Living in Sonoma can get a little slow. Well, super-duper slow actually. Only having moved back from New York a few months ago, I'm not really ready for the country life. All very Green Acres...
New York is where I'd rather stay.
I get allergic smelling hay.
I just adore a penthouse view.
Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue.
Well, I did give up New York, by choice, but I didn't realize that would put me out on the farm. Life has given me lemons, and the only recourse is to head down to San Francisco for some lemonade. And therein lies the problem- it's about a 40 minute drive, which on the way down is fine. I plug in my Ipod, jam to some tunes or listen to an audiobook, and I'm happy as a clam. After a lovely dinner with friends, accompanied by a glass of wine, it's time to hit the road again. Dun dun dun.
I am very careful about drinking and driving, DUIs are serious stuff, so I never have more than a glass and a half throughout a two hour plus meal. But something happens to me and I am just exhausted, which I am pretty sure is not safe either. Why is this? I know it's the wine (or occassional beer) as I went down for dinner last night and only had a Fizzy Izze with no problems. I'd love to know a solution to this problem, aside from a post dinner espresso as I'd like to sleep when I actually make it back to Slo-Noma. For now, it's just something I'll deal with, moderating my intake accordingly. Since it's not like I could just skip the wine. Is this just an unfair chemical reaction that happens to me, am I doomed? Or am I exhausted in general and the wine makes that more apparent? Help!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Never Tasted Wine Before?!
I had the strangest experience in the tasting room. It was both eye-opening and weird. A couple came in, somewhere in their fifties about, pretty nicely dressed, nice looking people. Very, very ordinary. Until I asked if they'd like to taste some wine. The man says "Yes, we'd love to. We've never tasted wine before."
WHAT?! Where were these people from? Texas, it turns out. But I don't think that's really indicative of much, as I am 100% sure they have a bustling wine retailing industry in the Lone Star State. Anyway, so I begin our tasting flight, taking extra care to explain things as I am fairly certain if you've never tasted wine, talking about the difference between Northern Rhone varietals and Southern Rhone varietals is overwhelming. As we continue through the wines, the wife says nothing, politely takes one sip of each and dumps the rest in the bucket.
The gentleman seems to be taking more time, but still, dumping almost all of the half ounce or so pours I am doling out. He's very polite, listening to my spiel intently, but also, in some sense not listening. He was here for the experience, not the flavor. Not that I don't commend him, it was very cool that he came here to have his first wine experience and it didn't offend me if we weren't wowing him.
We we talking as they were preparing to leave, me and the gentleman as the wife still has not said anything, and he said the wine didn't taste like he imagined it to, he imagined it would be more like grape juice with alcohol added. A vodka and grape juice blend, more or less. And I commented that wine is really somewhere on the road between vinegar and grape juice. "Yes, I guess you're right" he said and then left.
This little run-in, of course, got me to thinking. I can't even remember a time before I tasted wine. What would I dream wine to be like if I didn't know a thing about it? I guess that grape juice with vodka in it isn't the worst assumption, but clearly, in retrospect, so completely off the mark. The whole experience was a mind-trip for me, since I spend so much of my day obsessing over wine and here we have people who have no concept at all of what wine is in essence, not to mention the complexities and nuances that drive the industry. Well, I guess, in the end, lucky them, they've opened up a door to something wonderful and delicious and hopefully they will continue on the path to learning about and enjoying wine.
WHAT?! Where were these people from? Texas, it turns out. But I don't think that's really indicative of much, as I am 100% sure they have a bustling wine retailing industry in the Lone Star State. Anyway, so I begin our tasting flight, taking extra care to explain things as I am fairly certain if you've never tasted wine, talking about the difference between Northern Rhone varietals and Southern Rhone varietals is overwhelming. As we continue through the wines, the wife says nothing, politely takes one sip of each and dumps the rest in the bucket.
The gentleman seems to be taking more time, but still, dumping almost all of the half ounce or so pours I am doling out. He's very polite, listening to my spiel intently, but also, in some sense not listening. He was here for the experience, not the flavor. Not that I don't commend him, it was very cool that he came here to have his first wine experience and it didn't offend me if we weren't wowing him.
We we talking as they were preparing to leave, me and the gentleman as the wife still has not said anything, and he said the wine didn't taste like he imagined it to, he imagined it would be more like grape juice with alcohol added. A vodka and grape juice blend, more or less. And I commented that wine is really somewhere on the road between vinegar and grape juice. "Yes, I guess you're right" he said and then left.
This little run-in, of course, got me to thinking. I can't even remember a time before I tasted wine. What would I dream wine to be like if I didn't know a thing about it? I guess that grape juice with vodka in it isn't the worst assumption, but clearly, in retrospect, so completely off the mark. The whole experience was a mind-trip for me, since I spend so much of my day obsessing over wine and here we have people who have no concept at all of what wine is in essence, not to mention the complexities and nuances that drive the industry. Well, I guess, in the end, lucky them, they've opened up a door to something wonderful and delicious and hopefully they will continue on the path to learning about and enjoying wine.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Tasting Fees
It always upsets me a little bit to have customers come in who are so clearly upset by our tasting fees. I think because this is a family business, and every bottle sale affects me personally. And as a family, we’ve put a lot of time, energy, and love into these wines so for people to say that it not only isn’t worth $10 to taste them but to be offended we’d even suggest such an idea, it gets me to the core.
Why do we charge tasting fees? Well, plain and simple, we are a business and we need to make money. We refund each tasting fee with a bottle purchased, so there’s no additional charge if you like our wines. But not everyone does, as is to be expected, no wine could be that vanilla. Or at least nothing we’d bother making, but in any event, we still open bottles every morning for tasting. These bottles last two days max, so if it’s not very busy, we can end up wasting several bottles a week. Tasting fees help to offset this cost. Also, sad to say, but it provides a barrier to entry. Not everyone comes to wine country with the intent of serious wine enjoyment. I’m not knocking this, there’s room for all sorts of visitors, but a tiny, boutique winery with fairly expensive wines is not the place for a drunken bachelorette party. And usually, if it’s THAT kind of bachelorette party, the $10 keeps them at bay.
Why do we charge tasting fees? Well, plain and simple, we are a business and we need to make money. We refund each tasting fee with a bottle purchased, so there’s no additional charge if you like our wines. But not everyone does, as is to be expected, no wine could be that vanilla. Or at least nothing we’d bother making, but in any event, we still open bottles every morning for tasting. These bottles last two days max, so if it’s not very busy, we can end up wasting several bottles a week. Tasting fees help to offset this cost. Also, sad to say, but it provides a barrier to entry. Not everyone comes to wine country with the intent of serious wine enjoyment. I’m not knocking this, there’s room for all sorts of visitors, but a tiny, boutique winery with fairly expensive wines is not the place for a drunken bachelorette party. And usually, if it’s THAT kind of bachelorette party, the $10 keeps them at bay.
A winery is a business, and in order to stay in business, we need to keep selling wine and so we’d like as many people that come in the door to be seriously interested in our wine. We know that not everyone can afford $32 bottles of wine, but if you love wine we think you’d want to spend $10 just to have the experience.
People who don’t think are wines are worth $10 offend me. I realize I’m in the service industry, I’m supposed to be catering to them, but please, they can just go down the road to Roche or someone who does their tastings for free. I don’t need anyone insulting my family’s creation coming through the door.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Thursday, June 4th
Today was such a busy day! One of the things about this job, versus my old career in fashion is that the work load totally fluctuates. Some days the tasting room is "bumping" and I barely have time to get to my desk and return emails. But then some days the tasting room is super slow and there aren't any work emails to return.
Today there were tons of emails, boxes to ship, people to meet with, phone calls to take, windows to measure for eco-friendly coverings. Whew.
And now for an all-night advertising meeting with dad. This better include a good dinner.
Today there were tons of emails, boxes to ship, people to meet with, phone calls to take, windows to measure for eco-friendly coverings. Whew.
And now for an all-night advertising meeting with dad. This better include a good dinner.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Wine Temperature
The Pour has an interesting article on wine temperatures which I think is terrific. So much goes into the choice of temperature for each wine, yet so many people just go with the flow. (not that I'm against that in general, but still)
I find that so many of my friends will just drink the wine as it's served in a restaurant, but I'm all too often inclined to send it back for more chilling. This is usually because we are drinking cheap crap that needs to be colder so as not to offend your senses. So, while we're young and poor, the safest option seems to be Pinot Grigio on deep freeze.
But, I also like to experiment with temperatures, especially on reds. I'm still a novice with my palate, but the differences are huge even to my senses. It's hard to say sometimes which is better and which is worse, but I find it's fun to explore and analyze the wines.
Tomorrow morning I'll test this theory and blog about it as I open the wines for the tasting room, so be sure to check back in.
http://thepour.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/try-this-at-home/
I find that so many of my friends will just drink the wine as it's served in a restaurant, but I'm all too often inclined to send it back for more chilling. This is usually because we are drinking cheap crap that needs to be colder so as not to offend your senses. So, while we're young and poor, the safest option seems to be Pinot Grigio on deep freeze.
But, I also like to experiment with temperatures, especially on reds. I'm still a novice with my palate, but the differences are huge even to my senses. It's hard to say sometimes which is better and which is worse, but I find it's fun to explore and analyze the wines.
Tomorrow morning I'll test this theory and blog about it as I open the wines for the tasting room, so be sure to check back in.
http://thepour.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/try-this-at-home/
The Robert Parker/Reviewer/WSJ Controversy
reign of Terroir posted another article today on the Robert Parker/Bloggers/Ethics situation that's been all over the net. (http://reignofterroir.com/2009/06/01/robert-parker-on-the-defensive/) Haven't we had enough? Some people are ethical, some people are not. This applies to wine reviewers, bloggers, housewives, professional soccer players etc... It's ridiculous to think that all the wine writers out there could fund their world-wide wine reviewing/touring trips. It's up to the writers themselves to not buy into a tit-for-tat system, but in the end, it's up to all reviewers and critics to do so as well. I know for certain that fashion reviewers recieve clothes, flowers, dinners, etc... , and I think I can assume this is true in many other industries. Does it affect my perception of the veracity of their reviews? No. The same is true of the wine reviewers. I have to trust that they are honest or start ignoring their critiques, it's as simple as that.
I'm over it.
I'm over it.
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