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July 6 2008
Our introduction to new things usually happens in threes. I am talking celebrity deaths, new words and phrases, and things that had not previously invaded our consciousness.
When the radar comes into tune, it seems like “new to you” items become quickly ubiquitous.
So it was with Zephyr Wine Adventures, a company I am now well in tune with.
Zephyr is an adventure travel company operating internationally from company headquarters in Montana and Founder and President Allan Wright’s outpost in Boulder, CO.
I became acquainted with Zephyr just a few short weeks ago when the Wine Blogger Conference in Sonoma was announced. As a co-organizer of the conference, Zephyr was a bit of a curiosity to me because I was not familiar with them and the wine blogging community is so much like a small town where everybody knows everyone (and everything). It was almost as if somebody new moved to town, the mysterious new interloper.
Then, while reading the May issue of Food & Wine magazine I saw another mention of Zephyr. Hmmm … finally, while reading Wine News this past week, I read a very lovingly rendered article on a Zephyr Wine Adventures.
Clearly, there was something here that I needed to know more about.
I contact Allan Wright to thank him for his coordination of the Wine Blogger conference (along with Joel Vincent) and to learn more about his business.
Zephyr Adventures, a well-regarded 11-year-old adventure travel company is now introducing wine hiking tours in Oregon and Sonoma.
Focused on delivering a superb customer experience, Zephyr focuses on just a few things and doing them very well:
• Access; wineries, vineyards, people, scenary
• Education
• Interactivity based on your needs
The idea of hiking in wine country is not a new one (homage to Russ Beebe from Winehiker Witiculture), but the notion of doing it on a scale and with the focus on “access” is a new one.
Imagine getting insider one-to-one access with winemakers and vineyard managers and walking the vineyards, not something that happens everyday in the Disney-fication of Napa and Sonoma, where so much of the process of what ends up in the bottle is edited for public consumption.
As a part of the Wine Blogger Conference participants will be going on an abbreviated hike with the good folks at Zephyr—as a preview to that bit of fun, I caught up with Allan to learn more about him and his business.
Herewith, 20 “Not So Penetrating Questions” with a Wine Pro:
Good Grape: Which of the Seven Deadly Sins are you most guilty of?
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures: I am not so proud that I need to deny I had to look up the Seven Deadly Sins to see which I am most guilty of. Nevertheless, my sin is Pride, which one website defines as “excessive belief in one’s own abilities” but which I prefer to view as the Horatio Alger storyline.
Good Grape: What is your biggest pet peeve?
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures:My biggest pet peeve is when people put mental blocks in front of their own path in life. “I can’t do that because my body doesn’t work that way.” “I am no good at thinking clearly in the morning.” “I’m just not good at math.” Pick your poison, they are all self-imposed barriers.
Good Grape: What is on your nightstand?
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures:Culture Shock Germany, Germany Grammar Drills, The Green Guide to Germany, and Der Kleine Hobbit (The Hobbit in German). I am leaving for the Mosel Valley in four days!
Good Grape: What is in your refrigerator or pantry that you would not openly admit?
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures: I live with a dietitian. There is nothing in our house that would not make anyone proud.
Good Grape:What do you drink when you are not drinking wine?
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures: It is a rare day when I veer from my standard four: beer, wine, water, and/or orange juice.
Good Grape: What type of music or radio station is played most often in your car?
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures:NPR.
Good Grape: In what era would you live if you transport yourself?
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures: As a fan of historical fiction, that is a tough one. I can easily envision swinging a sword as a King’s Musketeer, tramping through the woods at the side of Davy Crockett, or exploring the West with Lewis & Clark. If I had to choose, I guess I would pick being in the 1770s during our Revolutionary War (sorry to your British readers).
Good Grape: What is the best wine-related book you have read?
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures: I found The Emperor of Wine by Elin McCoy an intriguing book, the more so because it was the first wine book I ever read and introduced me to the genre as well as the industry. Alice Feiring’s book The Battle for Wine and Love is on my list to complete the Parker circle.
Good Grape: What is your favorite movie genre?
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures: Action and adventure. What I don’t like – most of the time – is reality movies since I get that in the newspaper.
Good Grape: Is your desk messy or organized?
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures: Desk? What desk? I have a laptop and, as an adventure travel organizer, am at work as often on my couch or in a hotel room as any desk. Seriously, don’t send me any paper because if it doesn’t get in my computer, it doesn’t exist!
Good Grape: Are you always early or terminally late?
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures: Always on time. J
Good Grape: Do you read the comics in the newspaper? If so, what’s your favorite comic?
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures: Dilbert. I escaped the Dilbert world 11 years ago and still like imagining what I don’t go through!
Good Grape: Who would you want to play you in the movie about your life?
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures: People say I look like Owen Wilson and I think I would be flattered to have him play me.
Good Grape: What super-power would you most like to have, and why?
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures: I would love to have some super power that would allow me to knock together the heads of our world’s leaders, getting them to come to their senses. If that is too vague or Miss America-ish, I also would love to be able to fly!
Good Grape: You are moving and can only take three or four articles you want to take with you. What would you grab?
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures: My soccer shoes, my computer, and my baby book. It is amazing how many things my mom stuffed in my baby book oh so many years ago!
Good Grape: What do you do if you have a spare hour?
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures: Do you mean a spare hour after working, working out, and having a beer or glass of wine at the local pub? I read every day and love to watch good movies.
Good Grape: What was the last great restaurant you ate at?
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures: Boulder, Colorado has a ton of great restaurants. Just last night I had happy hour at The Med and for $20 had three drinks and five tapas platters for dinner – tip and tax included. Now that is a great restaurant.
Good Grape: What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures: Chocolate fudge.
Good Grape: What is the best compliment you have ever received?
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures: I can’t remember that far back ….
Good Grape: “2 Truths And a Lie” – Share 3 unique things about yourself and your life, 2 of them true, 1 false, readers will guess by leaving a comment
Allan/Zephyr Wine Adventures:
1. I am sitting here in a walking cast as I write this due to a broken leg.
2. My next project is to write a book about the wolves of Yellowstone.
3. I am part-owner in a small Washington winery where I grew up.
July 5 2008
Verge Wine Cellars released their first vintage in March of this year, a ’06 Dry Creek Syrah, and already they are in the top 5% of wine producers in the country, in my opinion.
Why am I tossing out the lofty platitudes for an unproven winery with a single varietal of a single wine from a single vintage?
A winery that comes out of the gate as fully conceived, full of conviction and put-together as the guys at Verge are, in my mind, are staring at nothing but green pastures and blue skies for their future.
Simply, most people do not know who they are, or what they want to be. Drawing a line in the sand and saying, “This is what we’re about” is completely refreshing.
Already named to a San Francisco Chronicle watch list for up and coming wineries, there is a lot to like with Verge.
They know what they believe in regarding the grapes, how they plan to sell their wine, with a cohesive story, and they utilize the best of new marketing tactics without it devolving into a distraction.
Take this as an example of where the guys at Verge are coming from and let it be noted that anybody that comes out of the gate with a Manifesto is a kindred spirit to Good Grape:
Syrah Manifesto
Let it henceforth be known to all mankind and future generations of winemakers, grape growers, vinophiles, wine adventurers, sommeliers, wine buyers, modern day rumrunners, moonshiners and all other discerning tipplers and non-teetotalers that:
Syrah, long in the shadow of the evil twins of greed and false devotion, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir, is hereby declared the world’s finest grape varietal with no second or equal.
Syrah, a vigorous vine indeed, must suffer and strain to produce great wines but can only do so when planted far from the likes of the fertile valley.
Syrah, when found on the outlying tracts of viticultural areas, in the hills, off the back roads, next to forests and the natural habitats of insects, mammals and fowl, on the fringe, is supremely good.
Syrah, when grown organically or biodynamically in this type of place, is intrinsically superior. Why continue the use of harmful agrichemicals?
Syrah is most unique and expressive when made by small producers who seek out distinctive vineyard sources and employ small-scale, minimalist winemaking techniques.
Syrah, grown for over thirty years in California, must be pushed past mediocrity to excellence by like-minded wineries and growers.
Verge Wine Cellars will combine right site, right vineyard, right winemaking and right mind, to produce expressive, age-worthy Syrah.
Verge Wine Cellars will follow the grand traditions of our winemaking brethren and sisters from the granite hills of Hermitage to the eastern slopes of the Barossa Range to the iconoclastic Rangers here in California. Never quit.
LONG VINIFY SYRAH!
We caught up with Verge Co-owner, Jay Kell, for our 20 “Not So Penetrating Questions.” Here is what he had to say (and remember to leave a comment and take a guess at which one of the last three answers in question 20 is an artful dodge on the truth).
Good Grape: Which of the Seven Deadly Sins are you most guilty of?
Jay Kell/Verge: Gluttony would be right up there. Mostly Laute and Forente. I tend to go right for the caviar cart.
Good Grape: What is your biggest pet peeve?
Jay Kell/Verge: Impatience. I’m also a big believer in promptly returning phone calls and emails. It’s part of what keeps the lights on in any business.
Good Grape: What is on your nightstand?
Jay Kell/Verge:
Just read: Tobias Wolff “Old School”
Just starting: Michael Ondaatje “Divisidero”
In between: Daniel Imhoff “Farming with the Wild”
Constantly: Cookbooks
Good Grape: What is in your refrigerator or pantry that you would not openly admit?
Jay Kell/Verge: Crisco Vegetable Shortening. Always a standby when lard is not availble.
Good Grape: What do you drink when you are not drinking wine?
Jay Kell/Verge: Water, Guinness, Bourbon. Is there anything more?
Good Grape: What type of music or radio station is played most often in your car?
Jay Kell/Verge: I am constantly rocking my good buddy Hayes Carll. Mostly R.L. Burnside, Dead Prez, The Roots, Grant Green, David Grisman, Peter Tosh.
Good Grape: In what era would you live if you transport yourself?
Jay Kell/Verge: Turn of the 20th century Graz, Austria.
Good Grape: What is the best wine-related book you have read?
Jay Kell/Verge: Like many people out there, I was inspired from the beginning of my wine career by Kermit Lynch’s “Adventures on the Wine Route”. I also like Jancis Robinson’s books
Good Grape: What is your favorite movie genre?
Jay Kell/Verge: Is Caddyshack or any other Bill Murray movie a genre?
Good Grape: Is your desk messy or organized?
Jay Kell/Verge: Papers neatly piled but I just barely make the Type A cut.
Good Grape: Are you always early or terminally late?
Jay Kell/Verge: First to arrive, last to leave.
Good Grape: Do you read the comics in the newspaper? If so, what is your favorite comic?
Jay Kell/Verge: No newspapers except on slow and lazy coffee laced Sundays. Always checking out homestarunner.com
Good Grape: Who would you want to play you in the movie about your life?
Jay Kell/Verge: I’ll just go ahead and say Ice Cube.
Good Grape: What super-power would you most like to have, and why?
Jay Kell/Verge: Telephathy would be cool as a means to understand what goes through someone’s mind when they taste a wine.
Good Grape: You are moving and can only take three or four items with you. What do you grab?
Jay Kell/Verge: The Santa Cruz OM guitar, the old school Gibson guitar, a case of the good stuff, and the IPOD.
Good Grape: What do you do if you have a spare hour?
Jay Kell/Verge: Cook something fresh for my wife.
Good Grape: What is the name of last great restaurant you dined at?
Jay Kell/Verge: Great to me is a restaurant where the folks are kind and the food is good. Zazu in Santa Rosa last week.
Good Grape: What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
Jay Kell/Verge: Chocolate.
Good Grape: What is the best compliment you have ever received?
Jay Kell/Verge: “That was the best mint julep I ever had.”
Good Grape: “2 Truths And a Lie” – Share 3 unique things about yourself and your life, 2 of them true, 1 false, readers will guess by leaving a comment
Jay Kell/Verge:
1) I got my start in business by making handmade pasta for restaurants in Arkansas.
2) For me, a degree in German Literature was the best preparation for the wine industry.
3) Making pinot noir really gets me excited.
July 2 2008
On the heels of this announcement from White Rocket Wine Company, I can’t let a chance to comment about “French Maid” wine and a press release headline that includes the phrase, “Ooh La La!” go unchecked.
It’s no wonder the French hate us “Ugly Americans.” Whatever the good folks at White Rocket are spending on focus groups, please break me off a slice and I’ll brainstorm label names for you.
$500 out of my pocket to the first wine company that releases a wine called, ‘Chuck Norris.’
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