And the winner is.............

[Botafogo]

Verne, I DO remember that Shiraz, we DID have some bottle variation and I DID make you whole with no questions asked. As to Ruche, this is a varietal you either love or hate, no one is on the fence. It is so diametrically opposed to "lush soft fruit with a smooth finish" that maybe 15% of the population just can't handle it but that does not make it "dreck" any more than Mississippi Fred McDowel's version of "You got to Move" is dreck compared to a cleaned up version from Eric Clapton. It is what it is and you don't have to like it but it is immensly popular amongst those who do. We feel that the best wine we offer are the ones where 85% of folks LOVE them and 15% HATE them and no one is on the fence. Those are the truly interesting wines.Our largest selling California wine of all time, the Pagor Vino Tinto Tempranillo is just such a wine and is not too far removed from that Ruche in style.

We also sell a VERY traditional Refosco from Friuli that is not put through malolactic fermentation (the winery offers two versions, the "interno" and the "exporto" we took the first one) and has enough acidity to take the enamel off your teeth yet is fabulous with grilled game sausages with garlic and paprika. We tell EVERYONE that we have more range of styles than any three other stores put together and also tell EVERYONE that if we suggest something and they do not like it we will give them something else. And that would include you Drew. This is how folks learn about the true diversity of wine. Next week we will offer twelve vintages of Pepe Montepulciano d'Abruzzo going back into the 70's and they are all over the map style wise but each is a unique document of a time and place and people have been bugging us for them for three years since we did a tasting with Stefania Pepe here.

I LOVE my job, Roberto