Things That Make Wine Retailers Happy

Sometimes it’s the little things that make us happy. Like finally replacing the crumbly, dusty nubbins with a brand new box of long, clean, fresh chalk. This probably only applies to wine retailers with chalk boards, but for those in that category, you know what I’m talking about.

Bring on the holidays! I have new chalk!

Thanksgiving Day Wine Winner: As American as Cerasuolo & Apple Pie

The results are in. The big top seller for Thanksgiving at Frankly Wines? A nice American Zinfandel? An inexpensive Cali Pinot? A perfectly pair-able German Riesling? None of the above....

It was the Cos Cerasuolo.

How on earth did a $32 bottle of Frappato and Nero d'Avola from Sicily wind up at the top of the charts? A host of reasons:

1. Everyone that works at the store loves it and raves wildly about it to anyone who will list. And it's hard to resist the ravings of a knowledge wine retailer.
2. $32/bottle isn't so crazy expensive that customers feel a financial obligation to resist our wild ravings.
3. It's Italian and even on the most American of holidays, Americans still love all things Italian.
4. It really does go nicely with the typical Thanksgiving spread.
5. We had it open several days earlier and a lot of people tried it and came back for more.

 And the deciding factor?

 

   6.    It's in a really cool bottle.

Thanksgiving Day Suggestion #7, #8, and #9: For the Grab & Go Set

Since Suggesiton #6 involved a wine I couldn't even sell, these next suggestions center on wines exclusively availabe at Frankly Wines. OK, the wines aren't exclusive to my store, but I dare you to find all these ones at any one place…other than Frankly Wines!

All horn tooting aside, last year, it became very clear that many customers really don't want to think too much about what they're serving for Thanksgiving. Sure, there are plenty of customers that do want to discuss the intricacies of their various side dishes or the specific ingredients in their stuffing, but they've generally not doing their shopping the day before Thanksgiving. For those last minute shoppers, I've put together three different 3-Packs. Each includes a red, white, and rose, all boxed up and ready to grab and go.

Here they are:

THANKSGIVING WINE 101
All three of these wines were Frankly Wines best sellers. They're all tasty, easy-drinking crowd pleasers that won't offend your turkey (or your crazy aunt.)

Sebastiani Chardonnay 2007 (Sonoma, California): Creamy Chardonnay goodness balanced by a crisp citrus edge. This is even a hit with those who "don't like Chardonnay"

Mark West Pinot Noir 2008 (California): Bright, pure fruit with a hint of spice. Not too heavy, not too light - it's the ideal accompaniment to a table full of Thanksgiving treats.

Crios Rosé of Malbec 2009 (Mendoza, Argentina): Made from the Malbec grape, this is a rose with a kick. Big fruit, big spice - it's a red wine that just happens to be pink.

PRICING: $36.99 (regular price $40.97) Buy it.

TURKEY DAY UPGRADE
Show your bird a little love and upgrade the liquid portion of your dinner These grape varieties are just one or two steps removed from the usual suspects - without being weird or wine geeky.

Markus Fries Bernkasteler Schlossberg Kabinett 2007 (Mosel, Germany): Almost-dry Riesling from a tiny producer. Despite fears to the contrary, that tiny bit of sweetness is what makes this a perfect paring for nearly anything.

Noëlla Morantin Mon Cher Gamay 2008 (Loire Valley, France): Think of Gamay as Pinot Noir's vibrant country cousin. This one is made by a young winemaker from fruit sourced from the culty Clos Roche Blanche vineyards.

Nigl Zweigelt Rose 2008 (Kremstal, Austria): Nigl is a tip top producer in Austria. Zweigelt is a red grape rarely (ever?) seen outside of Austria. And this rosé is a smashing blend of fresh berry fruit and a white pepper kick.

PRICING: $49.99 (regular price $57.97) Buy it.

THANKSGIVING ADVENTURE PACK
Face it - turkey day food can be a little boring. But you can bring an a little adventure to your table with this 3-Pack. Yes, these wines are at the bleeding edge of wine geek coolness, but they also happen to be pretty tasty. Don't be scared....

Bornard Arbois Pupillin Melon Le Rouge Queue 2006 (Arbois, Jura, France): In the Jura region, Chardonnay is called "Melon." But the taste is totally different. Pure, clean fruit with a slightly sherry-like tang. Weird but good.

Cos Cerasuolo Vittoria Classico 2007 (Sicily, Italy): A blend of Nero d'Avola and Frappato from Sicily. You can taste the Sicilian sunshine, but not in a cooked way. It's all bright cherries, fresh earth and a whiff of spice.

Lopez de Heredia Todonia Rosado 1998 (Rioja, Spain): From one of the last 100% old school producers in Rioja, this is not your typical rosé. A perfect balance of sherry-like tang, exotic spices and ghosts of fruit.
PRICING: $74.99 (regular price $97.97) Buy it.

Thanksgiving Day Non-Suggestion #6: Beaujolais Nouveau

So I was planning to write a post bemoaning how this year, it’s been the height of wine-writing fashion to bash the Beaujolais Nouveau. I was going to say that just like any wine, there is good Nouveau and bad Nouveau. And to cast an entire type of wine as gimmicky and over-produced is an oversimplification.

I was going to say that finding a good Nouveau can be as easy as choosing one from a producer who makes a good non-Nouveau. And that many of these producers don’t airlift anymore - they bring it over on a boat, which is even more fuel effective than trucking wine over from California. And that while I would happily drink a local version of Nouveau (say if Shinn Winery had one for sale), I haven’t yet found one.

I was going to say that despite the current lack of wine geek love, Beaujolais Nouveau is still a perfect pairing to Thanksgiving. What could be more appropriate than the first wine of the harvest paired with a meal meant to celebrate the harvest? And its fresh fruity (even grapey) notes, tempered with a bit of earthiness, make it a good counterbalance to the heaviness of the Thanksgiving meal.

That’s what I was planning to do. Unfortunately, as of about 4.28pm on Sunday, I had sold through my entire shipment of Domaine de La Madone Beaujolais Nouveau 2009 save for one lonely bottle.

Au revior Bojo. See you next year.

Thanksgiving Wine Suggestion #5: For Those Who Don't Like Zinfandel but Want to Drink It Anyway

So you say you don’t like Zinfandel? Too big. Too rich. Too much alcohol. Too much fruit and spice and everything nice. You think even the venerable Ridge wines are a bit too much for your taste.

But yet…

You know Zinfandel is the quintessential American grape. And you can’t help yourself from serving it on this most quintessential of American holidays. (A good cliché never hurt anyone.) But it kills you to have something on your table that you don’t want to drink.

What to do? What to do?

Easy. Find yourself some Dashe l’Enfant Terrible. Michael Dashe, who spent some time making those venerable Ridge wines, makes this Zinfandel using natural winemaking techniques. Indigenous yeast, no fining, no filtering. No overripe fruit. No slathering of new oak. The result is really “essence of Zinfandel” with the fruit and the spice, but none of the weight. It’s a lovely pale ruby red that doesn’t exactly scream “ZINFANDEL.” Most shocking? Alcohol is 13.8%. For a Zin, that’s practically non-alcoholic!

Dashe L'Enfant Terrible McFadden Farms Zinfandel 2008 (Potter Valley, California): $25.99  Buy it.

Guys You Need to Know if You Want to Open a Wine Store

Last Friday night, at 4.30pm, the cash register went down. No cash register on a Friday evening in November is about as close as a wine store can get to front line combat. Luckily, we have a manual credit card swipe machine, a calculator with really big buttons, and an on-line payment gateway, so the show could go on. Even more importantly, I had scheduled an emergency-next-day-Saturday appointment with my computer guy by 4.45pm.


It’s good to have a computer guy. It’s probably one of the top 5 guys you need to have if you ever plan to open a wine store. If you’re missing one of them (and obviously, it’s OK if your guys are girls), make sure you find one…

Guys You Need to Know

1. A Computer Guy: for when your computer dies just as you’re going into a weekend

2. A General Handy Man Guy: for when the toilet’s clogged, or you need your air conditioner filters cleaned, or you need to install light blocking blinds on the windows

3. A Graphic Designer Guy: to whip up a cool logo or put together an advertisement for your local paper (because sorry, even though they say they have an art department that can put together the ad, you really don’t want them to)

4. A Web Guy: to develop a cool web site: and tweak it when you change your mind

Those are the essential guys and I have found a great one of each.

On the non-essential front: A Photographer Guy to take pictures of your store, you in your store, and the wine in your store. Right now I’m making due with and iPhone and the Camera Bag app for wine pictures. But I’d like to find a good photographer guy, so if you know one, send him my way!

Thanksgiving Suggestion #4: For Those Who Want to Stay One Step Ahead of the New York Times

Every year, the New York Times does a round up of wine suggestions for Thanksgiving. This year, one of the suggestions was the Il Frappato from Valle dell’Acate. We’ve carried this wine before and agree with Eric Asimov’s description that it’s a “kind of Sicilian Beaujolias.” It’s intensely aromatic, with floral notes and bright berries and a lovely pale ruby color that’s one or two steps darker than a rose.

I like the Il Frappato very much…..but….on the perpetual quest for something new, I was eager to get in the Frappato’s kissing cousin, a Lacrima di Morro d'Alba.

Honestly, Frappato and Lacrima di Morro d’Alba aren’t related at all. Frappato is grown in Sicily, in the south. Lacrima di Morro is a grape grown in a tiny wine region located in the Marche, on the east coast, a bit north of the middle of the back of the boot. But to my nose, they’re both “weird but good” in a similar way. Light- to medium-bodied but bursting with aromatic intensity – fresh flower gardens and bright berries. The Frappato is more red berry, while the Lacrima is a little more blue berry and the flowers are more purple, like violets and lavendar. The (three) Lacrimas that I’ve tasted also seem to have a little more earthiness to them, which is why I wanted to swap one in for the Frappato as the weather gets cooler.

But that’s sort of splitting hairs. Both grapes make for fresh, lively, yummy wines that are great for the long, heavy meal that can be Thanksgiving.  And both should cost just under $20. 

So pick up the Frappato, as mentioned in the New York Times.

Or be on the bleeding edge of coolness and pick up the even more obscure Luigi Guisti Lacrima di Morro d'Alba 2006. Consider it next year’s Frappato.


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P.S.  If you do check this wine out on the Frankly Wines web site, you'll see that we list Alba, Piedmont as the region.  Ignore!!  This wine has nothing to do with the Piedmont, although obviously, as you can see from my very own website, that's not an uncommon mistake!

Thanksgiving Day Suggestion #3: For Those Who Really Trust Us

This post is a re-run. But I thought it was pretty perfect when I wrote it last year. And I still think it's pretty perfect. The wine in question is the Lopez de Heredia Rosado. Last year, the 1997 was in stock. This year, it's the 1998, which is a touch rounder, a touch more tropical. But tropical for Lopez isn't exactly Hawaiian tropics. I say it every time I talk about this wine – the fruit isn’t the primary note, which is unexpected for a rose. Unexpected enough that we stuck a warning label on the wine. But if you trust my pairing recommendations – and you’re up for a little adventure – a little Lopez Rosado could be just the thing to perk up your Thanksgiving spread.

On to the re-run:

Lopez de Heredia Todonia Rosado 1998 (Rioja, Spain)
Imagine Thanksgiving dinner (the food, not your crazy uncle or your tispy cousin-three-times-removed.

The cranberry sauce, the turkey, the yams, the turkey, the stuffing, the turkey. It's a wine-pairing nightmare. But this is the wine that can handle it all. Delicate enough to handle the turkey (which let's face it, is pretty bland), a little fruit to deal with the cranberries and exotic enough to stand up to the stuffing, yams, and even pumpkin pie. It's perfect.

But it's not exactly your typical rosé - it has some of the tangy-ness you'll find in a good fino sherry, only a hint of fruit, and lovely exotic spices like cardamom and ginger.
So if you're intrigued and looking for a little adventure, track down a bottle and include it in your turkey day wine spread. You should be able to find it for under $30 which may be a lot for a typical rosé, but not this rosé.

Buy it at Frankly Wines.