AVV: April 2008 Archives
ST MICHAEL'S, MD-April 26 We ran into a minor problem this morning. The Prius we have been bragging about the entire trip would not start. It's unclear what happened, but we each immediately decided it was the other one's fault. Fortunately, a Prius works like any other car when it comes to charging a dead battery so with Bob's help, we were able to get it going.
As a result, we were able to get to the St. Michael's Wine Festival on time. The tasting ran from 11 until 4 and we had a steady flow of people, which made the day go fast. We were surprised at how many people were so familiar with our wines. Hank gave a seminar in the afternoon called Old World Grapes/New World Winemaking that examined what happens to Old World grapes like Sangiovese and Syrah when they are grown in California. The group tasted through a number of wines including our Viognier and Rose and of course the Sangiovese and Syrah. The seminar was sold out and there was lots of interest and questions, which Hank loved.
ST MICHAEL'S, MD-April 25 I was able to sleep in this morning, which was heaven, but Hank got up at 4 to go fishing on the Chesapeake Bay with Pennie's husband Bob. Pennie (our regional sales manager here) and Bob live right on the bay with a beautiful expanse of lawn and a wonderful view. Hank had been looking forward to this part of the trip ever since we started. I also had a great morning, spoiling myself with a pedicure, then later met Pennie at the St. Michael's Food and Wine Festival. Hank had a great morning with everyone catching their limit of one rockfish.
Although we should have been working, Bob talked us into taking a bay tour on his boat and we ended up at the Crab Claw, a local seafood place, for lunch. Pennie manned our table at the wine festival while we played. The weather continued to be great, so we sat out on the restaurant's deck. I had crab cakes and Hank was introduced to soft shell clams...amazingly he had never heard of them before this day. I couldn't even be tempted to try one, but Hank, the ardent fish fan, thought they were great.
Pennie invited all the suppliers from Bacchus, our distributor, over for dinner that night along with several neighbors. She is amazing, cooking shish kabobs for 40 after attending two winemaker dinners this week as well as a four hour tasting. It was a lot of fun, delicious food and lots of different wines to taste as well as plenty of interesting conversation. Hank snuck off to bed at a reasonable hour, but the party went on.
ANNAPOLIS, MD-April 24 We were able to have a relaxing morning since we didn't have to be anywhere until 2. Got a lot done...a load of wash and even had a little time in the fitness center. We met Pennie Haase, our sales manager in this region and the buyers for Vino Volo for a late lunch at acqua restaurant in the Hilton near the Baltimore airport. Vino Volo is a chain of 7 wine bars and wine shops that are located inside airport terminals. They were looking for some new wines for their wine bars and so we poured a large part of our portfolio for them.
Following lunch, we took off for Annapolis where we had a winemaker dinner that night at Harry Browne's. Annapolis is a historic city and Harry Browne's is located right across the street from the Maryland State House. They have our Sin Zin and CYRUS on their wine list. A small but serious group of wine lovers attended the dinner. The dinner was a little different in that people could also purchase wine here to take home. They cleaned Bacchus, our distributor here, out of all the 2003 they had and also the CYRUS vertical packs, among other wines.
OLNEY, MD-April 23 We've been very fortunate that the weather has been very good during this trip. We had a little rain yesterday, but nothing too worrisome. We stopped for an oil change yesterday and then spent the night in Smithfield, NC. We were in the car quite a bit longer than I expected, but the ride was beautiful with the trees lining the roads all starting to bloom. At a previous stop at a Cracker Barrel restaurant, we picked up a book on tape and it defintely helped us pass the time.
This morning, we hit the road again early. We stopped at another Cracker Barrel for lunch and if I didn't know better, I would have thought we were back at the one we had eaten at a few days before. It looked exactly the same, it was almost eerie.
We timed our arrival in the Washington area well so we were able to avoid most of the afternoon traffic. However, it took us awhile to find a place to stay in Olney, north of Washington, where we were scheduled to do a winemaker dinner that night. I started to worry that we would not have enough time to shower and change before dinner, but thankfully we found something in the late afternoon.
Dinner that night was at Ricciuti's which is located in an old, historic house. Our winemaker dinner attracted a good crowd, filling two of the three rooms upstairs. It was a nice surprise to see that we spilled over into another room.
The group was very enthusiastic and the food and wine pairing was great. The restaurant is owned by Amy and James Ricciuti and uses a lot of ingredients from local farmers. I especially liked the first course, which was a watercress salad with roasted pears and goat cheese from a Maryland cheesemaker called Firefly Farms. The course was served with our New Gewurz and the two really worked well togetherCHARLESTON, SC-April 19-21 This is great...we have three days to play. We started out walking around St. Augustine, a very quaint old city. On our way up to Savannah, GA, we stopped for a tour of the Budweiser factory and tried out one of their new products. We arrived in Savannah around 5, exhausted from the driving and the long week. Spent the evening doing laundry. Ordered in room service....we just couldn't face another dinner out at this point. In the morning, we briefly walked around town before breakfast and then we were back in the car again for the short drive to Charleson.
This was definitely the highlight of the weekend--great weather, two nights in one place and a very interesting and beautiful city.It was great to spend an entire day not going near the car. We walked and rode a horse drawn carriage all over the city. I'm still amazed I got Hank to take the carriage tour, but I think even he was ready for a different form of transportation. We were finally ready to eat out again and enjoyed dinner at Anson's, a restaurant that serves upscale, low-country cooking, along with a bottle of our Cabernet Sauvignon.
JACKSONVILLE, FL-April 18 My organizational skills, never good, are being sorely tested and I am failing miserably. I had started the trip with three bags: one small one that I would take into the hotel every night, one with all of my business clothes and one with my bathing suit and exercise clothes in case I found time to indulge myself. This worked very well at first, but now the entire system has fallen apart. My things seemed to be all mixed up and I was constantly looking in the wrong bag for things. I had only half the things I needed in the morning and had to again do a bathroom change to get myself correctly fitted for the day.
Our regional sales manager down here, Max Vater, met us at 11:30 and we went to Capital Grill for our trade lunch. Another good turnout. We had lunch in a private room with all of us around a large table. This allowed us to talk easily to everyone. I was pleased to see we were pouring the 2004 Syrah which I hadn't tasted in awhile. I've always loved our Syrah, but it was great to see just how well it was showing now. That always seems to be true of our Syrah...it tastes best a year or two after we release it. I also had a chance to take the Alexander School Primitivo for the first time. Everyone there was impressed not only with this wine, but also with the other Alexander School wines we were pouring as well as the 2004 CYRUS. Alexander School is really a great program, allowing us to make small quantities of reserve wines and I'm glad to see they are getting a good reception in the market.
From there, we went to a Winn Dixie grocery store in Ponte Vedra Beach where Hank signed bottles for about an hour. The store had a beautiful display of our wines and a quite extensive wine department. After that, we drove to the Wine Warehouse for a wine tasting. Wine Warehouse is a major chain here with 17 stores and sells a lot of AVV wine. Hank, Max and I poured the wines for a constant flow of customers. There was a lot of interest in the Redemption Zin, Chardonnay, and of course CYRUS. We also poured the new Rosé of Sangiovese and I discovered why there is some resistence to it despite the fact that it seems a perfect fit for the warm weather of the south. Many here see it as another White Zinfandel and so are not interested. Almost without exception, I got a positive response once I got them to try it.
After a brief stop at our hotel, the Casa Monica, to check in, we joined our distrib
utor here along with Max and his wife for dinner at Collage, a wonderful restaurant in St. Augustine that offers a number of our wines including our New Gewurz and our Cabernet. It was reunion time for Hank as the owner of the restaurant, Mike Hyatt, previously owned The Garlic Press in Midland, Texas where Hank had done a winemaker dinner several years before. We had a lot of fun and I enjoyed finally being able to order off the menu instead of the set menu that is served at the winemaker dinners.MONTGOMERY, AL-April 17 Today we had a short drive down to Montgomery, only about 90 miles compared to the 400 or 500 that seems to be routine during this trip. I was a little frustrated to be leaving another interesting city so soon. Birmingham was beautiful and the weather perfect (our sales manager Arnold described it as "California weather). I would have like to have spent a little more time here.
Lunch in Montgomery was a buffet with a lot of flavorful fare. As with so many of the restaurants where we have eat
on this trip, I would love to come back and order from the regular menu. I continue to be impressed with the quality and diversity of the food we have enjoyed.We thought we had another winemaker dinner tonight, but we were relieved to hear that was not the case. That took tremendous pressure off us as we needed to be in Jacksonville, FL the following morning. So right after lunch, we hit the road. For the first time since our first long day when we left Fresno at 3 p.m. and headed to Phoenix, the long drive was really wearing on me. Listening to "The Old Man and the Sea" helped pass the time, but I was still really ready to get out of the car at 10 that night. Fortunately, we had made it all the way to Jacksonville, so we could have a relaxing morning instead of having to hit the road at the crack of dawn as we have been doing.
BIRMINGHAM, AL-April 16 Another early start, back on the road by 6 to cover 350 miles before lunch. Our destimation is Plaza III, which has been recognized as one of the top steakhouses in the country. Another quick change in the restroom...I'm getting very good at this. We had a good turnout among the trade. It was a standup affair with hors d'oeuvres and dessert served in the main dining room and roast beef sandwiches and Caeser Salad in another room along with our three big reds, the Alexander School Cabernet, CYRUS and the Redemption Zin
(our Dry Creek Zinfandel).A couple of hours later and we were headed for a winemaker dinner at Rock House, a two-year-old restaurant in Birmingham's Lakeview area. The place is a converted old house consisting of several small rooms and our event filled several of them. That made addressing the whole group difficult, so Hank, myself and Arnold (our sales manager down here) spent the evening visiting individual tables. Another very good, but very long day.
NEW ORLEANS, LA-April 15 Hank got up early in order to meet me for breakfast in New Orleans (I had flown in from Chicago on Monday and spent the afternoon shopping and walking around the French District). We had the morning free and then went to Commander's Palace for lunch with several accounts. I was excited to be back at the Palace because we had such a wonderful winemaker dinner there last May during the New Orleans Wine & Food Festival. I was not disappointed. The lunch included a local favorite (and one of mine), turtle soup. The spiciness of the soup paired well with our New Gewurz, which we always recommend to people looking for something to have with Mexican or Asian food. We also had several reds with the smoked pork dish and everyone had different favorites. The Cabernet Franc and Alexander School Cabernet were the big hits at our table.
One of the best parts of this trip has been visiting with the people you dine with. One couple who sat with us told us about the Strawberry Festival that had occurred the weekend before. It sounded like a wild event where they used three 50 gallong barrels of local run to make daiquiris.They gave us a bottle of this special run made from local sugar cane and we're looking forward to sharing some of it with our daughter Margaret when we visit her in New Haven.
We had a dinner that night at Brennan's. It was held upstairs in a beautiful private room with a lot of history about Mardi Gras. Attendance wa small, but that allowed for a more intimate dinner. Again the food was delicious with my favorite being the chocolate crepe that was served with our Redemption Zin. Hank's favorite pairing was the CYRUS with the cheese course.
Baton Rouge, LA -April 14 Back on the road again, this time in Louisiana at a trade lunch at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. There was plenty of evidence as soon as we walked in the door that this restaurant is a big fan of AVV. The manager Scott Callais raved about our wines and then we met a server here who won a 60-day sales contest and was scheduled to stay at the guest house on our estate.This restaurant sells 100 plus cases of AVV
wine. About 20 trade people were in attendance and they left the lunch with an understanding and affection for our wines.The day ended with another great consumer wine dinner, at Ruffino's, which calls itself an Italian-Creole fusion restaurant. A flashing billboard in front advertised the dinner. The restaurant is run by Ruffin Rodrique, a real character, and Peter Sclafani, the executive chef.. We are certain the 55 people who attended had a good time. The food was very creative including duck spring rolls that were served with the rose, veal tenderloin that went very well with the Alexander School Cabernet Sauvignon and braised beef short ribs served with the CYRUS.
CHICAGO, IL-April 12 & 13 I'm in Chicago for the weekend to join Linda. It's a nice break and a chance to spend time with family including our son Robert, AVV's national sales manager and Rob's new wife Kim. This is certainly
a change from what I just left--the temperatures are in the 30s and 40s. Despite the cold, we did some sightseeing, shopping and of course eating.Chicago is famous for its restaurants and we ate in a few. On Thursday, Linda and family had dinner at a small Italian restaurant called Buona Terra in the trendy Logan Square area. It's a little neighborhood place that, judging by the crowd, is obviously popular with the locals. The pasta was excellent. They also have our Cabernet Franc on their wine list. On Friday night, 12 of us had dinner at Rosebud Prime, a posh steakhouse in the city's downtown. They offer our Cabernet Sauvignon by the glass and have for years. We enjoyed the steaks and shared some delicious side dishes. It's a nice feeling to travel the country and find so many great restaurants that serve our wines.
HOUSTON, TX- April 10 After dropping Linda off at the airport for her trip to Chicago, I headed downtown to have lunch with our rep here Arnold Gilberg and with Suzi Zivanovic, the corporate sommelier for Perry's Restaurant Group. Perry's is family-owned like AVV and has grown to about eight restaurants throughout the area. They were named one of the country's best steakhouses by Wine Enthusiast a few years ago. We tasted Suzi on the entire lineup of wines and she was very keen on several of them. In addition she was interested in doing wine dinners, which I agreed to do in the fall. In the wine business one sales trip inevitably begets two additional sales trips.
HOUSTON, TX-April 9 We had another great turnout today for the trade tasting at Reef restaurant. A total of 53 people came, both to sample our new wines and to see the restaurant. Reef, run by Bryan Caswell and Bill Floyd, has been open for less than a year and has already been getting great reviews for its Asian and Mediterranean influenced seafood menu. A lot of buyers from major accounts in Houston were here. Among them was Bear Dalton, the fine wine buyer for Spec's (a major Texas wine retailer). Bear is something of a legend in these parts.
The consumer dinner that night at Carol's in Cat Spring was wild. There were 93 people packed into her small dining room. It was balmy so the windows and doors were opened and the sweet smell of wildflowers blew into the restaurant. We spent the night at Blisswood, Carol's bed and breakfast retreat, about one mile from the restaurant. It is a peaceful and quiet place.
VAN HORN, TX-April 7 On the road again by 5 a.m.because Hank was worried about the long drive ahead and the time change. We saw the lights of Juarez, Mexico just across the river as we left El Paso in the dark. We stopped for breakfast in Van Horn at Sand's Restaurant. The restaurant's claim to fame is that it was one of the settings for the movie Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada starring Tommy Lee Jones. One wall is covered with pictures and articles about the
filming. Van Horn is a fairly small town (population 2400) and certainly not a big wine town and I do not believe there will ever be much of an opportunity to sell much wine there.Hank didn't need to worry about the time as we actually got to Odessa in the early afternoon. While it was tough to get up early, it was nice to have a few hours to relax. As we drove east, the terrain slowly changed. We are definitely in oil country now. At $109 per barrel, Odessa is a busy place. Drilling rigs are everywhere and the economy is booming.
Dinner was at Zucchi's, another sold-out event. Zucchi's is a fun, casual, eclectic restaurant. We had a tasty meal and the Alexander School Top of the Crop Cabernet was a big hit. Owner, Larry Burdette, has been a supporter of AVV for years.
EL PASO, TX-April 6 Hank had promised we would get some Mexican food in NM. We were supposed to last night, but the Savoy and the company were both too good to leave. Hank found a restaurant near Truth or Consequences online that looked like it would do the trick. It was 10 miles off the highway in the town of Cuchillo. He had called ahead to be certain that it was open which was wise because otherwise we wouldn't have believed that there was a town, let alone a restaurant on this desolate road. Lunch was great fun.
The restaurant had 6 tables, all full. This was definitely a "slow cooking" facility. We had quite a wait but the food was great. These kinds of experiences are what make trips like this worth it. Because of the long lunch, however, we had to hoof it to get to El Paso in time for our winemaker dinner.
Dinner was at a brand new restaurant called 2900 and the event was sold out. Many of the people knew Hank from his previous visits to the area and to The Greenery, 2900 owner Mark Heinz's other restaurant. Again, the food and wine pairing were great. For instance, salmon tartare was served with our New Gewurz and seared Hudson Valley foie gras was paired with our Redemption Zin. A wonderful evening.
ALBUQUERQUE, NM-April 5 Slept in until 7:30 and had a leisurely driving day to Albuquerque. The drive so far as been beautiful. This is a great time to travel the southern states because it's not hot and the wildflowers are out. It's been quite a nice surprise.
Today we did a wine tasting for consumers at Savoy Bar & Grill. The event was full and everyone arrived right on time. The restaurant paired food with the 6 wines we served and the combinations were great. It made me want to eat in the restaurant, which
we did, out on the patio with a few of the people who had come to the tasting. A relaxing, fun evening, just what we needed after being on the road.Savoy, which touts itself as bringing a bit of California Wine Country to the region, has been in business a year and is a large place, seating perhaps 200 people. Kevin Hunter is the wine buyer and has a huge list. There's a lot of choices on the menu for wine and food pairings. Would be a great place for us to be on the list.
SPRINGERVILLE, AZ-April 4 A leisurely driving day, one of the few we will have on this trip. We picked up sandwiches at A.J.'s before taking off - very wise since we went through very few towns the entire day. We got off of Interstate 10 and drove up through the Salt River Canyon on the Apache Reservation. We drove all the way down into the canyon and back up the other side, truly spectacular.
Spent the night in Springerville, AZ. Not too much to say about this town, we were just glad to find a place to stay.
Dinner at the Coyote Creek Steak House was interesting, however. Food was great but the wine experience was a little challenging. "The worst wine service from the nicest waitress he has ever had,"says Hank. The wine list totaled 12 brands and we asked about four. Each time, she ran off and disappared for quite awhile.We figured she didn't know how to open the bottle. When she finally appeared the last time, she came with one full glass. We decided not to press our luck and just shared the glass between us. This happened the other night as well, restaurants sold out of the few wines on their list. That says one thing to us: there is a lot of opportunity out there. Sales people, take note!PHOENIX-April 3 We got up at 5:00 a.m. to make certain we made it to Phoenix in time for our 12:00 lunch appointment. We were driving 70 all the way, but we were still one of the slowest cars on the road and the only Prius (just like the previous evening). Trucks would stream past us, driving at a wicked pace. Guess gas mileage isn't an issue down here. The speed allowed us to get to Phoenix early so we had plenty of time to change out of travel clothes and into "tasting" attire for our event at Caffe Boa, a restaurant that describes itself as a Euro-style bistro and wine bar.
We had lunch outside with some trade accounts, weather was perfect for this. We were a little disappointed with the light turnout, but the food was great and the wines showed well. Made a brief stop at My Wine Cellar nearby, a wine shop and tasting bar that does some great wine education programs and visited with one of the owners,
The highlight of the day was definitely spending the night at Hacienda Del Sol. We had a delicious dinner with a bottle of wine from one of our neighbors,Trentadue Dry Creek Petite Sirah (Victor Trentadue was also staying at the hotel and they were featuring his wines,something we should look into).
FRESNO-April 2--Our first stop on the trip took us only a few hundred miles from the winery, to Fresno for a trade tasting at a new restaurant called Pangea. We arrived about an hour early. We needed the time because Pangea is located in a maze of shops in a new upscale shopping center. We had a good turnout, lots of great appetizers and much interest in the wines. By 3, we're back on the road headed for Phoenix (an eleven hour trip per our
GPS). Much discussion just which was the quickest way (avoid LA) but we decided we'd risk the LA traffic as it was the shortest way. Fortunately we were late enough to avoid rush hour and had a fairly easy, although long drive to San Bernardino where we had dinner at Slim Pig N's.
