Wine of the Week: 2010 Mario's Vineyard, Trinchero Napa Valley
Music takes us out of the actual and whispers to us dim secrets that startle our wonder as to who we are... ~ RW Emerson
It was just two and a half years ago now when stepped out from behind the keyboard of this now ten-year-old blog and onto the playing field as it was. I became the wine steward for Vons in San Diego, one of their top ten flagship stores. So many others came before and failed, swept aside by wave after wave of bone-crushing work. Pallets stacked to the rafters with miscellaneous bottles, vendors ordering in case stacks to hit their goals, and shelves of full of massive disorganization.
In that position, I was no longer simply making recommendations from the lofty ivory tower of my blog, twitter, Vivino, delectable; [soapbox] but I was also taking those opinions to the sales floor, making key buying decisions. Those decisions catapulted my store into the top five for overall liquor sales, 75 percent of which was wine. In the two-plus years, I was there, I changed the entire dynamic of that store, a second cold box was added and filled with Champagne and dry Rose wines, designed and built the first dry Rose Wine Island; which was later emulated in other stores.
The imports section took its proper place on the number one wine aisle, and I got the pedestrian jug wines moved to share space with bread. I was able to mainline many wine labels, which meant because sales were so good in my location, these wines were added as a warehouse item and distributed to other stores shelves.
This venue gave me the opportunity to mingle with fellow vino sapiens and the purveyors of fermented juice [wine and spirits distrubutors] much to the delight of both. I do continue to love this journey I'm on, and I look forward to many more exciting adventures in the wine business. Even tho, I've left that role behind, I'm still moving ahead. Currently, I'm enrolled in an enology program, I'm looking forward to seeing where this pursuit takes me next.
Honestly, I have far less time to write, but there are days like today, where I have the luxury of extra time to string together a few words and share with you a truly remarkable wine I happened upon languishing on my store's shelves. It was purchased [current sale price $32] a couple weeks ago and allowed to properly rest in the cellar before being uncorked, and its beauty revealed. The wine in my glass, which I'm extolling the virtues of, comes from a great family who've I've not met, and whose property I've only driven by in the past.
The reason I'm compelled to share this wine with you via my long overdue wine of the week column is simple; with so few 'Napa' wines hitting the mark so surely, in my opinion, this wine is a textbook example of how it's done right. I dropped this bad boy in the decanter and spilled a few ounces into a proper stem as well. Tasting this wine is a pure pleasure, it reminds me of a left bank Bordeaux; lean where it should be, vivid acid taming abundant fruit, tannins finely honed over time, and the wonderfully stunning minerality is found in abundance.
The finish is long and lasting, and its memory is still in my thoughts. The structure of this wine could easily go another 10 years. Plums, cocoa dust, blackberries, cassis, cedar and dried underbrush. You can spend more, but you honestly won't get more, until next folks remember life is short, so sip long and prosper cheers!
In that position, I was no longer simply making recommendations from the lofty ivory tower of my blog, twitter, Vivino, delectable; [soapbox] but I was also taking those opinions to the sales floor, making key buying decisions. Those decisions catapulted my store into the top five for overall liquor sales, 75 percent of which was wine. In the two-plus years, I was there, I changed the entire dynamic of that store, a second cold box was added and filled with Champagne and dry Rose wines, designed and built the first dry Rose Wine Island; which was later emulated in other stores.
The imports section took its proper place on the number one wine aisle, and I got the pedestrian jug wines moved to share space with bread. I was able to mainline many wine labels, which meant because sales were so good in my location, these wines were added as a warehouse item and distributed to other stores shelves.
This venue gave me the opportunity to mingle with fellow vino sapiens and the purveyors of fermented juice [wine and spirits distrubutors] much to the delight of both. I do continue to love this journey I'm on, and I look forward to many more exciting adventures in the wine business. Even tho, I've left that role behind, I'm still moving ahead. Currently, I'm enrolled in an enology program, I'm looking forward to seeing where this pursuit takes me next.
Honestly, I have far less time to write, but there are days like today, where I have the luxury of extra time to string together a few words and share with you a truly remarkable wine I happened upon languishing on my store's shelves. It was purchased [current sale price $32] a couple weeks ago and allowed to properly rest in the cellar before being uncorked, and its beauty revealed. The wine in my glass, which I'm extolling the virtues of, comes from a great family who've I've not met, and whose property I've only driven by in the past.
The finish is long and lasting, and its memory is still in my thoughts. The structure of this wine could easily go another 10 years. Plums, cocoa dust, blackberries, cassis, cedar and dried underbrush. You can spend more, but you honestly won't get more, until next folks remember life is short, so sip long and prosper cheers!
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