August 13 2006
Wine Sediments
I’m doing a full cross-post of my post for Wine Sediments on the Well Fed Network. You can find the full post below and at the site early this week. The site itself is undergoing something of an evolution as a couple of highly esteemed wine blogging colleagues have moved to other projects, but I anticipate that the scope will evolve to a food and wine aficianado site to fit in with the other sites in the network. If you haven’t checked out some of the other "channels" I urge you do to so ... there are some fresh voices and some scary knowledgeable people on food.
I’veoften thought that a national directory, a Better Business Bureau of sorts, forgood living--vino and foodstuffs--would be a fantastic idea. Everybody has a mechanic, a plumber, a drycleaner, a Chinese joint and other day-to-day essentials nailed down, but whatof the real essentials of the good life?
I’dhave Murray’s Cheese from New York City on it, Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, MI for their wonderfullydelicious breads and commitment to victuals on the highest order and a host ofothers.
I’dprobably add Bounty Hunter Wines to that list, as well, for their approach towine and their wine clubs.
Arecent discovery for me, Bounty Hunter Wines is something akin to the nowlegendary J. Peterman catalogs—a lifestyle merchant/cataloguer and pop cultureicon after Seinfeld made the company famous years ago when the character ElaineBenes took a job with the company reporting to the eponymous founder.
LikeJ. Peterman, Bounty Hunter Wines style and verve is rustic, yet approachable,aspirational and charming. Bounty HunterWines sells nothing but the good stuff. In their words, with a delicious irreverence to the fundamentals of 4thgrade English they say: “Because basically, people just want great stuff.”
And,great stuff it is.
Evenbetter, in a nod to relationship building, they have a single person or “WineScout” that will work with you from the time you call in and place your firstorder through the course of your relationship—understanding your palate andyour wallet tolerance for bottle price.
Despitethe fact that their monthly “Killer Cab Club” wine club is roughly akin to takingon another electric bill and a tank of gas for your car on a monthly basis, therarified air of allocated estate-bottled wines has just become a little moreaccessible. And, in a balancing of thewine ecosystem, almost seem an entitlement to customers of their wine clubs andmail order business.
Theircatalog copy is compelling even for the armchair wine lover.
Wetaste over 4,000 each year and have longstanding relationships with some of theworld’s best wineries and winemakers. Consider us your Wine Country insiders. We live here in Napa, eat and drink in our winebar and bistro with the local winemakers, and often get the early scoop onwhat’s really happening in the wineries’ cellars (lucky you). That means we often have access to the truly“great stuff” long before most other sources even know about it. Fact is, we stay ahead of the curve and findthe wines you want before you know you want them.
Inparticular, Bounty Hunter Wine has a great way to educate your palate byoffering what they call “reference packs.” Any wine pro will say that to understand wine (and your own tastes) youhave to drink, drink, and drink some more—understand nuance and your ownpalate. Bounty Hunter puts togethervarietal packs that offer three vastly different winemaking executions of the samevarietal along with descriptive cards for each in order to convey flavorthrough words without resorting to a numerical system or other industrycanard.
And,while you won’t find the Harlan Estate, Screaming Eagle, or even Silver Oakhere, but you will find Caymus, Joseph Phelps Insignia, Far Niente, Etude andenough other artisan producers to whet your whistle and lighten your pocketbook.
Withwine shipping laws relaxing and the Costco’s of the world dominating winesales, now is a perfect time to add a “Wine Scout” to your cell phone, next tothe plumber and after the fishmonger.
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I’m doing a full cross-post of my post for Wine Sediments on the Well Fed Network. You can find the full post below and at the site early this week. The site itself is undergoing something of an evolution as a couple of highly esteemed wine blogging colleagues have moved to other projects, but I anticipate that the scope will evolve to a food and wine aficianado site to fit in with the other sites in the network. If you haven’t checked out some of the other "channels" I urge you do to so ... there are some fresh voices and some scary knowledgeable people on food.
