It looks like Susie and I have finally decided to go to the Rhone Valley in France this September. We have been struggling to make a decision on where to go. South Africa always calls to us, we both love Cape Town and the experiences we had there two years ago. We’ve both decided that we will go back there sooner rather than later. For now, we are planning our trip to England and France. We will have to spend some time in Paris of course and then off to the Rhone region including Lyon. Susie is the best planner ever, I don’t know if I would want to attempt this without her. My job is to contact my suppliers and arrange visits to some of the wineries in the Rhone Valley. I am really looking forward to meeting some of the winemakers and touring one of my favorite wine regions of the world. My wine cellar (if you can call it that), has a fair amount of wines from this region. Cotes-du-Rhone, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Hermitage, Saint-Joseph and more are found in my wine racks, wood boxes and shelves. I am so excited, I hope it all works out.
The interview with Tim Clark is up on my YouTube channel and I am very happy with how it turned out. You get some nice insights into the world of selling wine to wine guys like myself and also my perspectives on how to approach wine buyers. We review a few wines that Tim brought for the episode and analyze them together. I’ve watched it a couple of times and thoroughly enjoy it. I can’t say that about all my episodes. Check it out, I know you will find it interesting.
We recently had a tasting event featuring fifteen wines under fifteen bucks. It was a modest group, but I have to say that they all loved the wines presented. A blend called Tenacious Red seemed to garner the most attention. This surprised me a bit, but I think the group consisted of a lot of palates that favored new world wines over the old world. My favorite of the event was a Susumaniello from Italy. Yes, there is a grape with that name, and it is only grown in the Salento region of southern Italy. It is deep and rich with that old-world edge that I love so much in wine. Don’t get me wrong, I love new world wines and drink my fair share of them. However, the old-world speaks to me in a way that no other wines can.
Cheers!
Stan The Wine Man
