Sunday, August 15, 2010

Carpe Vino





This is the very first newsletter devoted to wine in the history of Skyland Distributing Company Asheville founded in 1963. I hope to develop a better skills set on the computer as we go along.Right now I'm just a bebe in the woods when it comes to all the set up and etc. I have found comfort in the fact that pretty is pretty and not necessarily informative. Here goes.
We found a hit last night with La Marca Prosecco! Very well received at The Asheville Food and Wine Fair at the Ag. Center. This is a new product that is extremely UNDER-PRICED at this point. Ask your Skyland salesperson for a taste.
Along the same line, we are proud to introduce HeXecco Blanc. This is a sparkling (noticing a pattern here?) from Hex vom Dasenstein. It involves Witches and ancient hexes and a fresh, seductive , fragrant , elegant Secco. It's 90 degrees. This is perfect!
Next up is a Cava from Catalonia. Oriol Domenech,the winemaker ,offers this rather young but tasty entry just in time to COOL US DOWN! I'm all in for 'dat.
The next letter will be devoted to a few new entries to our excellent portfolio. It will also contain some rare wines and vintages that I have found in the dusty recesses of our state of the art climate controlled warehouse. I've stumbled upon some outstanding stuff. Really.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

JOY or Something Like It




A dear friend recently completed a two day seminar in Washington D.C. where he was surrounded by some of the most famous names in the wine "pundit" industry. I use the word pundit here because these are the people who are the "word up" in the wine biz. These are the folks who have the alphabet soup behind their names, CWE, CMW and even BMF (consult street dictionary) His only comment, more of a lament, was that the JOY was fast disappearing from the wine BIZ. Now we all know and we have known for a long time that wine is BIG BUSINESS. A few billion dollars a year. Truth is a rare thing when you deal with a billion dollars. If ANYONE tells you that it isn't the money, they lie. The smallest winery, the most tiniest distributor dreams of the day that they have four feet in the wine dpt. at the big box stores. Business is indeed business. If you are told otherwise it ain't true no matter how touchy-feely organic local sulfite free plant at the moon they say they are they want to feed their families and buy a home or keep up that Prius. But, I digress.
I agree. Where is the JOY? Is it hidden in the bio-dynamic moonlight? Is it in the volumes of print, internet, signs , neons, big box store sales, small wine shop "Exclusives"? Don't bet on it. It is within you and me. That's it! LOVE WINE AS YOU LOVE YOUR LIFE!! It is the stuff of romance. It is the fuel of dreams. It is the communion of the Saints. It is the ultimate companion to friendship and the vitality of the human condition. It is not a powerpoint presentation in a dark room. It is not an overpaid lackey who happens to test well's musings. It is "The stuff that dreams are made of" (apologies to Dash Hammett) It is above all a free choice and in this day and time that is becoming a rarity. Wine is not anything but old grape juice. It's YOUR choice whose you choose. All I ask is have fun. Drink a 1985 Napa Cabernet by the pool in August. Put a bloomin ice cube in your Pinot Noir. Squeeze a lime into your Mersault . Revel in the history of the wine. Don't be caught in the rating trap.
Listen, I have had the ultimate luck to hang with the founders of The American Wine Industry. John Parducci, Dr. George Thoukis, Robert Mondavi, Jan Schrem, Ron Lachini and others. What do they all have in common? The JOY of wine for what it is, not for what it is marketed to be. It is for friends on the patio at sunset. It is for a gathering at a favorite bistro. It is for a celebration of life. It is for the human experience in sorrow or in happiness. It is for JOY. Never lose sight of it.
Carpe Vino danthewineman