Interview with Tom and Tina Witham, owners
Q: How did you get involved in this business?
A: Our love of wine. When we married 25 years ago, we were both in completely different fields. We decided to see if the business of wine was as enjoyable as the consumption of wine. We started out with small distributors as sales representatives and grew in the business. We always knew that some day we would want to land on the retail side of the business.
Q: What distinguishes you from other businesses in your category?
A: We both have extensive knowledge of food and wine. Pairing the two really is an art. There is a reason that your mom gave you chocolate chip cookies with milk and not with orange juice when you were a kid. The same principle applies to pairing food and wine. We have tasted every wine in our store and we have our tasting notes posted above each bottle. We pride ourselves on our ability to put the right bottle in our clients’ hands after just a couple of questions about their preferences. We teach “Wine 101” classes, as well as a class on pairing food and wine, with examples of the principles that we are conveying. There is nothing quite like the lightbulb that goes off when someone actually experiences a principle for the first time, like the principle that acid in wine and acid in food cancel each other.
Q: What do you like best about your line of work?
A: When people come back to us and tell us how much they loved something new that we introduced them to, or how well our recommendations went with the meal that they served.
Q: What is your business’ biggest challenge?
A: Because we are nestled in historic downtown Littleton and the warmth of the brick wall and hardwood floors, people think that we carry only high-end wines when in fact we have more than 100 “Lido’s Little Gems.” These are wines that are $15 and under and are distinguished by the display of gems over each bottle.
Q: Something people might be surprised to learn about you or your business:
A: We do in-store tastings on Saturdays from 2-5 p.m. These tastings are educational and have a theme, like region, varietal, or sometimes we challenge our clients with our “Hi-Lo” tastings, where we take two wines of the same varietal, one at double the price of the other and pour them blind, leaving the client to guess which one is high and which one is low.
Profile
Business: Lido Wine Merchants
Address: 2529 W. Main St., Littleton
Hours: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday
Founded: 2006
Contact: 303-798-0122,
Employees: 3
