Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2007 4:16 PM
Subject: Orangewood Wines Newsletter - Volume 3, Issue 8 - April 29th,
2007
Introduction
April was another hectic
month, but as the temperatures reach the 90’s, the snowbirds head to cooler
climates and our season tails off. We have had visits from wineries every
week, tastings, drive withs. It’s time to sit
back, take stock and have a beer. What do you mean it’s only breakfast
time?
Box Score
New
Restaurants: 2
New Retail Outlets: 0
New Sales People: -1
Contents
New Restaurants
New Sales People
Rambling
New Restaurants
Asia
de Cuba
7353 E Indian
School Road,
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
(480) 308-1100
Intermezzo
5350 E Broadway
Blvd # 128,
Tucson, AZ 85711
(520) 748-8100
New Sales People
Jim had been breaking into and developing accounts in Prescott,
Jerome, Cottonwood, Sedona and the north
valley for over 3 years. At tax time he gave a hard look at the costs and
benefits and decided it was time to retire - again. Thank you, Jim, for
your help. Meanwhile, I will be covering the Northern
Arizona accounts and looking for someone to take over. If you know someone who might be interested…
Rambling
This month I took a ramble to California.
I needed to visit a couple of wineries, return some wine and do my stupid thing
for the month. I asked for volunteers to help with the drive, but
everyone else was smarter than I was.
I started off before 5 AM on a Friday morning, getting through Phoenix before the freeways clogged up.
I was out of range of the local NPR station before getting to the California border, but I
had brought a stack of CDs. This was the stack that had accumulated on
top of the home CD player over the last year or so because I had not put them
back in their cases after playing them. I inserted the first CDs and
worked my way through the stack. Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd were first up
with a Girl from Ipanema. Next,
Django Reinhart, whose music seems dated and
reminiscent of old black and white movies. Eric Clapton’s Unplugged version of Leila continues to baffle me – I
just can’t relate it to the original. The Pretenders had me going back to
Ohio, but the
Moody Blues have a much richer sound. Kris Kristofferson’s lyrics include
“I watched small kid cussing at a can he was kicking”. The Meridian Arts
Ensemble’s CD is appropriately called “Smart went Crazy”, at least the crazy
part. Count Basie and his orchestra finally
board A-Train for me. Garrick Olsen’s rendition
of Chopin’s Preludes reminds me that I should really spend some time at the
piano again.
I have reached E Minor and Buttonwood Farm Winery in
Solvang. This is a recent addition to our portfolio and is a key reason
for the drive. I have visited every winery we represent except this
one. I met with Sherrill, who is a friend of our sales consultant,
Beth. She tasted me on their Rosé and drove me around their wines and
winery. She told me about their emphasis on sustainable winemaking and
gave me two bucket hats that Laurie and I will wear on our
hike down the Grand Canyon (but that’s
another story). Sherrill also told me that they have a new winemaker,
Karen Steinwachs. Karen had been helping at
wineries and with wine making for several years, most recently assisting Kathy
Joseph at Fiddlehead Cellars in the Santa
Rita Hills.
The previous winemaker, Michael Brown, had become too busy since his own winery
appeared in the movie Sideways.
Talking of Sideways, Blackjack Ranch Vineyards and Winery was less than 2 miles away, so I
stopped by to try their 2004 Harmonie. I brought 2 bottles back to see
what the Arizonans think.
Back on the road again I continued with Chopin. Franz
Ferdinand was the next CD and I think someone must have left this CD in the
player - perhaps Marshal and Julie? Leo Kottke,
of whom it was asked “Who are those guys?” was the next CD - bought because we
saw him in concert.
I pulled off the road at Paso Robles. I had skipped
the recommended Santa Barbara
taco stand because the line was too long, but just off Route 101,
there was a little Mexican Restaurant. The food was wonderful and
authentic. I discovered a new indicator of authenticity - the Tecate was priced as a domestic beer.
Continuing North on 101, The Eagles are always worth the
time if just for their Mercedes Benz pun. Frank Sinatra from his 50th
Birthday party shows his class from the brim to the dregs. Rod Stewart,
also Unplugged, has a song that I remember a college mate singing incessantly
40 years ago - something about Shorty cutting
across. Darren Motamedy includes percussion by
The Eccentric Gourmet himself - Phill
Christian. The last CD was Peter Gabriel who had a couple of wonderful
videos on MTV at the time - so long ago. Why aren’t songs and videos like
that still being produced?
On Saturday I drove up to Frank Family Vineyards
to collect a case of champagne, available only at the tasting room on Larkmead Lane
at the north end of Napa
Valley. We gave a
bottle to each of our top restaurants and wine stores as a thank you. The
tasting room is always such a hoot, Dennis was holding forth to a group from Scottsdale.
On the second pass through the CDs I was listening again to
the Pretenders as it started to rain on my way to the Boeger Winery in Placerville. Their tasting room was
like Paddington station at rush hour, despite the rain. I planned to head
south on Route 49 - named after the Forty-niners - but within a couple of miles
someone had managed to flip his Jeep on its side. He remained inside
waiting for help. After half an hour of getting wet and feeling helpless,
I went back to Boeger where they graciously invited bedraggled me to a dinner
that Justin Boeger and Carl Keinert were hosting for
the Vino Volo managers. Vino Volo is a new company that is setting wine lounges in
airports where fine wine and light fare are available to passengers. The
dinner was catered magnificently by David
Bagley of the Sequoia restaurant in Placerville,
with wine pairings of many of the Boeger Wines.
On Sunday I successfully completed the drive down Route
49. With hardly any traffic I was able to dawdle my way south as the sun
shone through the still wet trees and hedges. A little mist hung in the
hollows and I saw cows and horses, goats and even a turkey. My
destination was Young’s Vineyard where
we met to talk about their 2005 vintage. They are sold out of the 2004
but I still have some. Part of my mission was replenishing their library
which they sold in a moment of exuberance. Negotiations on my allocations
completed, I headed back to Phoenix
for a beer (12 hours later). All in a weekend’s work.
In UK
they used to have a TV program called the Old Grey Whistle Test. So what
tune did this old grey find himself whistling the day after listening to 16 CDs
three times each during my drive: Moody Blues. “It’s
more the way that you mean it when you tell me what will be.”
Finally, to follow up on our Grand Canyon
trip, we hiked down from the South Rim with 18 other people and 24 bottles of
wine for a couple of days at Phantom Ranch. While not planned, one of the
days was my birthday. It was also the day that Floyd Brooks died.
Floyd and his partner, Debbie, were the reason we moved to Cave Creek. We
will miss Floyd, a gentleman and a cowboy.
From
all of us at Orangewood Wines
Richard
(newsletter writer) and Laurie (editor)
Orangewood
Wines