remained the king of kiosks, far better than even those wonky talking units at the local science museum, but one spring afternoon in Key West, Fla., while strolling in Fausto’s Food Palace for a bottle of white port, the most startling thing occurred.  

“Is this particular bottle dry?” I asked.
 “Let me check,” said the proprietor, coming back with a printout of tasting notes and suggested food pairings. How could such a small store keep such copious notes? “Son,” he said with a slight bow, “let me introduce you to the wineandrecipes.com kiosk.”

To sate our curiosity further, we caught up with Jon Holland, president of WinesandRecipes.com and bent his ear on this spanking-new coupling of technology and vino smarts.  

Q: What is the WineandRecipes.com self-service kiosk and how did the idea come about?

A: It’s a marriage of Internet and in-store kiosk technology, allowing consumers to scan a bottle and discover wines that meet their needs regarding price, style, taste and food and cheese pairings. The kiosk demystifies the wine selection process for the average consumer and provides research capabilities for the connoisseur looking for specific results. We thought: Why rely on sales help, which doesn't even exist at the grocery store? And when you're shopping, you're not going to remember what you read from the wine trade. Even worse, many retailers display shelf information that may not be changed with new vintages.

Natalie MacLean is a primo source for wine knowledge and food pairings. How did you come to join forces with her?

We were subscribers to her free e-mail newsletter “Nat Decants” as wine consumers and enjoyed her style (humorous and nonpretentious), which appeals more to the emotional experience of wine drinking and food parings. So we e-mailed her, and she liked what we were doing with technology and gave us permission to reprint her reviews.

Have you encountered any resistance from wine consultants who sneer at the kiosk the way turn-of-the-century equestrians treated the new "iron horse" (not Lou Gehrig)?

It’s helpful in large, national supermarkets since managers just hope consumers buy the wine based on winery advertising, product placement and pricing, while specialty markets see it as an opportunity to assist those who are intimidated to seek advice.  Though, some specialty wine stores owners also see us as a way to reduce staffing expenses. In that case, employees might see us as the new “iron horse.”

At the end of the old "Family Feud," emcee extraordinaire Gene Wood encouraged people to play along with the home version. Frankly, I found myself wanting to wheel the kiosk right out the door—vino-info larceny. Any talk of a PDA-size unit for aficionados with empty breast pockets?

We are exploring other concepts … imagine if you had a camera phone and could take a picture of the bottle’s UPC label and see a display of all the information from our Web site … that would be cool!

What about a restaurant-friendly version of your service?

We were approached last year with that concept. The hardware could be configured to be a tabletop model, and the wines from a café’s inventory would be listed with ratings and reviews. The customer could view the menu and then match to a selection of wines based on the chef’s or sommelier’s recommendations.  

Where are the kiosks now, and what markets are you targeting in the immediate future? 

Currently, the kiosks are located at Fausto’s Food Palace in Key West, but we are currently negotiating with several national and regional chains for a pilot program in one of their flagship stores.

What other self-service applications are you working on?  Perhaps a unit about the vagaries of women for luckless men to employ at bars.

Well, we built it from the ground floor as wine consumers looking for a solution. That being said, I think we will stick with what we know …. wine, recipes and cheeses. Although we have had some interest in developing something similar for beer. … Stay tuned. SP

Phineas and Jason are the authors of "The Modern Gentleman" and "The Modern Lover." E-mail them at wineandspirits@sundaypaper.com.