BITS & BOBS

Posted on September 2, 2019 by Stan The Wine Man

Rose’ is a year-round staple for me. It is versatile with food and a very nice evening beverage to enjoy all by itself. However, most wine drinkers give up on Rose’ as soon as fall arrives. The weather is a bit cooler and reds become the focus. I can’t make people drink pink when the weather turns, even though I do. That’s not to say that I don’t keep a few Rose’ on the shelf for those who are like me and drink it all year. I have a few available, but you will not find a stack of it on the sales floor. Even though it is one of the strongest categories in my department from May to September, reality strikes and sales slow way down in the Fall and Winter. I would love to change that, but I have other things to go to the mat for that are much more important to me.

However, this will not stop the sales reps from presenting Rose’ for me to purchase for the next two months. Why you ask? The companies they work for purchased a ton of Rose’ in the Spring, and now they find themselves with excess to off-load, so they send their troops out to pedal Rose’ to the retail buyers to see if they can get them to bite. It happens every year, and every year I give them a try and remind the reps that I can no longer sell Rose’ in any quantities because as I’ve stated, people just quit buying it. The funny thing is, I will get more Rose’ presented to me in September than I did in April when the Rose’ season is just about to go into full bore. I used to get frustrated by this, but now it just humors me. It doesn’t stop with Rose’ either. In the dead of winter, along comes a sales rep with a bag of samples which happen to be all whites! Once again, the distributors are looking at all the whites they bought in the summer and send their crews out to try and get rid of the excess. I’m sure they have some success, but not at my place.

I have a couple of wineries in sight for my winery of the year. This is the time when I start focusing on certain wineries to find one that will get the honor. I will start asking to taste more of their wines looking for consistency in quality and fair pricing. I am very stoked about my pick for 2018. Longship Cellars continues to put out quality juice at a fair price. Since I picked them for winery of the year, they have introduced a stellar Merlot and Grenache to their portfolio along with a Petite Sirah. All three have lived up to the quality that I have come to expect from Kyle Welch, winemaker and owner. I am very excited to see their continued success and growth in the future. Kyle and Cassie Welch are two of the nicest people you will meet. If you are headed over to Eastern Washington to check out wineries, don’t forget to put Longship Cellars down as a destination stop. Here is their website, check them out.

Cheers!

Stan The Wine Man

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FRIDAY’S FIVE

Posted on August 30, 2019 by Stan The Wine Man

In a weeks time, I taste a boatload of wine (seriously). A lot of my friends think I’m lucky. Well, they’re right and I wouldn’t give this job up for the world. The only thing that makes my job hard, is my feeling of responsibility to taste the samples given to me as quickly as possible and to put my reviews either in my Moleskine, on my YouTube channel (Stan The Wine Man TV), or right here on Stanthewineman.com. Here for your reading pleasure, are five wines that I have reviewed in my Moleskine (good or bad), this past week.

2014 Awning Estates Cabernet Sauvignon Colchagua Valley (Apalta, Chile)… $12.

Aromas of dark cherries, licorice and tobacco with a touch of earth and hard candy coming through. Dark currants and earth on the palate supported by firm, approachable tannins front to finish. Good balance of acidity, fruit and tannins. Solid finish of leather, currants earth and tobacco. There is a touch of green twig action that lies underneath. Nice Cab at a stupid price. (B/B+)

2017 Weingut Heinrich Naked White (Austria)… $21.

Pineapple and orange citrus on the nose with a pinch of ginger. Funky Pineapple and apple notes front to the finish where apple dominates on the back-end, that has a slightly bitter edge. 68% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Blanc, 7% Neuburger, 5% Muscat Ottonel, 3% Gruner Veltliner (C+)

2015 Memaloose Idiot’s Grace Red (Columbia Valley, WA)… $20.

Aromas of raspberries, black olives, green olives, bark, black tea and chocolate with a touch of funk and a hit of cooked popcorn kernel. Black raspberries, cooked popcorn kernel and chocolate notes hit on the front of the palate, backed by solid, balanced acidity that gives the wine a crunchy feel in the mouth. Chocolate and black tea notes join up on the back of the mid-palate into the long finish. A nine in the delicious category. 34% Sangiovese, 33% Cabernet Franc, 33% Cabernet Sauvignon (B+)

2017 Fantini Sangiovese Terre Di Chieti (Abruzzo, Italy)… $14.

Roasted meat marinated in cherry juice on the nose with a little bark, tobacco and caramel thrown in. Licorice, currants and slight bark notes come through on the palate, supported by balanced acidity and tannins. There is a slight hit of caramel that sneaks in on the back of the mid-palate. Crisp and bright finish with hits of citrus. (C+/B-)

2017 Santa Barbara Winery Chardonnay (Santa Barbara County, CA)… $17.

Slight butter and oak notes on the nose. Butter and pear notes on the palate, supported by nicely integrated acidity front to finish. Oak notes sneak out a bit on the finish but stays in check. Nice and fresh, making it an excellent food Chardonnay. (B-/B)

Cheers!

Stan The Wine Man



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BITS & BOBS

Posted on August 26, 2019 by Stan The Wine Man

Can anyone explain to me why a restaurant would refuse to offer Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay to their customers? A sales rep who calls on me told me about this place. I was stunned that someone who owns a business would actually let their wine snobbery, rob them not only of easy income, but also patrons. Evidently they feel that Cab and Chard are not worthy of their wine list. I sort of get it. As a person who runs a fairly successful wine department, I have many wines on the shelf that I wouldn’t drink myself. I won’t give specific examples of course, but the reason I have them their is for the customers who like those wines. They aren’t poorly made wines per se, I just am not interested in them for drinking. It would be irresponsible of me to take them off the shelf and lose customers because of it. There is some weirdness to this rant that I will get to now.

The said rep who told me this story shared a Cabernet Sauvignon from the Loire Valley in France. The Cab was lean, acidic and green. I don’t know about you, but that’s not what I’m looking for in a Cabernet. Of course, the sales rep loved the wine because as I’ve mentioned before, he is one of the acid/veggie freaks I have to deal with. He told me that the above restaurateurs added this very wine to their list because they liked it so much. Good for them! They are now proud owners of a wine list with one Cab on it that maybe 5% of their customers will like, and I’m being generous with 5%.

I have nothing against liking esoteric wines. I like quite a few myself. If I am craving a green thin style wine, I go for a Cab Franc from the Loire Valley, because that is what they are like on many occasions. I’m a big fan of whites with a ton of crushed or dusty rocks in their flavor profile. Think Sancerre, Muscadet, White Burgundy or Chablis. If I discovered a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with those characteristics I wouldn’t wipe my shelves clean of all the grapefruit bombs and only carry one NZ Sauv Blanc because it has what I like. That would be insane! I’m not a huge fan of the grapefruit driven Sauv Blancs out of NZ. However, I am well aware of their popularity and I provide many choices for my customers who like them. Giving people what they like is a huge responsibility that I take quite seriously. If one chooses to be a wine snob and owns a business that sells wine or runs a wine department, please make yourself a closet wine snob and only reveal yourself to people of like ilk. Your customers will be happy and your wine friends will be happy.

I do have to mention that as soon as I wrote about my new found success uploading my YouTube episodes, I ran into a snag. If you checked out my latest with Owen Thayer, you may have found that all you heard was the soundtrack and the video froze in the beginning. I was so frustrated, I thought about giving up. However, I persisted and found the problem. You can now watch the episode with soundtrack and video in harmony. It still takes time to load them up, but at least it is working. Check out my latest here.

Cheers!

Stan The Wine Man

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BITS & BOBS

Posted on August 19, 2019 by Stan The Wine Man

This has been a good week for me on the YouTube front. I posted an episode on Chilean Cabs finding a stellar example of what you can find in that part of the world. Quality juice for a prayer, check it out here. I also shot an episode with one of my sales reps to show you what I experience on a weekly basis at the store where they present wines to me hoping that I will find one that will work in the store from their bag of goods. Owen from Cavatappi Dist. was the first to volunteer to shoot an episode with me and we both thought it turned out well. That episode will be on the big screen tomorrow.

The most exciting news for me personally was a breakthrough in loading up my videos to my YouTube channel. As a lot of you know, since my move to a new house, I have been struggling with the time it takes to load an episode to my YouTube channel. I upgraded my video editing program and BOOM! Now it loads up in minutes, whereas it took days prior to the upgrade. I’m sure it has something to do with the formatting of the video before uploading. Anyway, it is a big relief and gives me the inspiration to continue on making informative and entertaining videos on wine. I hope you are enjoying them as much as I enjoy making them. There is always room for improvement, so any suggestions will be accepted with open arms.

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The 2016 vintage out of Bordeaux (and across Europe for that matter) is turning out to be an exceptional year for wine quality. Keep your eyes open for bargains from this vintage and give them a try. So far I have tasted only one that was marginal in quality. The rest have shown way above their pay grade. I’m still waiting to try the 2016 version of my #1 pick of the year under twenty bucks in 2018 which was a 2015 Bordeaux. I am getting ready to shoot an episode on this very subject which will be a review of three Bordeaux from this vintage. I almost rushed into doing it I was so excited! However, I calmed down and realized that I have some time to do a little more research to make the episode as informative as I can. I know, I am very geeky when it comes to wine, especially when it involves a classic vintage.

Speaking of classic vintages, I am hearing nothing but good things about the 2018 vintage out of Washington State. I have talked to a few winemakers and they concur. I have tasted quite a few Rose’ and whites and I am impressed with what I have found. It will be very exciting to get into the reds when they are released. I have a feeling that quite a few from 2018 will make it into my cellar.

Cheers!

Stan The Wine Man

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