Thursday, September 11, 2008

It's true what they say..... you taste the most wine in the retail biz

So, yeah, it's true what they say - if you are a retail wine buyer, or maybe a wine director at a restaurant, you taste the most wine. Heck I still think retail buyers taste more wine.

So now that I'm not a retail buyer anymore, though I work some retail, about 2 days a week now on the weekend, I won't have that many tasting notes.

What you'll see here more is probably places I've been that have interesting wine.

Take yesterday for instance. During the day, probably my most interesting meeting was with the wine director at Sona. This is a restaurant I have heard much about and I know there was at least at one time tons of attention on this restaurant. Now that I've been through the kitchen (I entered through the back) and met with the wine director, I feel that this is a place I wish to dine and experience the tasting menu. Yep, just by walking through the place and seeing what wines they ordered makes me want to come back! Yum!

In the evening, I experienced a neighborhood I don't know a lot about - the area around Westchester, Culver City and Playa Vista. Is it ever booming! Among some other places, my friend and I ended up at a coffee-house-turned-wine-bar called Vinoteque which has a massive wine list and lots of stuff by the glass. A sommelier teaches wine classes here. I see my competing portfolio has already made inroads here, so I'll have to get myself in front of the sommelier and see what I can do!

At Vinoteque, I enjoyed a delicious glass of 2007 Hugl Gruner Veltliner - refreshing, green, melony, and drinkable. We used to have this wine at The Wine Country - I'll have to see if we can get it back because it is an excellent value that comes in a liter bottle. :)

2 comments:

Michael Hughes said...

I am so in love with gruner! I've got to see if we can get the Hugl in the store.

Samantha Dugan said...

Nancy,
Guess we will just have to open more stuff while you are there on the weekends....gotta keep that palate sharp!