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September 2008
Something new at holiday show
Denny Barber and Paul DeCoste talk business at the Republic National Distributing Company Holiday Show last week.
You might be just getting over your summer hangover but the big liquor companies already have an eye on the holidays.
It’s about this time each late summer/early autumn that the major distributors, at least in those states under the thumb of the three-tier distribution system, show off their latest wines and spirits to retailers, restaurateurs and other need-to-know people in the liquor business.
So I’m never sure how I get invited to these alcohol coming-out parties except I tend to hang out with some retailers and I coat-tail on their invitations.
This week it was the Holiday Show offered by Republic National Distributing Company, among the nation’s largest wine and spirits distributors with outlets in 18 states and District of Columbian. The country’s wine and spirits distribution mostly is controlled by three companies: Republic National, Southern Wine & Spirits and Constellation Brands, Inc.
A prospective wine buyer used to count on two or three big fall shows plus a couple spring shows but that’s changed as even the big companies are starting to feel a squeeze. So far this fall only Republic has scheduled a show.
This was a big show by western Colorado standards with a couple hundred wines plus plenty of what the trade calls “brown and white spirits.” You know, bourbon/scotch/rum is brown, vodka/gin/tequila is white, etc. Easy stuff.
Always start with the white wines, which don’t tire your palate as quickly as do the reds. Here are a few whites that emerged from the 50 or so my friend Denny Barber and I tasted. I’ll also give a ballpark retail price, since the price you get at these tastings usually is the wholesale price.
To figure retail prices, you can multiply wholesale by around 35 percent (that varies with retailer). And that price doesn’t include special deals, which can lower the wholesale price by 10 percent or more, depending on how much leeway your salesperson has with his or her costs.
Some of these wines are newly released, which means your retailer might not yet have them on the shelves. Ask if you don’t see them.
*Parducci 2006 Mendocino County Chardonnay — 100 percent chardonnay, lightly oaked, organic, $10;
*Stag’s Leap 2007 Chardonnay — The oak is noticeable, almost too much so, $26;
*Matua 2007 Marlborough 2007 Sauvignon Blanc — Bright, straight-forward New *Zealand sauvignon blanc with big nuances of grassy and citrus, $11;
*Taz 2007 Santa Barbara County Pinot Grigio — bright flavors of citrus, melon, $15;
*Coastal Ridge 2005 Riesling — With 2 percent residual sugar, this wine has a hint of sweetness that may be too much for someone wanting a dry riesling. Lots of honey give this a big mouthfeel. It’s a bargain at $5 (see Douglas Hill, below).
We’ll talk about the red wines next time, but there’s one that deserves mention now. That’s the Douglas Hill 2006 California Merlot. This is brought to us by Bronco Wine Co., the maker of famed “Two-Buck Chuck.” We shouldn’t be surprised to find this merlot listed at $5 but we are, considering it’s a fine everyday wine with good balance, rounded tannins and delicious red fruits. The rep told us the juice comes from Napa, and there’s enough body in this to convince us.
This isn’t one for the ages but at $5 you can pop one for Monday dinner and another for Tuesday’s leftovers. Did I mention $5?
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Traveling wines and vendemmia means harvest
I just returned from a few days in the far northwest Colorado, another of the few places I know where cell phones and Internet don’t interfere with life.
The late days of summer (this is being written on Sept. 21, officially the start of autumn but in the high country the season unofficially began a couple weeks ago) mean hunting seasons and you’ll see upland bird hunters camping near archery hunters camping near black-powder rifle hunters.
My simple but efficient hunting camp.
You’ll be out pounding the sage, your favorite dog sweeping back and forth through the brush nosing out sage grouse and blue grouse, and occasionally the mindful reverie is interrupted by the distant and distinctive “boom” of a black-powder firearm.
I saw lots of deer, especially some magnificent bucks still in their small bachelor herds, but only a few elk. The moon was full during my stay at camp, which means plenty of light at night and the animals feeding and moving around after the moon rises and then heading back to their hiding places before sunrise.
Although this was camping, I didn’t need to avoid glass bottles the way I did in Nevada, where I drank a boxed Delicato 2005 Shiraz ($17) I purchased at a well-appointed Raley’s grocery store in Fallon. The wine was surprisingly good, meaning I don’t always expect much from a boxed wine although that’s evidently unfair to Delicato which produces some very drinkable and enjoyable wines.
The shiraz was fruity with notes plums, blackberries and spice, not greatly complex but at the equivalent of around $5 a bottle, it was very enjoyable. And in spite of temperature swings between the 90-plus heat in the day and 35 or so degree temperature at night, frequent dust storms and conditions generally not favorable to wine storage, the wine held up well, although the box itself took a bit of a beating.
I kept the wine snuggled against a block of ice in the cooler and it was delicious right to the final glass. Next year, I’ll take two boxes.
This last trip, I grabbed at the last minute going out the door (more of a second thought rather than any real planning) a bottle of the Barefoot California Zinfandel. This is a non-vintage bottling, which in part explains the $6 price tag. But it drank well, with flavors of dark raspberry fruit, a bit jammy, and undertones of coffee and dark chocolate. For $6, a great buy.
Harvest (vendemmia) has started in the valley and lat night my friend Sal hosted his annual Vendemmia Party. Lots of friends and good food and of course plenty of great home-made wine. We’ll start picking his grapes this week
Today I’m off to visit vineyards here in and near Paonia to see who is picking what. I’ll talk about the local harvest next week.
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Back from ‘The Loneliest Road’
This big sign greets you on the curve coming into Eureka, Nev.
A break from the newspaper and blogging found me heading west to see family and friends in Utah and Nevada, driving through the delicious solitude of the basin-and-range portions of those states bisected by U.S. Highway 50, also known as “The Loneliest Road in America.”
In years’ past I’ve spent an hour or more in those stretches without seeing another vehicle, ‘cept maybe for the fleets of abandoned military wagons, trucks and armored vehicles scattered across the desert the Navy uses as targets for bombing and strafing practice for the jet fighters out of Fallon Navy Base.
Otherwise, the road’s empty as an ex-lover’s promises.
Ely, Eureka, Austin — these small towns (Ely’s the biggest and it isn’t real big) are the only settlements you pass through between Delta, Utah and Fallon, Nev., a distance of more than 430 miles.
This year the highway was a bit busier, which was a surprise given the cost of gas and the general drop-off of tourism. So at Austin, I dodged southwest along Nevada Route 722, which is even more deserted than Highway 50.
In two hours on Route 722 I encountered one pickup, and the driver waved to me like I was the only other person on the planet, which given the circumstances might have been true.
No blogging or cell phone calls here, please. This part of the country is one of the very (blessed) few where cell phone service and the Internet are rare at best and mostly nonexistent. Imagine two weeks when the phone didn’t ring and e-mail was something you thought about once and then forgot…
Dust storms greeted me in northern Nevada, some of which brought traffic (such as it was) to a standstill. Nothing makes the hair on your neck stand up more than sitting idly on a road, unable to see past the front end of the car, and hoping no one is barreling through the storm behind you.
The storms stopped traffic but not the dancing. It was a lovely vacation.
