Are California wines making any inroads in the European market?
California wines are generally of very high quality. [But] from a pricing point of view, they’re at a real disadvantage to wines from other regions. The strength of the dollar relative to the euro means that U.S. wines are pretty much priced out of the market. Q: Your strategy puts heavy emphasis on good service…. A: We’re gearing up as an e-service platform with a qualitative and selective approach. We don’t aim to provide all the wines available in the world. We don’t think the wine connoisseur wants that. We provide a product that is selected by the best sommeliers in the U.K., Holland, and Belgium. All of the wines on Chateauonline have been tasted by world-class wine experts. Q: Do you have top sommeliers under contract? A: Yes. And our [chief] sommelier is a cofounder of Chateauonline who used to be the head sommelier of the Paris Ritz Hotel. We’re really focused on developing what we call a wine e-service platform. We have a general wine offering, a [wine] futures offering, we
