Dunnes & Wine

darrenh

Does anyone else find it impossible to pick a bottle of wine out in Dunnes Stores. There seems to be no order to it whatsoever. I've tried a few times but just end up walking away because its so confusing.

I don't know a whole lot about wine but I do know picking a bottle is hard enough without having to be confused by the order of their merchandising!

dereko1969

how does the layout affect your ability to choose which wine to buy?

i haven't been to dunnes for ages so don't know exactly the issue but am interested in the impact of layout on purchasing decisions.

is it that they're not arranged by country or by wine type? how are they laid out?

do you go in fancying a really meaty red and then find it difficult to find what you're looking for or are you looking for guidance from the labels describing their characteristics?

darrenh

darrenh wrote: »

Does anyone else find it impossible to pick a bottle of wine out in Dunnes Stores. There seems to be no order to it whatsoever. I've tried a few times but just end up walking away because its so confusing.

I don't know a whole lot about wine but I do know picking a bottle is hard enough without having to be confused by the order of their merchandising!

It's layed out according to country. The most popular wines have more shelfspace. If your confused by this simple layout ask someone who works there for help.

darrenh

Deleted User wrote: »

It's layed out according to country. The most popular wines have more shelfspace. If your confused by this simple layout ask someone who works there for help.

Why is there always someone on this website waiting to insult someone else or show their superior vocabulary/knowledge?

Two Dunnes stores I have been to in Galway have very weird merchandising for their wine. It might be by country but whites are mixed with reds and there is no clear differentiation from one shelf to the next. To someone as simple as me, it appears to be a jumbled mess and a confusing method to use. I'm aware shelf space might be limited so if it is by country why cant white be on the top few shelves and red on the bottom few, instead of side by side for example - white, red, white, white, red.

I like red wine and when you've already got a huge selection and you want to look through them all, its hard when the next bottle you look at is white. Also sometimes white wine can come in dark glass so it's not instantly recognisable as white.

I have worked in retail for a long time and would consider myself to be a very good merchandiser, so its not like I'm completely dumb on what I'm talking about, even if I know feck all about wine!

I do know all the different grapes and best countries, so when I go to buy wine that is what I follow. Dunnes system might make sense to some but in terms of easy of use it is very difficult in my opinion.

Oh and Nialler, don't be so god dam condescending when you post to others in future

muckety

Our local Dunnes arrange the wines by country but they don't always get it right as I've often found (eg) SA wine under France or Chilean under Spain etc! And I agree with the OP - its very higgledy piggledy! Pity because the wine buyers seem to be OK and bigger stores have a quite good selection.

Jev/N

darrenh wrote: »

Oh and Nialler, don't be so god dam condescending when you post to others in future

I think you've a huge issue with determining the tone of a post, especially in this case

The layout is generally very simple, as much as can be. As mentioned it is first categorised by country, then by brand/estate and then by grape - thus you will find both white and red faustino riojas beside eachother etc. This is the standard approach and it would, in turn, confuse others if it was just red here and white there

I don't understand what you gripe is if you know all the countries and grapes; it's a small concern at best IMO

darrenh

Jev/N wrote: »

I think you've a huge issue with determining the tone of a post, especially in this case

How do I have a huge issue with determining the tone of the post?
Nialler suggest it was Simple, which insinuated I was simple too.

Every other retailer I have been to has whites and red's separate. Tesco, Supervalu, Off-Licenses etc etc have it like this. How would it confuse people if red's and whites were separate. Seriously how?!

I have talked to others about it and they find it a pain in the arse too, more so than confusing. Maybe I used the wrong word.


And every time someone posts on this site there is someone else to knock them down or make snide remarks. It's sad.

Only problem is that I like using the site.;)

Mr Magnolia

I'd agree that the layout in some of the Dunnes Stores that I've visited isn't the best with wines mixed up and missing a bit of structure. It's a problem in a lot of off-licences too. I've asked staff about the bordering and layout and they were also far from sure.

darrenh wrote: »

Oh and Nialler, don't be so god dam condescending when you post to others in future

If you've a problem with a post use the report function and leave it to the moderators to take any action that may be necessary.

darrenh

Mr Magnolia wrote: »

If you've a problem with a post use the report function and leave it to the moderators to take any action that may be necessary.

Thats fair enough.

Miaireland

I find my local Dunnes is alright, they are divided my country and then by brand and estate.

My local spar is just a jumbled mess. Basically they just fit a bottle in a gap in the shelf regardless of country etc.

the beer revolu

darrenh wrote: »

I do know all the different grapes and best countries, so when I go to buy wine that is what I follow.

That's quite a claim to make!

I worked in the wine industry for a few years and have been avidly collecting and drinking wine for the past 7 years or so and I haven't even scratched the surface of grape varieties that are out there.
Also, every country that makes wine, make good and bad wine.
There is no 'best' countries for wine.

brianthebard

I agree with others that there is not much wrong with the layout of the wine shelves in Dunnes. What I have noticed in the Dunnes near me is that things can get difficult to follow if the shelves have not been restocked or faced off recently, and I imagine that is the case of your problem. As Jev said it makes sense to have the red and white from the same producer beside each other, and I have seen this done is just about every other shop I've ever bought wine from.

Jev/N

darrenh wrote: »

How do I have a huge issue with determining the tone of the post?
Nialler suggest it was Simple, which insinuated I was simple too.

Every other retailer I have been to has whites and red's separate. Tesco, Supervalu, Off-Licenses etc etc have it like this. How would it confuse people if red's and whites were separate. Seriously how?!

Dude, chill...

You concluded from the post that he insinuated you were simple; there's no need to get angry at the comment - you're just as bad as those you seem to detest on the forums if you do

As I mentioned, the layout is pretty standard (it's that way as it's the most common and therefore you know where you stand when going from store to store) and, while I wouldn't consider it 'simple' the first time I encountered it, I would say finding a wine I want in a random shop isn't too hard

MOST retailers I have been to, including some of the highest regarded in the city and the country, have had whites and reds together bar maybe some whites which are in the chilled section so. Again, the reasoning is down to estates and branding, I would assume

As I already said, if you know all your grapes and regions, why complain?

darrenh

darrenh wrote: »

How do I have a huge issue with determining the tone of the post?
Nialler suggest it was Simple, which insinuated I was simple too.

That wasn't my intention.The layout in dunnes is simple. I wasn't calling you simple.

Wine_Guy

Deleted User wrote: »

It's layed out according to country. The most popular wines have more shelfspace. If your confused by this simple layout ask someone who works there for help.

I live near 1 Dunnes and work near another. Neither have any form of layout to them and i can easily see how someone could get mixed up. It is not the fault of Dunnes perhaps, but the person arranging these shelves doesn't know anything about the styles, ranges and other important information that can be useful. This is part of the reason its not as easy as asking somebody. As far as my experience goes, i've often even asked something as simple as if there was a different price in 2 similar bottles of different vintage but the consistent answers are, this is not my section/no english even once an abrupt i don't know.
I think if your near a specialist wine merchant, i would use them.If not Marks and spencers and tesco both have award winning own brand wines, but if you want to do the patriotic thing and buy from irish companies, online stores are a great option should you have no stores nearby, at least they give you descriptions and recommendations if you don't know what your looking for . www.wineonline.ie , wine.ie , curiouswines.ie , vendema wine (google site) the last one using and entirely organic or bio-dynamic portfolio.

Wine_Guy

Wine_Guy wrote: »

I live near 1 Dunnes and work near another. Neither have any form of layout to them and i can easily see how someone could get mixed up. It is not the fault of Dunnes perhaps, but the person arranging these shelves doesn't know anything about the styles, ranges and other important information that can be useful. This is part of the reason its not as easy as asking somebody. As far as my experience goes, i've often even asked something as simple as if there was a different price in 2 similar bottles of different vintage but the consistent answers are, this is not my section/no english even once an abrupt i don't know.

True I suppose, there are two dunnes near me and they are both pretty well laid out. I assumed they all would be the same. They all work off the same plans, so they really should be same in each store.

Wine_Guy

Deleted User wrote: »

True I suppose, there are two dunnes near me and they are both pretty well laid out. I assumed they all would be the same. They all work off the same plans, so they really should be same in each store.

probably should, and as store-chains categorize stores by size or volume, maybe the grade C stores are not maintained to the same standard, unfortunate but a reality

kenmc

How about you give dunnes a skip so if it's so haphazard, and give your money to some hard-working local offlicence who will be happy to spend the time helping you, probably even going so far as to order stuff in for you if you like, and is also likely to be really struggling these days next to the likes of dunnes, tesco etc?