just working hard for your pleasure!

just got back from Bozeman, one of my favorite distributors held a wine tasting for those of us who buy his wines - new products and new vintages of old favorites were opened - around 60 of us attended from all over the state - here's why it's fun to be in the wine business

they held it at a new restaurant on Main Street called the Blackbird Kitchen - fun food, great cheeses none of us have ever heard of, toasted bread from their homemade wood burning oven - lamb skewers and roasted red peppers - yep, perfect stuff for showing off wines!

in order of my favorites - here are some of the wines they popped:

a Spanish red from Ribera del Duero, had the old country nose but lots of lively fruit on the palate and finish - if you've not had a really good Spanish wine you should - if done well they define "unique" as compared to any other wine region in the world

the Vieux Telegraphe from Chateauneuf du Pape in Southern France - one of the legendary wines of the world, we tasted the '08 - that vintage had to follow the '07 which many people in the wine world are calling the best in our lifetime for the Rhone - I liked it - in talking with the owner of the distributorship the next day we agreed that it is probably more drinkable now than the '07 - great fruit and balance but it should be drunk now - we should be cellaring the '07 for a decade and then ... watch out!


an inexpensive little Pinot Noir from Chile from a pretty large producer called Montes - as you know from last weeks blog I try to shy away from large producers but this one actually stays true to its varietal - you know, exceptions make the world go round


a really interesting white from the Piedmont from the importer Kermit Lynch grabbed my palate - fresh and sparkly but not sweet - a perfect aperitif, a great match for foods on the lighter side and gosh darn it, just a fun wine to drink


a Sauvignon Blanc from Napa - never thought I'd say that I'd really like one of those but it was from a really well respected winery - Spottswoode - I brought a bottle back for a customer who, like me, is partial to Sav Blanc's from the Loire Valley in France - this one will be in my wine 'fridge from now on


and lastly, a pretty sweet (in both meanings of that word) Riesling from the Columbia Valley - in the $13 range with lots of clean to it - perfectly balanced where the sweetness is a complement, not the focus - I know it's not cool to like a sweeter wine but I've never been that cool anyway - I liked it and will serve it with my Thanksgiving Dinner - well unless I decide an Italian dinner makes me give more "thanks" than the traditional


so ... here's the fun part for you! I have access to all of these wines - the Spanish is from the '00 vintage and is semi-limited, the rest are all available regularly.


you know ... I am always doing what I can for the wine lovers of Great Falls - I'll keep you posted on what I'm drinking next!


your pal,


mt

Symphonic Pairings!

this was originally written for the Great Falls Symphony Program

As a wine cellar (get it?) I often wonder what is going through people's minds as they stand in front of that big shelf in the store. I believe as music lover's we have a built in advantage, each wine seems to have a correlating instrument – here's proof:

Piano's are as comfortable in a worn down bar as a concert hall and are the key instrument when looking for a “complete” sound. They can be played classically or with a honky tonk sound. Without doubt, Cote du Rhone red blends are a perfect correlation. They can be used in multiple situations – with or without food - are comfortable with the lead but also know that at times they need to relinquish it and be in support – it performs just as well on its own as when cast as the complement with a succulent meal.

French Horn – smooth, gentle and generally in the background it certainly adds depth to music but is never required to be the flashy center of attention. Can a Merlot be described with a more concise analogy? Until we American's made it step to the front for a few years, it had spent most of it's life in obscurity. It was certainly required to give balance and mellow out it's harsher partner – Cabernet Sauvignon in its ancestral Bourdeaux home but really preferred to be in a supporting role. The good news is that after the movie Sideways, Merlot again is in it's proper place – much like the horn, adding what's required but rarely* seeking independence.

Percussion! Can anyone imagine an orchestra without the clashing cymbals – that burst of sound needed at just the appropriate time? Champagne it is! For centuries now this incredible creation has been used in celebratory situations – adding the “percussion” to our lives at just the appropriate times. The snare drum seems to call for the Spanish version of the sparkling wine – Cava – versatile and noisy, fairly easily played and not requiring perfection. Italy's version – the Prosecco is represented by the xylophone – adding rare and precious sounds on the occasion diversity is needed.

Oboe - all wind sections, in my opinion need one. Obscure and hard to master – adding that occasional flare that one otherwise wouldn't have in it's absence. The uninitiated make a squeaky mess but those with the patience to labor in the shadows are able to shine through when the score is written to include them. Yes, believe it or not there is a correlating wine – it comes from a region in France called Cahors – it is made with the irascible (at least from this region) Malbec grape. Rustic and rough, tough and dark this wine is meant to be enjoyed with big, rich food – certainly not to be enjoyed on it's own. Sound familiar?

and finally ... the Violin. We all know the place it has reserved for itself – flying above the crowd, comfortable with attention, 1^st Chair always the goal. Legendary craftsman have made a name for themselves creating it while each generation has it's own virtuoso's - exciting crowds by displaying both it's clarity and inspiration. Pinot Noir! First perfected on the Côte d'Or (Hills of Gold) in Burgundy it has since simultaneously inspired and broken hearts of vineyard owners the world over with it's finicky soul and easily displayed failings. The inspirational welling in the throat brought about by the meeting of the strings and bow - the notes soaring high above the orchestrated noise is a perfect analogy to the beautiful aroma's followed by the depth of earthiness in the well constructed Pinot – when done properly - perfection attained!

so ... the next time you find yourself staring at that big rack of wine the answer to which bottle ends up in your hand should be apparent – am I in the mood for a big crash of cymbals, is perfection the goal or is it just a nice easy going French Horn kind of a night?

wine is just different ...

I know the tendency – we all want to just drink it, not think about it, quaff it down – I get it, I really do

but ...

sometimes it's a wintry night and a prime is roasting in the oven

and, sometimes it's a sunny afternoon on the porch in early April

and, another time you're celebrating your daughter's wedding day

and, once in your lifetime it's your fiftieth birthday

that's when ... wine is just different

the big California Cab you've been hiding in the back of the wine fridge is uncorked!

you crack open the first Vinho Verde of the year!

the Champagne you bought for her the year she was born pops!

you order a really expensive bottle of Barbaresco while dining in the town of Barbaresco!

see, wine is just different - but not ALL wine is just different ...

it honestly matters what wines you drink!

I get it, I really do – Menage a Trois tastes pretty good – Kendall Jackson Chard is consistent, you know what you are going to get from bottle to bottle – in other words a Big Mac in Paris tastes like a Big Mac in Minot – but ... a Marselan from Jean-Luc and Marie-Lise Dorthe from the Cote du Rhone in Southern France doesn't taste like anything else in the world – in fact, it doesn't taste the same in '08 as it did in '07 and that's the beauty of it. Those two wake up every morning and tend lovingly to the vines – deal with whatever nature throws at them, wouldn't dream of using pesticides since they have to live on the land they'd be spraying - and then at harvest time, well lets just use their own words:"We do three passes in the vineyard, for hand selection of the healthiest grapes. Marselan is de-stemmed entirely, an additional hand selection in the cellar to ferment only mature and healthy grapes. Fermentation in concrete to transmit the essence of the grape and soil" (this bottle of wine sells in my store for $10 by the way)

or ...

you can drink wines made from grapes that come from no specific place – grown on huge corporate farms all across a region, pesticides used to keep everything as “perfect” as possible – grapes being picked when the spectrometer says the sugar is optimal for the “insert winery name here” taste the consumers expect. They are then thrown into huge vats where commercial yeasts are added to guarantee “their taste” - oak chips are added to give that “aged in oak” taste some prefer without spending all the money on real oak barrels – a “winemaker” filters and fines the juice before bottling to make sure the wine is perfectly clear – you all get it – even focus groups are used to make sure the so called “wine” is what their consumers expect.

winesbywednesday's goal is to end the tyranny of grocery store wines in Great Falls! For too many years now the “big guys” have been choosing what wines we drink in our little town. Every restaurant has the same wines on their list – every grocery store is chock full of the same wines, every party I go to etc. - I swear, if I hear the words “I'd like a glass of La Crema” one more time ... well, I guess I just believe it's time for a change!

I work hard at finding family farmers, growing their own grapes and making really good, natural wines for my store and I have found LOTS OF THEM! I do not want to sell the big guys wines, period! The Kendall Jackson winery makes 24 million bottles of Chardonnay every year – 24 million! You can't even find out how many Folie a Duex bottles of their Menage A Trois lines of wine every year – assume it's similar numbers! – do you think they have a sense of place or time? Jean Luc and Marie make, on a good year around 20,000 bottles from 6 different grapes. I have their e-mail, their phone number, their address. You can write, call or visit them and tell them what you think – ask them what the weather was like in late September of '07, ask them to carve out a little time next August when you visit or simply congratulate them on this years Viognier!

so you see ... I believe some wine is just different!

Mark Tronson

Wine Cellar (get it?)

October 17^th, 2010