Sent: Saturday, November 30, 2002 7:14
AM
Subject: Wine at Orangewood Consulting - 29
To our Wine Aficionados,
Introduction
No records set this month, but we had
fun.
Summary (Box Score)
No new places to drink our wines.
Vino Noceto now available at AZ
Wine.
Content
Outline for the remainder of this
newsletter
Event Notification – Newsletter
wine tasting, December 16th
Event Notification – House of
Trick’s, February 4
Event Feedback – House of Trick’s
Rambling Delivery Guy
Philosophy
Feedback
Event Notification – Newsletter wine tasting: Monday,
December 16th, 2002
Exclusive! Wine letter subscribers
only! Those of you new to the newsletter don’t know how these
work. Those of you familiar with the concept wonder why it has been so
long. Here’s the scoop. I get the loaves of bread and hunks of
cheese. Laurie selects the wines. You arrive between 4:00 and
7:30pm and stay as long as you want (up to a point). We’ll give you a
taste of some of the new vintages and maybe some of the current ones. At
least we will have the 1999 Vino Noceto Sangiovese Riserva and the 2002 Marinda
Park Sauvignon Blanc, which just arrived in limited quantities – we have 11 bottles…and
counting down. This will also be your opportunity to claim your Cuban
Breeze prize. (See below.)
Orangewood Consulting is located
in our home at 7334 North Central Avenue, Phoenix. It’s on the southwest
corner of Central and Orangewood. Be there or email me a good excuse.
Event Notification – House of Trick’s: February 4, 2003
If you don’t yet have a calendar
for 2003, this may be a good reason to get one. Reserve 5:30 – 7:00 on
the evening of February 4. It’s a Tuesday, you have no excuses.
Trick’s is holding a wine tasting with the tentative title of “Sangioveses of
Vino Noceto” or should it be “Sangiovesi di Vino Noceto”. We have not yet
decided which five wines we will be tasting, but it will include at least the
1998 and 1999 Riservas and one of the single block Sangiovese wines.
(These are like single malts. They are made from grapes that come from
one area, called a block, of the vineyard with a single clone of grape.)
Trick’s provides nuts and cheese for the event. Cost is $15 and you will
need to call for a reservation. (House of Tricks - 480-968-1114).
Event Feedback – House of Trick’s
Dick and I arrived at the event
early, as requested. Fortunately, we had been assigned a table in the
shade. Dick warned me not to expect anyone from the Newsletter – all 300
tickets had been sold a couple of weeks ago. Our plan was to start
pouring together and then take it in turns to wander off to sample the food and
wine at other tables. As it turned out, we were both pouring and
schmoozing at full speed until the wine ran out at 4:00 p.m. Dick’s
significant other, Sherri, brought us cheese, pâté, and smoked salmon to keep
us going. Our table was very popular and we suspect it was because
of the wines, not our ready wit and repartee. Attendees were asked to
note their favorite wines. Our four wines (Vino Noceto Sangiovese Normale
and Riserva, RustRidge Zinfandel and Marinda Park Chardonnay) were all in the
top 10. As a result, AZ Wine is now carrying the Vino Noceto Sangiovese.
It is available by the glass at their wine tasting bar. AZ Wine has
also sold half a case of the RustRidge Zinfandel - apparently people were
bringing in their lists from the event. Finally, Trick’s is saying they
will put the Marinda Park Chardonnay on their wine list. A successful
event!
Rambling Delivery Guy
Laurie is off to Hawaii
today. She is investigating the possibility of starting a new division of
Orangewood Consulting – Vacation Property Division. The notion is to buy
property and rent it out for a few weeks a year, leaving the remainder of the
time for us! Well, we have grand dreams, if nothing else. Meanwhile
I have to get the wine business pumping. So, after dropping Laurie at the
airport I have some deliveries to make.
Lunch at Caffe Boa.
As we mentioned in the last full newsletter, Boa faces Mill Avenue nestled
between Long Won’s and a tattoo and body piercing place. Things are
pretty quiet at 1:15. I sit out front at one of the tables for two.
There are 6 tables. Traffic noise does not drown out the low volume of BB
King’s guitar. Most people walking by are wearing shorts in spite of this
being mid-November - the temperature is 80 degrees. I don’t see anyone
going in for a body pierce; I wonder when their busy time is. Casey pays
the invoice so I bring in the wine. They are selling a lot of Sangiovese
Riserva here. Jessa delivers a glass of wine and my pasta lunch.
This delivery gig is tougher than you think. (Wink, wink.)
Delivering to Nello’s 1
(Dick is working on Nello’s 2 – 4), I run into Larry, a friendly sales guy from
a competitor. We talk about this and that, but I learn that their
deliveries are done by a contractor – aha! another solution to a problem
when/if this business expands beyond Laurie’s and my delivery capacity.
Evening is approaching; I
feel the urge to visit Fleming’s. I take a seat at the bar and
look at the wine menu. I’m looking for the Marinda Park Pinot Noir.
I ask Nicole for the reserve list. No sign of Marinda Park. I try a
different Pinot Noir and let Nicole know that Marinda Park is much chewier,
more structure with some tannin. She seems interested. Scott is not
working tonight so I write down the name of the wine for Nicole. (I
called Scott 10 days later – the wine is now on the reserve wine list and at
least one bottle has been sold.) If you ask nicely they give you a basket
of chips – ones made in the kitchens here with a little garlic to add
interest. I’m not up for a steak tonight, so I try the seared ahi
appetizer. It comes with a spicy mustard sauce. The ahi arrives
nicely presented and seared just enough to be warm. They are not kidding
about the spiciness of the mustard. One of my favorite lines from the
music we listen to is “pour me a Cuban Breeze, Gretchen.” I have been to
Caribbean style restaurants and asked if there is a waitroid called Gretchen or
if they know what a Cuban Breeze is – I only get strange looks. I mention
this because when I look at the cocktail menu here at Fleming’s there is drink
called a Tropical Breeze that has Ketel One Citroen (I thought this was a car
maker but it’s a lemon vodka from Holland), coconut rum and dashes of pineapple
and cranberry juices. I refrain from ordering one. The first 200
people to identify the source of the lyric or the recipe for Gretchen’s Cuban
Breeze will be invited join us for a glass of the Marinda Park Pinot Noir.
Philosophy
We have been reviewing the
Orangewood Consulting philosophy lately. We select wineries that produce
under 10,000 cases a year, run by mom and pop who grow their grapes on their
own vineyards. Growing their own grapes should provide some consistency
from year to year. We try to find retail outlets and restaurants that are
enthusiastic about the wines and we try to provide them a steady supply of the
wine, allowing them to build customer recognition of the brand. This is a
niche approach to selling wine, but one that we can sustain. The big boys
deal with allocations which they sell through quickly, and it’s then up to the
restaurant or retailer or consumer to manage to spread the wine through the
year. There’s a lot of jargon there.
The consistency from year to year
brings to mind the notion of “Terroir” (the land). I have seen this word
floating by in some wine magazines recently, and my take on it is that a wine
is primarily a function of where the grapes are grown. The winemaker is a
caretaker who has to avoid screwing up the wines made from the grapes grown on
the same vines in the same places year after year. Obviously there are
some weather variations, and vines get older, and the barrels are replaced, and
aging times can be varied, but the fundamental character and quality of the
grapes is of critical importance. This contrasts with wineries that
produce massive amounts of wine. They are growing or buying grapes from
across a vast area. The notion of terroir is lost. Instead, the
skill of a winemaker is required to try to blend something drinkable.
Feedback
Bill emailed me to let me know
that he didn’t think he would be permitted to visit a house of tricks.
Well Bill, I suggest that you take Christine along with you and give us some
feedback on your meal and wine selection.
Cin-cin, alla salute!
Richard and Laurie
Richard (newsletter writer) and Laurie Corles (editor)
Orangewood Consulting LLC
602.906.9566 or 602.410.3774