Ep. 1: Fresh Cut Grass And Other Tasting Crimes

Devin and Ian welcome you to Wine Stories Presented by From The Sky Down. This episode touches on great bottles, good conversations, and the stories that come with them. Each episode, they dive into From The Sky Down updates and happenings, wine education, swap tasting notes shaped by real-life moments, and explore everything from rare, hard-to-find wines to Cognac and Bourbon.

Along the way, they share their love for films like Ratatouille, talk about what’s happening at the From The Sky Down Tasting Room & Farm, and bring you into the world behind the glass.

Whether you’re deep into wine or just getting started, pull up a chair, pour something you like, and join the conversation.

Transcript

Flashback Wine Moments

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Oh, this is a really interesting wine because it just took me flashback to this memory that I didn't even know I had in my mind, you know, so that was kind of cool.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

I love that. Yeah. Ratatouille moment for you.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

A ratatouille moment. It's probably one of my all-time favorite movies. I'm not gonna lie.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Very good movie. If you're a foodie, if you if you're into wine, watch Ratatouille. Yeah. Watch it again. It's not just for kids.

Naming The Podcast And Mission

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Record. Alright, here we are. Here we are. From the sky down. What is this podcast gonna be called? Sky Down Wine Stories. From the pod down. From the pod down. From the sky down. Brought to you by From the Sky Down. And Avale. Yeah, and Avale. Are we saying Avale on the pod? I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

They're our sponsor.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

They're our sponsor. From the Sky Down is our sponsor.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

I think they're my sponsor.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Yeah, probably. Yeah, that's good. I like that. So first episode of Wine Stories by From the Sky Down. I think that's what we're gonna call it. Wine stories. Yeah. I like a story. You know? A little behind the scenes work here. So talking about everything it takes to run a winery, to start a wine label, to everything from picking grapes to you know, fermentations, wine making stuff to label design and bottle designs, corking, wine service, umolier stuff, too.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Yeah, exciting stuff. Really happy about it.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

Yeah. So we got a really good um kind of dynamic wine podcast happening here.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

Uh little bit of wine, a little bit of silliness, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

Sommelier Exams Explained Simply

SPEAKER_00 2:01

I should we should introduce ourselves, probably. My name is Ian King. I'm the director of hospitality for Avale from the Sky Down. I've been a smolier in the past, been in the wine business for about nine years or so, from winemaking to being a psalm.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

So and who are you, sir? Well, it's a pleasure working with you, Ian. My name is Devin Murray. I am the marketing communications coordinator here at Avale from the Sky Down. I've been in the wine business for about five years, you know, been studying for my psalm two, have my psalm one, and started off serving, and I've branched out into more of the business side of wine as I've grown in the industry. So it's been a great journey so far.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

Hell yeah. For those of you that don't know, the Somme tests, Som exams, you're going through the quartermaster sommelier, right? That's correct. Yes. Yeah. So you have your so you have two main institutions that are international for becoming a Somollier. You have the quartermaster sommelier's that started in France, but now we have quartermasters of America that started, I think, in the 70s, late 70s. And there's four different levels. You have the intro psalm exam, and then you have your certified, which is the level two, when you become a certified sommelier. And then you have an advanced, and you have master sommelier, which master the master psalm exam is probably the hardest exam in the world. It's harder than the bar. There's a lot of stuff you gotta know. And then there's a W set Wine and Spirits Education Trust, W-S-E-T. That is the other institution around the world. And there are also four levels. There's the W set level one, level two, level three, and then level four is the diploma, which is basically I'd say like it's kind of kind of having a master's, I guess, like a master's degree in wine in wine. Yeah. Yeah, that's basically what diploma is. And then beyond that, you have master of wine, which some people say is kind of equal to master similarity. It just has a very, very different focus, where it focuses more on the scientific aspects of things and or the business side of wine. And that's kind of like having a PhD in in wine, essentially.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

It's a really good analogy. So I haven't really thought about it like that.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

So those of you that you that don't know, that's what that is.

Finding Tasting Notes Everywhere

SPEAKER_00 4:40

So you're working on your certified coming up. When is that exam?

SPEAKER_02 4:44

It was originally planned for this month, but I'm pushing it back due to just being busy with my day job and everything else. So looking at fall this year.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

The fall? Yeah. Nice. We got our landscapers in the back.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

Just I don't know if you can hear that. Smell that sweet, sweet grass in the air.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

That's one of my favorite things, actually, is fresh cut grass.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

Fresh cut grass. I I do enjoy it. I would say I'm not the biggest fan of a leaf blower exhaust, though. Yeah. Blowing through your window. Super fun. At 7 a.m.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Fresh cut grass. Kind of like a you know Savien Blanc drum sans serre. It can be a little grassy sometimes, or you can get a lot of grass in New Zealand sometimes too. Depends, but more tropical notes.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

Do you see wine all around you in throughout your day?

SPEAKER_00 5:38

I think, yeah, I mean, your personal experiences definitely go into how you experience tasting wine for sure. Like the leaf blower exhaust, you could have that in like a riesling. Yeah, like a German Riesling or something like that, a little petrol, a little gasoline. Even like car tires, you know, like a good pair of Goodyears, and bring it to a Nebbiolo and Barolo or something like that. You know, car and roses.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

Cars and coffee and wine, you know. Pair it with the cars. Cars, coffee, and wine. I don't know coffee and wine pairs very well, but it doesn't. Cars and wine. Maybe also don't.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

I'm drinking coffee right now, and every time I have wine after coffee, it's just my palate is murdered. I have to wash my mouth out with like Sauvignon Blanc or bubbles to get it activated again.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

While I agree with you, a couple situations where coffee and wine I have found go quite nicely. Yeah. First off, if you're tasting wine, great way to refresh your nasal palate. I don't like that word. Ooh. Nasal. Nasal.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Nasal.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

The schnazz.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

The schnazz. Freshen up that schnazz.

SPEAKER_02 6:47

Yeah, just take a whiff of coffee grounds or some fresh beans if you have them laying around. Really helps reset your nose and allows you to kind of breathe that wine in with a kind of new palate.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Okay. I don't think I've ever tried that.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

It's a really good one for me. I like that trick.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

I think you brought a Keurig pod. Oh, that's what I had on me. You went to the back to the employee area to grab one of those Keurig Keurig pods. And we were in between a few very different wines from each other. And you're like, you need to clean out your nasal passage. So you like. Don't bring the nasal passage into this. I don't know. You need to clear your sinuses. Give your get the old schnauz a good reset here. And so you just pass around a Keurig cup and everyone smelled it. I think I had to get up and grab some stuff. I don't know. I don't think it hurts.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

I don't think it hurts. Regardless, maybe the more enjoyable or maybe relatable experience coffee and wine is.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Some steak. You know, you're full, had dessert, you're all yapping around the table, cup of coffee through the night sounds great. It's true. So after wine.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Coffee after wine. Coffee after wine. It's a good cap to your to your wine session. Exactly. Maybe an espresso martini afterwards if you're real feeling real saucy.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

Yeah, that's pretty saucy.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Depending on where the night goes, man. Night is young. It's a Friday night tonight, so who knows? Who knows what'll happen. Maybe a few espresso martinis after a little Cabernet Sauvignon.

SPEAKER_02 8:23

Just ride that wine river down to see where it takes you. I don't know. Trying out catchphrases.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Did that one work? I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

It could work. I mean, there are coffee notes in different wines

Building A Flavor Memory Library

SPEAKER_00 8:36

as well. That's true. So like I know in Merlot, I can get like a cocoa powder or a mocha. So there's like a hint of coffee in there, but it's like chocolate forward.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

I think tannin sometimes expresses cocoa powder to me in certain wines. Yeah. Um in certain Napa cabs, the way they age their wines, maybe some with a little bit more American oak. I tend to get that cocoa. Maybe it's partially because of the vanilla notes from all that American oak in there and cocoa or chocolate. Uh, they usually add vanilla to those. So maybe that's why associating with the cocoa.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

Right. A French oak barrel, vanilla bean. Perhaps.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

Perhaps. Yeah. Perhaps. Yeah. Additionally, I know you might disagree with me on this, but one of the biggest notes that I see often in Rioja and Tempernillo is I do get a mocha note, which is coffee and chocolate together. So not not just not just cocoa on its own. I do get a mocha situation with with Tempernillo. And sometimes that can bury the coconut notes for me. Okay. So that can kind of be close to you.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

You do have a very sensitive palate. I mean, you're into a lot of awesome things. You have a lot of interests and hobbies. And so I know craft cocktails is one thing that you like to do at home. I dabble. I dabble. Yeah. And like you mess around with the different bitters, and I know you also like to cook sometimes too, so that really helps with the uh kind of with the Rolodex of flavors in your mind as well.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

I don't disagree. I definitely think for anybody who's getting into wine tasting or starting to starting along on your wine journey and exploring wine and seeing what it has to offer, one way to help that wine move from tasting like grapes or wine in your mind, you know, is to try to associate a smell or a flavor with a memory. That was kind of how I started out. And it leads to some very esoteric sense. But as you build that flavor portfolio, your palette, as you will, if you are painting, you're building the palette of different flavors you can identify on your palette board.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

And once you've established a wide variety of maybe memory sense, then when you start studying, you can associate, okay, I have this memory of, let's say, the lawnmower, right? You would then say, oh, that's the grassy note. That's the cut grass note. And then instead of identifying it as lawnmower, you would identify it as, oh, that's grassy. Yeah. So you then make that mental translation over to what the more universal descriptor is that is what is what you're actually smelling or tasting. You just identify it with the memory you have.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

So I've done that before with I remember the first time I had a 100% more Vedra. It was in a producer in Santa Barbara area, so uh central coast, California, Saninos Valley, and they're really weird, cool microclimate there. A lot of people think because it's so south that'd be a lot hotter than Napa or Sonoma, but the opposite is true. It's a lot cooler, it's very close to the ocean and the ocean breeze. And so they're growing grade, they're growing degree days. Oh, that's a mouthful.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Yeah, say that ten times fast.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Growing degree, growing, growing, growing degree days. Growing degree days. There you go. Is a lot is a lot less intense as far as heat is concerned. And so a lot of their wines tend to be a little bit leaner, so higher acid, not as much tannin structure, not as concentrated. So the first Morvegra I had was from there, and on the nose, it really going back to your point, reminded me when I was a kid here in Washington State, north of Seattle, mowing the lawn. And in this part of the US, we get we have a whole lot of trees, right? So there's tons of shade, not a whole lot of sun that happens, and so our front yard never saw any sort of sunlight, so there was moss just growing in the grass that I was mowing. Yeah, and I had to pull out some of that moss from the grass, and that more vedra on the nose just took me back to when I was like in high school doing yard work with my dad, and I was pulling some of that moss out, and it was like a under-earth kind of soily, I love that smell, mossy, grassy sort of smell. It was it just took me right back to that, and I was like, oh, this is a really interesting wine because it just took me flashback to this memory that I didn't even know I had in my mind, you know. So that was kind of cool.

Bucket List Wines By The Glass

SPEAKER_02 13:19

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:20

Yeah. Ratatouille moment for you.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

A Ratatouille moment. It's probably one of my all-time favorite movies, not gonna lie.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

Very good movie. If you're a foodie, if you if you're into wine, watch Ratatouille. Yeah, watch it again. It's not just for kids.

SPEAKER_00 13:33

Well what is kind of crazy, one thing I noticed about Ratatouille, after I became Som, I noticed that Ego, the reviewer, the wine, the the food critic, the antagonist of a movie, he ordered a glass of like 1983 Chateau Cheval Blanc by the glass at that restaurant.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

I actually don't know what time period Ratatouille is set in.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

I don't either. I mean, it seems like well, because it's it's hard to tell because in Paris they drive old cars anyway. They drive well, yeah, they drive small old cars and scooters, so I was like, well, this could be any kind of I mean I didn't see any modern rena's in there.

SPEAKER_02 14:21

So I mean no one had an iPhone. It felt like the nineties to me. It felt like eighties and nineties. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Yeah, it kind of felt like to me, I felt like it was more of kind of early 2000s thing. Actually, no, there are iPhones. The right press. The the girl, the female chef. Oh. She was like looking at, she was like doing something, like calling someone.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

Okay, and it was a smartphone.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

And it was uh yeah, it had a screen on it. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Well, I think regardless of what time period the screenwriters intended, I I do think they maybe intended a timeless vibe with the movie.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

I think so. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:56

They don't really place any direct references on modern events or pop culture.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:01

Uh current events. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

So all the events are fictional.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

But yeah, really impressive that that Gusteaux restaurant has vintage 1983 by the class. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

But BTG, babe. BTG baby.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

Maybe they're using uh Corvins. Who knows?

SPEAKER_00 15:17

Yeah, they could be. I mean, I've seen some pretty wild stuff, BTG, sometimes. My friend Coco, she's a uh wine director for the Auberish collection, Solange Hotel. It's like a really nice resort luxury boutique hotel in Napa. And she put the mascot BTG. She has like a whole section that's like bucket list wines, and you can buy a glass of like a bucket list wine that will never be. Well, most restaurants can't access those wines in general to have on their bottle list. And they have it like by the glass on there, not only on their bottle list, but on their glass list too, which is crazy to me. I think that's a really cool thing to have for a restaurant. I I would love to check that out. Yeah, the mascot cabs are hard to attain. They're very tasty though. I used to sell them at a wine shop in uh Santa Barbara. Who's the producer of those mascot cabs? I believe it's Harlan Estates. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it's pretty it's a really solid cab. It's hard to find, very expensive if you do find it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

I I have to say I'm not yet at the point in my wine journey where I'm really like don't want to call it clout chasing with my bottle purchases, but I don't think my palate's at the point where I can appreciate those high-end wines, the level that justifies my purchasing them myself. Yeah. However, if given the opportunity, I won't say no.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

Well, there's tons of amazing wines out there that are not hard to get and they're not that expensive, you know?

SPEAKER_02 16:58

Yeah. I definitely prefer to expand my palate with kind of the gems hidden throughout smaller producers, lesser-known regions, perhaps. Or not even lesser-known regions, but regions that maybe don't get the recognition that they deserve with the quality of wine and typicity and character that those wines produce. So I'm definitely focused on those right now. But in the future, I could definitely see myself uh wanting to experience some of those bucket list Halo wines in the world. Absolutely.

Price, Hype, And Real Value

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Yeah, those are those are fun to chase. It's they're fun to try. I've been around just because, like in the wine industry, when you make wine or if you sell wine at a wine shop, you're not really getting paid that much for the most part, I can tell. On average, especially in California, unfortunately. But a lot of my employers they wanted to kind of make it up to us a little bit, treat us a certain to certain things and experiences, and so I was pretty lucky for some of the bottles I got to try. I definitely have had a lot of really solid stuff. Nothing really that came from Napa necessarily, but around the world, mostly French and Italian wines that I got to try that you know I didn't have to purchase, I was just around for it. The owner of the wine shop, it's called Meritage Wine Market, Dustin. He he would come up, their home base is in San Diego, so he'd come up to Santa Barbara to treat us sometimes, take us out to dinner and whatnot, and then he's like, Grab any bottle that you want in the wine shop, take it with you. And one of his wines that he tr he grabbed was a Le Fleve Pliny Montrachet. So that's a Chardonnay from a sought-after producer from a sought-after region, Pliny Montrachet, and that was the first like Chardonnay from France that really just blew my mind because it had so much going for it, you know. It wasn't terribly oaky, it wasn't buttery really. It definitely had malolactic conversion, so there was that creaminess, but it wasn't like butter, you know what I'm saying? And it wasn't like it wasn't like Rombauer at any degree at all. It had a lot of texture, it had an almond croissant sort of flavor and texture to it. That sounds delicious, and it just lingered on the palate forever with this like lemon curd like acidity up front and just like continues throughout. And I was just like, this is probably the best wine I've ever had to date, was that one probably.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

I can I can almost taste it again.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

Yeah, um I think that what's that bottle run? Like 400, I think, right now or something.

SPEAKER_02 19:49

Definitely not definitely not cheap, but you know, actually sounds somewhat attainable if you were wanting to seek that wine out versus some of these that are extremely, extremely hard to come by and exorbitant auction pricing to acquire a bottle.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

I've had one that that a wine like that. I'm not gonna say the producer, because I don't want to badmouth anyone here, but I was just so disappointed by it. Like there was all this hype up around this producer, it's like, oh, it's really hard to get. We got it from this private wine collector who wanted to liquidate his wine cellar, and so we got this guy, and we brought in a bunch of this wine that is like almost impossible to get. And I tried it, and I was like, you know what? I really don't like it. Not as it wasn't even like like, oh, it's just not it might have just not been for me. That is totally a possibility, but just like I didn't see what the big deal was, you know. I think most of it was like who the person was, who started the brand, and that's pretty much what it was, and like the marketing behind it.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

Relative to its competitors from the same region, same varietal, it didn't stand out, is what you're saying.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Yeah, but like they put a lot of money into it, like the label design, the bottles were like every single bottle was a unique shape. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

Um hand blown glass?

SPEAKER_00 21:19

Yeah, hand blown glass, and it's like it's just wild the amount of money they put into it, which is why it's like I don't know, probably like a thousand dollars a bottle or something.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

Yeah. Reminds me of Louis the Thirteenth, or is it Louis the Fourteenth? What's the the cognac? That's super, super. I think it's the 14th. Louis the Fourteenth. I think so. I don't know my history very well.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

I think it is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

Yeah. I think those run ten thousand a bottle. Ten thousand? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Anyone listening that is a cognac aficionado and know what we're talking about, and if we got it wrong, please comment. Send us a send. A little comment, let us know. Yeah. Correct us. Educate us.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

We'll talk about it in the next podcast.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Edu Micate Us. And then we will clear it up on the next pod episode. Exactly. Hopefully. But yeah, that's crazy. Ten thousand dollars a bottle?

SPEAKER_02 22:17

Yeah, there's a few liquor can get really, really up there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

How much is a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle?

SPEAKER_02 22:23

Because not that much. It's actually coming down in price. I don't know the current market value of Pappy. I think at one point it was up to 600, but I think it went down to like 400. I think maybe you can get it for low 300s, high 200s now, but I might be mistaken. I need to double check. I've never been in the market for one as I love Buffalo Trace, but I found that as in wine, as the higher you go in price and quality, the return per dollar as you go up gets smaller and smaller and smaller. And so you can find a sweet spot where you're happy with your purchase and you can splurge on something nice, but you might not get the value out of those extremely elite bottles that you might think you will. Yeah. But if it brings you joy, go ahead. More power to you. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:13

Brings you joy. I do want to get myself a bottle of Pappy at some point just to have it around.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

As a little conversation starter.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

Yeah, conversation or like oh celebration whatever.

SPEAKER_02 23:25

Sure. Sure. I definitely I I I kind of treat Blantons that way. It's it's fairly accessible. It's not too too hard to find now. Whenever I'm down in Portland, I usually can find some.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

Yeah. What is it again?

SPEAKER_02 23:37

Blantons.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:39

It's like it was like the first widely recognized or available single barrel bourbon. Gotcha. And it's Buffalo Trace product, and usually it's a slightly higher proof, not quite barrel-proof. But they come in these really cool bottles. And there is a collectible aspect to it where they all have a little metal horse on the top of the bottle. Oh, that's cool. And the horse is in a different pose. It's a rider like horse racing, like a guy's on top of the horse, a jockey, right? And the horse is slightly different on there's I think there's eight. I have to count my hands. I don't know. I forget how many there are. I think there's seven or eight um different horses, but basically they all have a different letter of blantons, including the apostrophe. Oh, wow. And you can get this little kind of like a lazy Susan roller situation, and you can put all the horses on it. When you spin it, it looks like it's running around.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

Oh, that's cool. That's cool.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

Yeah. I like that. So that there's an aspect of the collectibility to that, which made it go so.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Yeah, that would be fun. Hey, that I'm I'd get behind that a thousand percent.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Yeah, they're really cool. They're they're like cast metal horses on the top of the corks.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

Yeah. So that's amazing. I love that. That's crazy.

Bottling Plans And Brand Choices

SPEAKER_00 24:57

I mean, we were we've been kind of digging into a lot of bottle silhouette stuff lately. Ah, true. Yes. With From the Sky Down, because we're bottling in less than a week, I think. Bottling on Tuesday. Right now it's Friday, June 12th, so we're bottling on the 16th.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

It's a very busy and a very exciting time for us. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

Very busy and exciting for sure. I mean, creating a new wine label, or I guess expanding a new wine label.

SPEAKER_02 25:24

That's true.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

Is a really fun because I like the creative side of that doing that. It can be really there's, you know, the world's your oyster, the sky's the limit, you know what I'm saying? So you can have a lot of creativity in what you want to do with it. You just gotta be able to sell it at the end of the day. That's all.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

Yeah, you have to be able to sell it, and there's also a component of repeatability and reliability and being able to establish a consistent brand. And sometimes your most creative ideas aren't necessarily conducive to the consistency. And they might be fun as a one-off or special side thing, but sometimes unfortunately having to learn to taper down and meet what's necessary for the business can be can be a higher priority. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

Yeah, so we're see, we're bottling Sauvignon Blanc, we're bottling Chardonnay, and we're bottling some rose.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

Yeah, it's uh I believe it's a Grenache rose.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

Yeah. Nice. That's my favorite kind of rose.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

Yeah, I think it's gonna be pretty fresh. I'm excited. I don't really know the color yet, and I haven't seen it.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

Yeah, I mean it's Grenache Rose, it's it's direct depress, so it's a Provence style, so it'll have that kind of peachy kind of hue to it.

SPEAKER_02 26:42

Very pale pink, almost salmon.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I mean, it's gonna be refreshing as hell for the summertime. Yeah, we're excited.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

We crusher really delighted to be able to have those bottles coming out soon and something really enjoyable to sip on uh here at the farm where we're located. Beautiful spot here on a few acres in Woodenville, some gorgeous weather, a beautiful garden, and sipping on some rose. Sounds like a wonderful day.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

Yeah, which reminds me. So we have some events coming up. No, we do, yes. So we have live music every Sunday from 3 p.m. to six p.m. throughout the whole summer, which ends at the end. Actually, September's booked out for music too, so that's until the end of September. Oh, fabulous. Every Sunday until school starts. Yeah. I'm still trying to get food trucks on Saturdays and Sundays.

SPEAKER_02 27:35

Hey, if you own a food truck, reach out to us. Yeah, for sure. We'd love to serve your food or have you serve your food target.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

It gets really busy here at our farm on Saturdays or just the weekends, Saturdays, Sundays, throughout the whole summer.

SPEAKER_02 27:47

Hey, heck, if you have an ice cream truck, pull out.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

Yeah, actually, that could be cool. Ice cream. That'd be pretty solid. And then we also have psalm sessions. I'm doing a wine class, different theme each class every first and third Thursday of every month from 5 30 to 7.

SPEAKER_02 28:10

If you're new to wine or you're looking to expand your wine knowledge, it's a great opportunity to come and have enjoy some wine in a really welcoming and low pressure environment and learn from our resident wine educator, Ian.

SPEAKER_00 28:23

Indeed. He is indeed. I I can really nerd out about stuff about wine. And this is a really great, this class is a really great avenue for me to just talk wine, anything about wine, from viticulture, you know, growing the grapes, to win making, to tasting notes and different grape varieties, different regions, all that stuff. So it's a chance for me to really nerd out and you know, keep my knowledge, if you will, because you know, if you don't use it, you'll lose it, sort of thing. And then it's fun for people that want to learn more, you know? Any anywhere from like you just started tasting wine to like you know, enthusiasts and collectors and stuff. So yeah, every every class is different. It's a little different. So I think it'll scratch the itch for a lot of different people. So it's pretty fun.

Community Rules In The Wine World

SPEAKER_00 29:21

I think last class I did a deep dive on the different AVAs of Washington State, what their climates are, their soil types, and kind of like why is this wine tasting this way from this area? It's because of X, Y, and Z. You know. Just like how you would blind taste a wine and be like, okay, I think this has you know, this is like pale ruby in color, has some mushroom notes and also a bit of salinity to it. So, like, oh, this might be a Pinot from Burgundy, because they have limestone. You know what I'm saying? Bringing out that salinity. You know, stuff like that. A blast.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

Well, I'm excited for these future classes, Ian. I think you're gonna have some amazing knowledge to drop on the guests that join you. Any other news we want to cover?

SPEAKER_00 30:12

We have a lot of stuff in the works. Yeah, a lot of stuff coming up.

SPEAKER_02 30:16

Coming up.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

Yeah. We're still trying to tighten or not really tighten things down, but just to release some really cool things, more events happening. One of the things on my list is wine club parties and public parties for the farm. And then wine and game nights. Wine and game nights. Yeah, that's gonna be fun. Okay, have a staff member that volunteered. She wants to host game wine and game nights here at the farm on a weekday, probably a Tuesday evening. That should be fun. Fabulous. Yeah, I think she was talking about trivia, she was talking about I think Bunko is one. She was talking about like a trivia bingo and like a music bingo.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

All those sound fabulous. I think that there's lots of opportunity for social gatherings and wine and enjoying time together. That's really what wine's all about is bringing people together. So being a place where we can post something like that and give people opportunity to connect and then just enjoy time. That's what all we want to do.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's the cool thing about wine. Every wine region I've lived in always had a really solid community around it. You know, like everyone helps each other out, everyone's very friendly, gives each other recommendations, referrals, you know, to different businesses locally, whether it's another winery and trying to help out or and grow that a local brand, you know, will send customers over their way. So it's pretty cool. I've seen a lot of wineries grow for from referrals from different wineries and whatnot.

SPEAKER_02 32:02

Yeah, we all like to really support each other in the industry, especially the local industry here in Woodenville. The culture here has become pretty tight-knit and very supportive between all the different businesses.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

I think a part of it is we all understand how hospitality works and how difficult it is to grow and succeed in the in the wine business and also in the hospitality business. So supporting each other and sending people to other places we respect and what they're doing and the kind of product they have and the kind of hospitality they provide really helps the whole industry thrive and grow and provides better experience for all of the customers as well.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

So absolutely. Yeah, and one thing I've noticed is that with some winery wineries or winery owners, if they get really competitive in the local market and they stop being like communal focused or whatever, and they start kind of being more cutthroat business competitive, they tend to get socially I wouldn't say ostracized, but kind of a little bit from the local wine industry community.

SPEAKER_02 33:12

Yeah, you'll get a little bit of the cold shoulder. Yeah, cold shoulder. That's better. You're not going to be completely kicked out, but you might get invited to less parties.

unknown 33:19

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 33:20

Or get less referrals or less help if you need it or whatever. You know, the wine community definitely operates as a family. I've seen that just throughout the industry, not even like in a local setting. Like, you know, friends down in California who are higher up in the wine industry and they're always down to help people out. They've helped me in the past. I know Soms in Las Vegas who are extremely helpful to people and are kind of like mentors, career mentors in that way, which is really rad. I always love love that aspect about the wine community. It's really cool.

SPEAKER_02 34:03

I found that to be the case as well. Very supportive community, and it's really goodwill begets goodwill and effort begets effort. If you if someone sees someone who's really striving and trying to learn and grow their education in wine, generally people will come alongside them and help them to succeed in their ambitions. And similarly, with like we were talking about with the industry dynamics, if they if if winery is being very generous and welcoming and constantly helping out other wineries and recommending them, being very supportive, it'll beget that same thing from those other wineries. It seems like there's definitely that reciprocity within the relationships in the wine industry. So it definitely fosters a good community.

SPEAKER_00 34:45

Yeah.

Washington Wine And The Power Shift

SPEAKER_00 34:46

Yeah, we support a lot of people locally and throughout Washington state wine. People are pretty communal here in this state in general. Just because I think in the global aspect, uh global context, or even just national context about wine, not Washington doesn't stick out as an an area to be sought after, I guess you could say. And we've kind of Washington State has been making high-quality wines for a long time now, ever since the 80s, I want to say.

SPEAKER_02 35:23

I'd say so. I I think that's when a few producers started to gain some acclaim. Um and vineyard maturity started to see a little bit more kind of spread because the original plantings were fairly small. And then when they did their second round and grew everything, they had to wait for those to mature. And I think maybe that started out in the in the 80s. Definitely saw more acclaim with white varietals early on, like the Rieslings. Definitely have to give some credit to San Michel with that one because they did bring some attention to the state. Yeah. And then later on in the 90s, I'd actually say is when red started getting recognized, and there was the whole resurgence of blenders in Washington. And we had several famous master blenders, if you will. Master blenders. Yeah. Where they really prided themselves on, you know, the Bordeaux-style blends. Yeah, yeah. Because prior to that, uh, in a lot of circles, blending wine was considered to be lesser than pure varietals in the US, not in France. But in the US, it was considered to be, oh, you're compensating for something. Oh, you're trying to cover up a poor vintage. Whereas these special winemakers saw it not as something that's an afterthought or an emergency, something to be done in the case of a poor vintage, but something that should be done to elevate a good vintage. Right. And what blending is able to allow you to do is you're taking the best parts of the grapes in your blend and allowing them to complement each other to provide an overall more complex and more nuanced wine in the final product. And it does that does come directly from the history in France, especially in Bordeaux, also in uh Rhone, you know, very famous for their blends.

SPEAKER_00 37:14

Absolutely. At first, when you're talking about blenders, I was like, is it a ninja or like a magic bullet?

SPEAKER_02 37:23

Oh, yeah. You know, I I I don't know. Maybe you could you could use those for Froze. Frose. Frosé, big in the 90s.

SPEAKER_00 37:33

I can I cannot get behind Froze. But if you like it, I'll power to you.

SPEAKER_02 37:38

Hey, I wouldn't necessarily say it's for wine connoisseurs.

SPEAKER_00 37:42

No.

SPEAKER_02 37:43

But it is uh quite a refreshing beverage. Would I call it wine? No. It looks like a hangover. That's what it's kind of like a boozy milkshake. It's like you don't have to add that much sugar to it. But you know what comes before a hangover? A really good time. Really good time.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 38:03

A really good time. Yeah, but yeah, boozy milkshakes are good too, but you can't really put wine in those.

SPEAKER_00 38:08

That's true. Yeah, you can't really put wine in those. Maybe get away with some port. You can get away with port, yeah. Or grape sort of product. You could probably get away with brandy. Grape milkshake. Here and there. That sounds interesting. Yeah, it sounds disgusting to me. I just there's no way I could do that. I can't, my I don't think my stomach could handle that. No, no. Even if I tried. Yeah. I could see that. I still wouldn't eat it or drink it or whatever it is. Milkshakes are in between eating and drinking, I feel like.

SPEAKER_02 38:42

So you don't like a liquid diet. So you're you're a big fan of wine, though, and that's uh that could be consider that a liquid diet.

SPEAKER_00 38:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 38:49

Absolutely. All right. I'm all down for liquid diets, man. I'm all for it. Yeah, I remember having. Oh, so you and I, we went to an after party in March. So there's the Taste Washington event that happened where everyone in the state gets together at the Seahawks stadium and pour a bunch of wine for a bunch of folks. It's a fun time for industry folks to see their friends because a lot of times we live far apart. But we went to this after party, and there was like, I think it was a 1950 or I'm not 1950. Wow. That was stupid. 1980s, I think. Cabernet Sauvignon.

SPEAKER_02 39:36

Yeah, it was it was an 80s coyona, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

Yeah. And that was tasting phenomenal. Like it was the acid was still there, you know, finish was pretty long.

SPEAKER_02 39:47

You'd never guess it was what 45 years old.

SPEAKER_00 39:50

Yeah. And the alcohol was 13, like five or something. It was like before Washington State was making these giant cabs.

SPEAKER_02 39:57

Yeah, they definitely were a little bit more acid-driven. Also, I mean, just as a matter of fact, the summers were a little cooler as well. And so you were getting a little bit more acid in those wines. And the market has also partially driven this drive for longer hangtimes on the fruit, more fruit-driven final products as well. It's what what people want, or at least that's what people are telling me. Yeah. Um, and so a lot of producers have been intentionally moving towards that more fruit-driven style versus the more traditional kind of Bordeaux-inspired acid-driven wines of the past. And those are definitely more age-worthy. Uh, if you have a little bit more acid for the structure of the wine, definitely gonna help you with your longevity.

SPEAKER_00 40:41

Here's a wine story that relates directly to what you just said. It is the I wouldn't say birth, well, kind of birth of wine advocate as a reviewer, but Robert Parker as the critic, and how that really determined and changed how we make wine in the United States. It's kind of crazy. Robert Parker started wine advocate down in Napa Valley and started giving high ratings, like 100 pointers to more big, robust, a lot of oak, uh extracted and concentrated cabs and red wines, and which changed how a lot of people started making wine in Napa. Like Stag's Leap used to make like they were in the judgment of Paris back in the 70s, like 1976, against all the French wines, when they were still making French quote unquote like caps, which have a little bit more restraint, early, earlier pick times, less oak, and they're just lighter bodied as uh as a wine. And then Robert Parker started in the I think early nineties, mid-90s, giving these scores, these big scores to these wines that were very full-bodied and very heavy, which completely changed a the way consumers drink wine, b, the way a lot of wineries start started making wine. Like Stag's Leap started going really big and bold, so did you know Claudouval. Most people in Napa did. They changed their ways because of that. And I think that really bled over to the consumers of Washington State, and therefore it bled over to how we make wines. Because that

Why Lighter Wines Are Rising

SPEAKER_00 42:32

Kyona cab was 13.5 alcohol, but now when you see anyone from the Red Mountain area making a cab, it's gonna be like 14.8 or 15% alcohol and very big.

SPEAKER_02 42:46

Yeah, and I think picking backing off of that, the consumer adapted to those expectations of the bold wines, and also those bolder wines being more fruit-driven were more ready to drink sooner after release. And so I think that in a way changed wine culture in the U.S. in terms of there's less purchasing of wine for aging, less developing of wine to age, and more of most of the wine, and this is true for the whole world. Most of the wine in the world is designed to be enjoyed within the first five years. And those acid-driven wines of the past definitely lended themselves more to keeping a seller and enjoying them years after purchase.

SPEAKER_00 43:29

Yeah. So and that's one thing that's changing too about the way people are making wine is that I think the newer generation, I think starting with starting with the millennial generation, which would be my generation, and then younger, I mean the data is showing that that age group, that demographic, typically likes to drink lighter bodied wines. So white wines, bubbles, and really light reds are starting to get a lot more popularity. And so you see a lot of people a lot of wineries A creating a second label that is a little bit more experimental and lighter handed and not as heavy handed, and focusing more mo mostly on that style of winemaking. And those are kind of selling through the door like crazy at this moment. So I wonder if we're in the middle of yet another change in the industry. Yeah, a shift. Not saying everyone's gonna shift that way, because I do not see that happening. But I do see a lot more people starting to get more creative with different great varieties and lighter styles and a little bit more elegance and finesse than power.

SPEAKER_02 44:43

I definitely think the elegance trend is on the up across the industry, in some ways detrimental to some regions, with elegance in some people's minds equating a clean wine. And by cleaning the wine, maybe with more modern winemaking techniques in some more historic regions, it's causing some uproar in that they're no longer pertaining onto some of those notes that really define the region due to their winemaking techniques of the past that maybe in some places would be considered lesser techniques or outdated techniques, but yet they were traditional and and and really helped define the region. Yeah. Coming back to those lighter wines, though, as a trend, as a segment, definitely growing. This the younger generation drinking these light wines definitely has a preference for them, although there will always be a place for those bold, uh long-standing wines. Your your your cabs and your steak pairing reds and your high tannin nebbiolos, things like that, will always have a place. And although they are making some nebbiolo in that light style now, which is kind of interesting to see. That's pretty fun. I do like that. Some some thoughts I've had on why maybe they're drinking those wines. I I wonder if it has to do with the popularity of plant-based diets and a lack of really dense umami proteins in those meals, and wine being a classic food accompaniment, seeking out wines that go with their diet. And, you know, plant-based diets, lighter foods definitely kind of would would beg for those higher acid, lighter wines.

SPEAKER_00 46:17

I could definitely see that. Yeah, people watching their diets a little bit more. I mean Yeah, I I'm not sure. I mean, it does seem like every generation in a lot of different aspects tend to go away from the generation before them, almost kind of like a rebellion of sorts. And it could be some of that, but unintentionally. But I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 46:44

Yeah, and the the funny thing about that is that it uh what goes around comes around, everything old becomes new again. Yes, true. Yeah. You know, the nineties were back for a little bit with the baggy pants.

SPEAKER_00 46:53

I think they're still back. They're still back. I think they're still back. I think I saw one of our employees wearing Jenko shorts the other day.

SPEAKER_02 47:00

I I have heard of that.

SPEAKER_00 47:01

I was like, I'm pretty sure Nelly used to wear those. Well, I think it's actually might be transitioning from nineties into the early 2000s again. That maybe old thing about Nelly, I'm thinking about 2005.

SPEAKER_02 47:16

Next thing we'll be seeing uh a lot of Dicky's jeans. Yeah. And uh what is it, the DC shoes?

SPEAKER_00 47:22

DC shoes, yeah. The skate shoes.

SPEAKER_02 47:24

Yeah, with the big, what's it, the tongue?

SPEAKER_00 47:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:26

Popped out.

SPEAKER_00 47:27

Popped out and like not not tied. You know, you never tied your shoes.

SPEAKER_02 47:32

And then buttoned up flannels with the top button done.

SPEAKER_00 47:35

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:36

Looking like a little cholito. Yeah, you know, Southern California skater early 2000s. Maybe that's next.

SPEAKER_00 47:43

Yeah, could be.

Events, Wine Classes, And Wrap Up

SPEAKER_00 47:46

Cool. So I think that we're good. We can wrap it up here a little bit, but I do want to reiterate about our events and stuff. From the sky down, we are bottling on June 16th-ish for Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Rose. So if you're part of the From the Sky Down wine club, you'll be receiving those emails once the wine is ready for purchase, which I'm excited to try them. I'm excited to sell them to. And then we have some new Cabernet Sauvignon coming out as well from uh Connor Lee Vineyard.

SPEAKER_02 48:25

Yes, our 2022 Connor Lee Cab. Really excited for that.

SPEAKER_00 48:28

Connor Lee Cab. 2022. It's very delicious. I love that one. Um, so that's coming out um in a few weeks here for our members. And then we have music every Sunday from 3 to 6 p.m. here at the farm. Um, and then psalm sessions, wine class, come get educated by myself every first and third Thursdays of every month.

SPEAKER_02 48:56

Yes, joining in, get educated, get educated, if you will, and uh learn, get learned on wine.

SPEAKER_00 49:03

Get learned on wine, and that comes from us here at Avale from the Sky Down. Thanks for joining us for Wine Stories today. Thank you for joining.