The Opera House Gourmet Receives “Wine Retailer of the Year” Award

June 17, 2002
Contact: Pamela Jewell
Phone: 804-786-0481
pjewell@vdacs.state.va.us

Richmond, Virginia -- The Opera House Gourmet, a gourmet food and wine specialty shop in Old Town Manassas, was named Virginia Wine Retailer of the Year for 2001. Jan Alten, the shop’s owner, was presented the award at the Virginia Wine Honors on June 17 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond.

The Opera House Gourmet was also named Virginia Wine Retailer Of the Year in 1999. “The real excitement for me”, said Mrs. Alten, a Virginia native, “ is that I own the store now. I was the manager in 1999 when we won our first award. This validates what we’re doing.”

When the shop first opened in 1997 in a renovated, turn-of-the-century building in Old Town Manassas, the main focus was gourmet foods and international wines. Mrs. Alton started looking at the diversity of Virginia wines and began carrying a few labels in the store. Since that time, the number of different labels carried in the Opera House Gourmet has grown to 193 labels representing 32 Virginia wineries – almost double the number of labels the shop carried in 1999 when it won the first award. In 1999 a quarter of their wine sales was Virginia wine. Today, Virginia wines represent a third of the shop’s total wine sales. More than 520 cases of Virginia wine were sold in 2001.

Mrs. Alten also feels she’s been able to educate the customer about Virginia wines. One of the more popular events at the Opera House Gourmet is the Friday night wine tastings. Last year there were 49 tastings. Customers can relax in the shop’s elegant surroundings and sample Virginia wine from a single winery or enjoy a comparative tasting of similar wines from several different wineries. To coincide with other Virginia wine promotions during Virginia Wine Month, which is held every October, the shop tasted Virginia wines the entire month.

The Opera House Gourmet features Virginia wines at area events including the Railroad Festival and the Fall Jubilee as well. The Taste of Virginia celebration, an Opera House Gourmet annual event for the past five years, brings together Virginia wine, food and crafts for a homegrown festival.

To keep the customers informed about Virginia wines the staff periodically visits Virginia wineries, and a direct mail program has proven very effective in spreading the word about the Opera House Gourmet’s special events. The shop’s activities have also expanded to include catering, and one of the first things they suggest to clients is serving Virginia wines.

In addition to carry both Virginia and international wines, The Opera House Gourmet also sells imported chocolates and other candies, cigars, pastas, sauces, cookies, tea, spices and serve ware.

The Virginia Wine Retail Shop of the Year award was first presented in 1996. The award recognizes the leading retail operation from among other Gold Cluster Retail Award winners, which have shown outstanding sales and promotional support of the wine industry throughout the years. Previous winners are Belle Kuisine-Stony Point in Richmond, The Leesburg Vintner and Lukhard’s Virginia Pantry in Powhatan, also a double winner.