Wine lovers, this post is for you. Every quarter, Postino offers two or four bottle wine packs in festive, easy-to-carry cardboard boxes. Currently, the Valley-based restaurant is featuring Four Ways to Rosé, a $55 box that includes four bottles of rosé that you can mix and match from lesser known producers around the world. If you’re hankering for rosé, you better order soon because on Nov. 4, Postino is rolling out a new holiday-themed pack. We recently chatted with Brent Karlicek, Director of Beverage at Upward Projects, about how he selects the wines.
Q: How long has Postino been curating wine boxes?
A: This is our third year working with these unique wine boxes. Our inaugural launch was the first run of Four Ways to Rosé. We recognize that people utilize our space for so many amazing parts of their lives – for a glass of wine after work, or date night or for takeout on Wednesday when they don’t feel like cooking. We also know that people want to drink wine at their houses as well, so how do we curate incredible value for them and how do we create something that feels special when you open and unpack it? For the recent Four Ways to Rosé, we tasted 30 different rosés to come up with those four wines. We’ve taken the guess work out for you. We’ve kissed all the frogs and we’ve got nothing but princes and princesses for you here.
Q: How many wines did you try for the Four Ways to Rosé wine box?
A: Jared Sowinksi, senior manager of beverage for Upward Projects, and I sat at a long table. On one end Jared had 15 bottles of rosé and I had 15 bottles on my end. This is during COVID, so we’re probably 12 feet apart, and we tasted through all our selections. Then, we put our masks on and went around and switched positions and tasted through. We have our own process for assessing the quality and balance and that’s a word that’s maybe overused, but that’s certainly a big part of our ethos.
Q: With so many wines to choose from, how do you whittle down the selection?
A: There’s a lot of wine to be had in the marketplace, but finding wine that speaks of a place that is unique and finding wine that is balanced can be a challenge sometimes. If you go to the store and you’re looking at a wall of 20 different selections and you’re really not familiar with any of them – how do you know? It’s a guessing game. Let us take the guess work out and know that we’ve done the hard work. We’ve spat out the bad stuff and selected what we think is supremely delicious.
Q: What will be in your next wine box?
A: We will release a holiday-themed pack November 4 that will run through the first week of next year. The direction will be focused on a mix-and-match wine set that will meet all needs at the holiday table. We’re also ideating a special celebration pack with sparkling wine for New Year’s Eve.
Q: Does each Postino have a specific wine preference profile or is it pretty much the same from restaurant to restaurant?
A: We roll out the wine program at each one of the locations and there are things that you can predict: Will pinot noir be the number one selling wine? Yes. Will chardonnay do well? Of course. Will rosé be a big mover for us? Of course. Every team, store location and neighborhood has a unique personality. It’s like you put all these wine lists at a starting line and fire the gun and then you get to watch over the next couple of months how the community and the team embrace (the selections). It’s just fascinating to see the nuance. We get to learn about and collaborate with each of these unique communities.
