A lot changed in 2020, and here at the shop, aside from reducing our footprint, the most significant change occurred in how we price wine for local and regional customers. We've had some questions about our current pricing policies, so I thought I'd clarify this a bit.

In the last few years, it's no secret that Asheville and Western North Carolina, in general, have become popular tourist destinations. It's been great for the local economy; however, as a Downtown merchant, I want to make sure we provide our regular local and regional customers with the best possible pricing and exclusive deals.

It was clear to me that the AWM Weekly Newsletter was the best way to achieve this goal. The weekly Newsletter gradually became my way of offering our regular customers a better deal than the tourists. So what exactly is the Local-Insider pricing, how does it work, and what's different from previous years?

The standard AWM discount has always been 15% on a mixed or solid case of 12 bottles and 10% on 6 bottles. This discount covers all of the items not presented in the Newsletter and is available to anyone who walks in or calls.

Wines featured in the AWM Email Newsletter are special insider deals available exclusively to local and regional newsletter subscribers. These are predominantly wines that I source myself, and since I source these wines more directly, I can pass significant savings on to newsletter subscribers. These wines are regularly discounted as much as 40% and usually no lower than 16%.

Here's where it's a little different from previous years:

There are no special requirements or hoops to jump through in order to take advantage of the Insider Deals. You don't have to buy a solid case or purchase a specified number of bottles to drill down to the best price. You get the best price on bottle one, and that price is good whether you buy one bottle or one hundred.

And it gets more interesting:

You may have noticed that your Insider Deal price doesn't go away. That's right; this isn't just a weekly or monthly carrot dangled and then quickly removed. You'll get that same deal price on your favorite newsletter features until availability runs out, the vintage changes, or there's a change with the Euro. In years when the dollar has been stronger, we've lowered prices!

To summarize:

--We'll always offer the standard AWM 15% discount on mixed or solid cases for regularly stocked shelf items and a 10% discount on six bottles.

--The exclusive Email Insider Deals feature the best pricing on select items with discounts of up to 40%.

--The Insider Deal pricing is good for the entire time the wine is currently in stock.

--Insider pricing is valid from bottle one -- no need to buy a solid case to get the best deal on the Newsletter features.

--Newsletter Insider Deals can be mixed with regular shelf items and count towards your six-pack or case. Since the Insider Deals are already discounted down to the best price, they don't, however, receive an additional 10 or 15% discount.

In a nutshell, if you're reading this, you'll always get the best price on the wines I personally source. These exclusive deals are the best way I can provide you with quality and value.

Wines that aren't Insider Deals? We price those regular stock items with a standard retail markup. We don't do loss-leaders or undercut other local businesses, and we do our best to mirror the pricing at the national retail average or lower.