It was one of those weird small world coincidences that I love so much about this industry…  

I could tell that the two guys who walked into the store knew about wine. Although my attempts at striking up a conversation weren’t going so well, I knew that sooner or later they would stumble across something that would get the ball rolling.  It turned out to be the St. Clair “Vicar’s Choice” Pinot Noir from Marlborough, NZ which is made by my good friend Julie Ibbotson’s (now Grono)  parents.

 Turns out that initially reticent guy, David, had actually spent some time making wine at Nobilo in New Zealand!  

The name game started and it turns out that he knew quite a few people who were studying wine making at the University of Adelaide, while I was studying wine business.  David asked if I was familiar with Dog Point Vineyards, a Marlborough winery that he respected, but didn’t often see their wines in the U.S.  To continue with strange coincidence, I just happened to have a three year vertical (2002, 2003, 2004) of Dog Point Chardonnay tucked away in the fridge that I had been meaning to sample for the past month and just hadn’t gotten around to.  (Now I realize it was not laziness, it was just destined to wait for this unique opportunity.) The wines were beautiful and once again proved that in this market, the wines of Australia and New Zealand are not given enough credit for being able to age.  We all particularly fell in love with the 2002, which was reminiscent of White Burgundy with rich notes of honey and cream, but still had the vibrant citrus character that speaks of New Zealand. (I quickly e-mailed our salesperson and locked up the last three remaining cases in Massachusetts! Originally priced at $26/btl, we got it for a steal at $15!).  The 2003 was yummy, but less complex, mainly showing ripe tropical fruit.  The 2004 took quite awhile to open up and continued to be the most reserved of the three, with soft notes of apple and honeydew melon.

As we tasted, David explained that he was now helping Ben Parsons, a University of Adelaide alumnus, make wine at a new urban winery in Denver, Colorado: The Infinite Monkey Theorem.  Apparently, this area is having great success with traditional Bordeaux Varietals, particularly Petit Verdot and Malbec.  David happens to be a huge Alsace fan as well, so they are experimenting with gewurztraminer and pinot gris.  We look forward to tasting these wines when they are released to Massachusetts.  We’ll keep you posted.