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Top wines of the world, sold, marketed and managed by passionate professionals, to restaurants and shops in Chicagoland's vibrant wine community. A focus on service and selection backed by people. Welcome to Cream Wine Company.
The Cream of the Crop
Founded in October of 2001, Cream Wine Company is owned and operated by partners Mark Payne and Andy Pates. Born from a need for a small, focused and progressive boutique wine service that professionally bridges the gap between vineyard and consumer, Cream has organically grown over the years to be recognized as one of the nation's leading artisan wine distributors and marketers. The Cream Team, now a staff of 14 passionate wine professionals, is committed to excellence in service. Our ever expanding core customer list is comprised of the top restaurants and key retailers in the state. Cream's thoughtful, balanced and very real Portfolio contains comprehensive, regional selections of some of the finest estates and winemakers on the planet. Many are leaders in natural, organic and biodynamic viticulture and winemaking, practices we are strongly committed to. We have developed a unique concept called Small Batch which refers to the sales and marketing of our small production American wines from California, Oregon and Washington. Our import partners are true specialists and are regarded by the industry as leaders in their respective categories.
Wine & People
It’s very simple. Our business is about wine and people. You can spend millions on vineyards, wineries and equipment – warehouses, computer systems and trucks – architects, designers and wine cellars - but ultimately wine is grown, made, marketed, imported, distributed, sold, purchased and consumed by people. Never forget about the customer. Never lose site of your business' most important assets - employees, partners and customers. Never stop investing in or doing business with quality people.
Sales & Marketing
In any industry success rises. Cream is not attempting to reinvent the wheel. Ours is a grand old trade. You buy a wine for X and sell it for Y. However, given the intense, competitive nature of the wine industry, the amount of fantastic global wine available and the enigmatic state of the new world economy, the innovators will be the ones left standing. Selling is a delicate balance and combination of people and relationships, service and selection, education and motivation, attitude, action, delivery and support. Order takers can be replaced by computers. Passionate motivators and inspiring innovators will always find a successful niche. We sell wine for God sake! How can you not be thankful and jump out of bed in the morning?
Warehouse & Delivery
Cream uses Wine Alliance for their temperature-controlled warehouse and temperature-controlled delivery trucks. This small artisan fine wine warehouse and delivery cooperative is run by wine people for wine people. Their drivers are some of the best in the business. Our #1 priority is to continually improve upon our distribution services with better customer service, more human contact, accuracy of invoicing, timely delivery, professional drivers, etc. We greatly appreciate your support over the years and look forward to improving your service for many years to come. Please do not hesitate to give us feedback on how we can do better.
Service & Support
What is service? It's not rocket science, lip service or smoke and mirrors. It's about keeping the focus. Have the right attitude, as we are so fortunate to be in this business. Take action by being both proactive and reactive to a customer needs. Educate in a motivational, non-intimidating and useful way. Deliver the goods in one piece, at the right temperature, invoiced properly and on time. Support the customer with more than just selection and pricing. Our philosophy of small company service and focus with large company delivery and support greatly benefits both the customer and winery.
Education & Motivation
There is a fine line between education and intimidation. Who cares what the brix at harvest was or what forest the 110% new oak in the latest “uber wine” came from? Servers would rather want to know that Chenin Blanc can be a great match with lobster so they turn on a traditional Chardonnay customer to a new and exciting food versatile wine. Or, retail salespeople might want to let their customers know that New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc combines the best of Loire and California in terms of marrying food friendly palate cleansing acidity with rich, ripe fruit intensity for a flavor explosion. The point is that most people want to know what tastes good with what and learn creative ways to sell it. Cream hosts tastings, seminars and events gearing toward educating, inspiring and motivating wine professionals. Sign up for our newsletter to learn more.
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