Open That Bottle

...with Lana Turner

BY LINDA GARSON PHOTO BY DONG KIM

“W hen you go to the wineries and meet the principals and the winemakers, everyone is so passionate about the wine industry. And that’s why I love it so much. It’s not a nine to five job by any means. And I love meeting these people because we share a passion. It’s really remarkable,” says Lana Turner,

Category Manager – Wine, for Calgary

Co-op Wine Spirits Beer.

Born and raised in and around Calgary, the family lived out at Millarville for a while and in Airdrie, where she graduated.

Turner took General Studies at college in

Camrose, followed by a spell working at her father’s automotive company, but quit when she became pregnant.

“And after my baby was born, I went to work just very part-time at Co-op in

Customer Service, and I’ve been with

Co-op for 32 years,” she laughs. “I was in customer service, then I switched to

GUC, which is basically doing everything, cashiering, produce and bakery - everything, and then I went back to customer services as a supervisor.”

With a couple of friends, Turner took a course in increasing personal effectiveness, which resulted in them going to SAIT together to work towards their marketing and management certificates. From there she transferred to the liquor department at Co-op as a manager.

That led to her taking sommelier training, and she achieved her diploma in 2010. Her course was set – she’d caught the wine bug! A position came open for a product and promotions manager, which she didn’t get the first time she applied, but it came open again when the wine buyer transferred into a different position within Co-op, and Turner moved into the assistant product and promotion manager position.

The stars aligned for Turner when her friend and mentor, Remo Marcucci, announced that he would be leaving. “He was doing wine, I was doing spirits and beer,” she says. They switched positions so Marcucci could mentor her for a year and Turner could learn the intricacies of the wine business. “It’s a lot to know, so he was invaluable in training me,” she adds. “I took over the wine [category] about five or six years ago, and have been doing it ever since. I have lots and lots of meetings and I decide what comes into the stores as far as new product listings, and take care of the pricing files. I love it. Wine is absolutely my passion. I can’t imagine dinner without wine or sitting on a patio without wine. It elevates everything. It elevates food, it elevates friendship, it elevates love, it elevates everything.”

And what is the bottle that Turner has been saving for a special occasion, and when will she open it?

“Well I want to open it, but what happened was, years ago - probably 11, 12 years ago - when I was managing the Co-op store, me and a friend of mine decided to buy a bottle of 1999 Château d’Yquem together,” she explains.

Château d’Yquem only produce Sauternes, a very limited sweet wine from southern Bordeaux made from sauvignon blanc and sémillon grapes, and known for its exceptional longevity. It has been described as the greatest sweet wine in the world, and is one of the world’s most celebrated wineries. A fungus, Botrytis cinerea, or “noble rot”, attacks the grapes and they shrivel to leave such a super high sugar concentration in the juice, that each vine produces only one glass of wine.

“We thought it was pretty good deal at the time,” Turner continues. “And we were going to share it together over a real nice dinner, but we’ve since lost touch with each other. I have the bottle sitting in my cellar and I’m saving it because I’m hoping that one day we’ll reconnect and then we can share it together.”

Let’s hope her friend is reading this!

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