This Is How It All Begins, Chapter One

​​I’ve been in this business a long, long time.  Seen plenty of ups and downs, and I am talking as much about industry trends as I am my personal life, to be sure.  But we’re talking about wine, and this business is a bit of a whirling dervish at times.
Take a recent visit from my good friend Janine Poleman, who works for a fairly new importer – Elixir Wine Group.  Janine is a supernova of intellect, humor and passion that illuminates the skies wherever she may be, and it spills over into the vast array of international wines she sells.  She made the road trip from Minnesota to share some of the newest arrivals in her portfolio with me, because like her, I am an exceptional nerd when it comes to wines from unusual places, AND that offer extraordinary value to the customer.

Two new wines from Derek Mossman Knapp, Chilean wine maverick, owner of the Garage Wine Company and founder of the Movement of Independent Vintners in Chile, started us off with two of his newest releases, the Garage Wine Co. Pais First Salvo Ferment 2015 and the Garage Wine Co. Cinsault The Soothsayer’s Ferment 2015.  The Pais, a grape variety with Spanish origins, thought to be brought over by the Conquistador Hernan Cortes, has been a workhorse grape, used for much of the bulk reds in Chile, yet here, you get a black-fruited beauty, with splashy, juicy notes of blackberry, blueberry and loganberry, hints of light baking spices and pepper.  The Cinsault, a Rhone grape you really don’t see too much coming out of Chile, is bright and vibrant on the palate, with its rose petal aromas still resonating through red and blue fruits, a variety of baking spices and a hint of turned earth and leather.  I have to say these wines, which are of a minimal production, are the very reasons I am even in this business.  The artistry of these wines, which should clock in around $20 when they arrive (not to tease but these wines, and the rest I’ll be speaking of later on haven’t hit the state of Ohio just yet), the experimentation of these wines, I sometimes feel like the Captain Picard of wine (to boldly go, you know).

Janine, keeping me on my toes at all times, shifted to Portugal, and this incredible white wine from the Dao, the Opta Branco 2015.  A blend of Malvasia Blanca, Sercial and a very obscure grape variety, even for this nerd – Encruzado – this fruit-driven white wine has just a hint of honeyed sweetness exploding from a myriad of mango, pineapple, mineral and white flower notes.  A veritable beach vacation right here in the glass!

Always a globetrotting tasting whenever she comes in, Janine then took me to Bordeaux, the region that actually introduced me to her (a tale for another time), and the Cuvée Haute Terres Chateau Fourcas Dupré  Listrac-Medoc 2011, a remarkable – and surprisingly Merlot-driven blend from the Left Bank of Bordeaux.  With the top notes of black currant, mineral and black pepper, there was this little underlying nuance that played like a distant memory nagging for remembrance in the back of my palate, a hint of sage that harkens to an image of coming in from a cold winter walk to a roaring fire, and a piping hot serving of homemade shepherd’s pie to warm the bones.  A truly kick-ass red that clocks in about $25.

We would return to South America and the wines of Mendoza’s Bodegas Calle, but I’ll save that story for another day.  Janine and I would talk a bit more, about wine, poetry, and other assorted nerdiness, yet the goal of her visit to show me these new additions to her portfolio, get me thinking about the impending holidays, and how perhaps these wines may find a place on our floor, and ultimately into your glasses. Arguably, that is every sales rep’s goal when coming to see us, but our mission here at Jungle Jim’s is to find that special something that our customers have to try.  It’s the goal of all of us here at this amusement park for the taste buds.
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So many wines, so little time…