Merry Brunello

So, one of the parts of being a wine rep in Texas, is to actually work the shelves of your accounts. Y'all Yankee reps have no idea how good you have it. I've spent the last 3-4 weekends hanging out in my accounts talking about and selling my wines. Which is kind of funny considering that I already sold them once, to the account!!!
It's actually kind of fun though. You get to see what your customers deal with on a daily base. Like the guy that comes in and goes "I want a really good champagne, but for under $10. And I know my champagne, so don't try to fool me!" Or the lady who said "if I buy this $9.99 bottle, will you give me your number?" no ma'am you have to spend at least $14.99. Or the guy who spent $900 in 10 minutes on Christmas Eve, because he decided to start his own wine collection. And after selling him a bunch of awesome wines, he decided to top his cart with a bottle of Cupcake. "This is for tonight, I don't wanna open anything nicer." Are you kidding me?!
Let me tell you, retail is not easy. It's fun but not easy, you are on your feet all day, deal with all sorts of people and at the end of the day, when you are exhausted and fed up with jerks, you still have to smile and be helpful. A couple hours on weekends, no problem, I got this. 7 days a week? No frigging way.
Anyway... after a long day on Christmas Eve, a couple of us got together in one of the accounts and had a couple bottles of wine with the store manager. Awesome stuff, but it just got me started. I got home, headed straight to my wine rack and grabbed a bottle of brunello. 2006 Terre Nere. I used to sell this stuff in New York and have been a big fan ever since. You can't find it in Texas, so I had to have a few bottles shipped. 2006 was a good year in Italy, so most brunellos have scored well in WS, even the ones that DIDN'T buy advertising in the magazine. Crazy!
Brunellos are awesome wines, but I feel like here in the south, people don't know them well. This one guy, self-proclaimed wine guru, big cork-dork if you ask me, said to me "Sherman you ever heard about this brunelli thing? Cause if it's expensive I should get some for my cellar". He actually pronounced it Brunelli; no buddy, go with the damn Cupcake wine, you don't wanna buy brunelli.
It tastes like mushrooms and wood, but also cherries and licorice. You can age it, and it will get better. Not the least expensive wine but not crazy either, $40-45. If you are tired of drinking Cabernet  (I know I am),  get a bottle, and if you can't find Terre Nere try another one, it's hard to find a bad brunello.
Pairing? Pasta with mushrooms, steak maybe some hard cheese. Versatile wine, and with this one every sip tastes different. Which to me is awesome.
Screw Cupcake!

Spam and Pinot

So....been out of touch for a few months now, but hey!!! we had a baby 5 months ago. Our life hasn't been the same since, and writing on my blog has been the last thing on my mind. Spencer is an awesome kid though, sleeps like nobody's business, both mother and kid are perfectly healthy, home sound and safe. I come home with a big smile on my face every night.
That smile disappeared a couple of months ago when my email account and all my info got hacked in. Yahoo, has this really cool feature, that allows you to see, where in the world your account got logged on. So I found out that somebody in Japan was responsible for me spending the next 6 hours resetting all my passwords, forgetting them and resetting again, convincing every one on my contact list that I do not sell beach front property in the Bahamas. Thank you very much mr. Jerk-Off San for putting me back in contact with people I lost touch with. And reminding me that I have a blog to write.
I've had a bunch of good bottles of wine since last time I wrote. Even had a couple of bad ones. Since then the Wine Spectator came up with the Top 100, hoping to get us to buy what they think we should. The only good thing in that issue was an article about Rajat Parr. Rajat started his wine career as a busboy, became the head buyer for the Mina Group, and later started his own winery. The American dream!
Sandhi wines.  Amazing. All of them. But I am only gonna ramble on about one of them, Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir 2010. I've first had it at my company's portfolio tasting. And since Rajat never bought advertising in the Wine Spectator, they only give it 88 points. It is an amazing bottle of Pinot, ugly-ish kind of label, but who cares? It's all about what's in the bottle. It is bold and crisp, it bursts with aromas of plums and raspberries. Mineral but not overpowering, just like a really good Pinot should.
Pairing? Lamb chops, roasted potatoes and asparagus garlic and oil. at least that's what I had the second time I had a bottle.
As for Mr. Jerk-Off San? Try figuring out my new passwords. I'll even give you a hint, this time are in Romanian, even a little Gypsy language in there.