What Makes A Good Wine Shop Great?

A distributor prices and places bottles on the shelves.
The place was hopping at 10a.m..

This week I was out in Port Townsend as part of my day job, acting as the Director of Evergreen School of Professional Photography. As I’ve mentioned before, one of the things I love most about traveling out of town is the idea of going to new wineries and wine shops where ever I’m visiting. While in Port Townsend I found what I consider to be a “great” wine shop named the Wine Seller.

In talking with the shop’s owner, Joe Euro, I was totally enthralled with his story. Joe, a highly acclaimed guitarist was traveling the world, playing in resorts, and waiting tables. He was brought back to Port Townsend out of a “homesickness” that he just couldn’t shake. So, in 1982 he opened the shop on a shoestring.

Being out on the edge of nowhere, Euro had to make weekly trips into Seattle to actually pick up wines for his shop. It was tough. Selling wines back in the 1980s wasn’t an easy or kitchy thing to do like it is now. There were few wines from the northwest region, and people in general weren’t really into it like they are now.

Jumping thirty years ahead, you would never know that Joe had ever struggled. His shop is a virtual adult candy store with thousands of bottles of wines stacked carefully in every nook of the store. There is a full cooler in the back with awesome craft beers from the region, and a great selection of cheeses and meats in another cooler. I was there at 10 a.m., and the store was bustling with customers and distributors.

Joe Euro talks on the phone with a customer looking
for a hard to find wine.

What makes this store so great isn’t really a secret. It is the result of a dream and a lot of hard work. It is the result of a willingness to invest in success.

So many times I walk into a wine shop where there are one or two bottles of some wine, and a minimal selection. Wines from only the Northwest, or wines that are cheap and can be purchased in any grocery store for about half the price. Those store owners are running on a scarcity mentality, and a fear of failure.

What struck me was the enormous selection of wine. Everything from cases stacked high of Crane Lake at $2.99 a bottle in the front, to wines in locked cabinets ranging in the hundreds of dollars per bottle. The shop doesn’t just have a bottle or two of Leonetti. There are entire flights of the stuff, and cases of different vintages. Bottles of three, five, and seven liter magnums were available.

One of the ways you know you’ve entered a “great” wine shop is what you see when you walk in the front door. A “great” wine shop has a feeling of walking into a market place, with boxes stacked around on the floor in front of the shelves. Signs telling you what the wines are, and the great price you’re going to get on those bottles. The store feels almost overwhelming and exciting. You can’t wait to purchase a few bottles and come back tomorrow for more.

If you want to visit the store while in the area you’ll find it just off the ferry dock on Water Street downtown. You can also find out more, and actually buy wines on their website at www.ptwineseller.com.

Cheers!

The Quest For a Good Wine

What the heck is a good wine anyway? I’m always running into people who are looking for a “good wine”. After all, I am the wine guy, and I should know what a good wine is. The problem is a good wine to me is probably swill to someone else.

Believe it or not, there is a solution to this “good wine” selection process that makes it a lot easier than it looks.

The answer comes in profiling. I don’t care what they say, I’m from small-town western America where profiling is not only good, it’s a way of life. Believe me, when my daughter shows up at my house with a guy not quite like the others I know where the ammo is.

The same concept goes for wine. Most people prefer a fairly narrow profile that makes their tongue go “bing”. When a wine comes their way that doesn’t meet that profile they get out the mental ammo and shoot it down right away. Here is a simple four step process that will help you pick out a good wine every time:

Step one is the white or red test. White wines tend to be fruity. Even if they’re dry as a bone, 10 years old, or come in an oak cask, white wine tends to show more qualities of fruit. Red wines are tannic. Even if they have a high sugar content, such as a desert wine, you will find pronounced tannins in the juice. By the way, tannins are those cute little things that make your pucker pucker.

Now, the reason you might not like what I like is that I personally prefer those tannin things in my wine. Done right, those babies taste like rich velvet on my tongue. They also make my tongue taste like a nasty old shag carpet when I’ve had too much. White wine tends to raise my gag reflex after just a small glass.

Step two is cost. I’m not trying to sell you here, but honestly the wine business is one where the more you spend the better the quality is going to be. Don’t expect a bottle of Crane Lake Cabernet to taste like Opus. What is your price point? I’m a poor photographer who writes this weekly for giggles. I have friends in the business who spoil me, but my everyday price point is around $15. By the way, Charles Shaw is cheap for a reason. Anything that costs less than the glass it is bottled in is vinegar and not wine.

Step three is your sense for adventure. Are you one of those people who eats meatloaf every Tuesday, and have worked the same job since you can remember, and you still like it? Or, are you someone who likes to jump out of airplanes, ride your bike without a helmet, or eat stuff you can’t pronounce the names of?

If you like Merlot and that’s all you’ve drank since you were, ahem…21, then I’m gonna point you to the Merlot shelf. If you are open to trying new things then I strongly urge you to expand your horizons with the new varietals that are hitting the northwest market. Some of them are great…some of them are terrible. The nice thing is you didn’t listen to the ads telling you to drink the same old wine with a cute new label.

The fourth step is…enjoy!

Wine And Weddings A Good Combination

It’s hard to believe that Memorial Day is upon us. Soon it will be June, and either you or someone you know will be getting married. So…it is probably a good time for us to have the “talk”. The talk about wine at your wedding, of course!

Wine at weddings is an ancient tradition, steeped in culture and religion. After all, Jesus performed his first miracle by being a master winemaker at a wedding. (I’ve always wondered what kind of Wine Spectator score they would have given him on that vintage.)

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve run across people in the grocery isles struggling to figure out what they’re going to pour for guests, or buy for the newlywed couple. I can tell you this, that buying wine for a wedding is not as easy as it looks.

The problem is that there are wine drinkers and non wine drinkers. The wine drinkers know that you are a low budget slob for buying Crane Lake, soaking off the label, and putting on your own label. The non wine drinkers look at your cute little label, put the bottle under the table, and go get a beer because they aren’t going to drink it anyway.

My suggestion is that you go ahead and buy some inexpensive wine (not Crane Lake) and dress it up with a cute label. The cuteness effect will work, and your non-wine drinking guests will enjoy it thoroughly as a beverage. I strongly suggest Tisdale, Barefoot, or Sutter Home brands for this task. They are inexpensive and can be appreciated for their lack of rancid vinegar flavors.

Now that we’ve got cuteness out of the way, let’s take care of your wine drinking guests. I suggest that you buy a few bottles of wine for guests who, like me, are frankly snobbish about their wines. If budget is a factor, offer them at a no-host bar for purchase. Some great brands that offer fantastic value are Columbia Crest Grand Estates and Red Diamond. You can even take it up a notch and offer a wine or two from your favorite local winery. I’ve been to several weddings in the last year where I would have given my leg and my firstborn for a glass of decent wine.

The trick is to offer a few choices without overwhelming people. A good Chardonnay, Merlot, and Cabernet are three solid varietals to serve. You can switch the Chardonnay for a sweeter white such as Reisling, and the Merlot for a red blend. But, don’t add too many more choices.

A general rule of thumb for serving people wine is to offer approximately one bottle for every four guests of legal drinking age. So, if you have 100 guests you will need 25 bottles, or just over two cases of wine. My suggestion is to get together with store management and make your choices early. Most of the stores in the region are happy to oblige your special orders in advance, and not have their shelves wiped out on a Saturday morning.

All my best to the loving couples! May your years together be many, your children as plentiful as the stars, and your marriage be as pleasurable as the wine you serve on your wedding day!