The Art and Sensibility of Wine

Join us as we delve into the stories behind the bottle, the rituals of tasting, and the cultural significance of wine as an expression of identity and creativity.  From the artistry of winemakers who transform grapes into expressions of place, to the emotional and sensory experiences that wine evokes, we discuss why wine continues to captivate people across generations. How do aromas trigger memories? Why do certain wines feel elegant, comforting, or even transformative? And what can wine teach us about slowing down and appreciating life's finer moments? Cheers!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to another episode of Som and Sommer with Floyd and Aaron. We are, you know, the name of the show is Psalm and Sommer, and we claim not to be Soms, but we just love talking about wine. And we're just here to kind of entertain you through these rough times during this pandemic. Um, hopefully nobody's out there ingesting or injecting uh any Lysol, Clorox, you know, things of that nature into their body. So we're hoping everybody is alive and well and listening to us. Uh, I'm Floyd. And I am Aaron. And so let's just get it started, man. What can we talk about it? Oh, I think I got something we could talk about. I would like to wish you a happy birthday. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

I am 21 years old today. You are the most shitable looking 21 year old. So you're good, you're going to be. I've been legally drinking this whole time.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

So I'm what I have here is I have a bottle of wine. I'm going to pour it to do a little celebratory drink. Little cheers. Yeah, a little cheers. What'd you what you what you having? So what I'm having, I decided that I don't know if I've told you this. I probably have, but I'll just walk it, walk you through it really quickly again. Um, so owning a store, or owning a liquor store, wine store, any kind of liquor business, you know, you usually have a good um rapport with your you know reps that work for the distributors. So whenever there is like a wine or spirit I want to taste, I always have to reach out to my rep and say, you know, you know, if it's Bob, you know, if it's John, hey Bob, you know, do you mind swinging by with the following items? Uh this wine, that wine, that spirit, you know, he'll always reach out and say, Floyd, of course, you know, I'll make sure I'll get that to you. But all distributor reps, they have like a certain price point they can go up to. So they can't go over a certain price point, right? They I think some reps might pay for it, some reps might not, um, or some reps get it for free. But also a lot of reps like to do plan, you know, like they like to plan kind of their trip. So if you if Floyd is asking for a certain wine to try, what that rep will sometimes do is then call their other accounts and say, look, I'm gonna be going out with you know, this Chaton off the pop. Uh, would you like to try it? So they kind of make a day, a plan of bringing wines to all of their, you know, their accounts. So sometimes, you know, if it's a specific bottle, if it's something that's usually, you know, a top high-end level, something like maybe let's say if it's over a wholesale cost of like $30, a lot of reps won't let you try it. So they'll basically say, look, you have to go on this according to our, you know, our discussion about it or what you read about it. So a lot of reps just kind of say, well, if it's over a certain price, you're on your own. You have to make the the choice without being able to taste it, which makes you know the job a lot differ uh, you know, a lot more difficult. But in this case, uh, there's a wine that I have at my store that I just said, you know what? I'm gonna buy it, I'm gonna bring it home during this pandemic, and um, you know, it's just gonna be for a nice occasion. And since it's your birthday, I thought it would pop it open. Too bad you're not here to drink it with me. But I just said, you know what, the heck, might as well drink it open for the both of us. I'll drink it for the both of you for the both of us. So what I opened was the uh Cedar No Vineyards, the Cabernet, the Napa Valley Cab 2016. So Cedar No, yeah, it retails, I think, in that that $50 range, that 40 high, like like mid, like mid-50s, I think, in my store. Okay. I'm not too positive on the price, but it's up there in terms of price, and it's a cab that I haven't had the chance to try. So, like I said, I bought a bottle, popped it open, and I'm gonna take a swig and then I'll kind of give you a little bit of what I'm tasting, and then um we could do a little cheers.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

It's funny because uh earlier today, like I was able to see my family, you know. Of course, we're all social distancing and everything, but uh I brought something that was kind of interesting by my grandparents live in South Jersey, like by Vineland area. And what's crazy is there's a lot of vineyards out there, and you know, we we talk about how I'm kind of um a self-admitted snob about Bordeaux and certain regions around the world, but I always say, you know, give every single place on the planet a shot. There was something not Cedar Knoll, but Cedar Rose, and it's right uh right by my grandparents' house. And of course, most of their stuff is just terrible because we've talked about this in person, like terroir, uh climate, weather, how it all affects different areas. So South Jersey is the last place you really think about to make good wine. But I remember I got one blend from them, and I gotta say, it's it's nothing like you'd find in Napa, nothing like you'd find in most regions that we talk about, but it was pretty good. It's South Jersey wine. So a South Jersey wine, like that's what we started with as like as a little sipper to say, hey, you know, check this out.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Like my rep one time, he came into my store and he brought a wine. He said, You gotta taste it. Didn't tell me where it's from. He just said it's a cabernet. I drunk, I tasted it. I was like, wow, this taste, it's very familiar. It has this familiar, you know, like Napa Valley style wine. You know, some wines you can tell. If you just take a sip, you can tell, especially California. You know, I know you're a wine snob, so you probably have a better, you know, taste than I do, because you drink a lot of lot more higher-end wines than I do. But this wine, for some reason, just had this great California Napa flavor. I said, it's it's a Napa Valley, you know, wine. And he goes, You would never believe that where this is from. And I said, Where? He goes, Jersey. I go, New Jersey. He's yes, New Jersey. Yeah, yeah. And it had this big, big, bold flavor, just those typical notes that you get with that Napa Valley cab style. And I couldn't, it just knocked me back for a while because I was like, you know, Jersey. I think you know, not many people drink Jersey wine, or Jersey's not really known for its wine, so I think it just takes people back to give Jersey wine a try. I don't know what you think about Jersey wine. I know you said you've had this one, it was a good start.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

I think it's like Long Island wine, right? Like, I mean, you for the most part, Jersey and Long Island wine is garbage. But the fact is, and I'll always say this about the wine industry and the and the you know, the bourbon industry, and pretty much the entire spirits industry. If a producer loves what they're doing and they're passionate about what they're doing, uh they will make it a point to say, we're gonna kind of create the best expression we possibly can of this. So that's why I say there's this kind of passion or focus on how to make wine in Napa Valley the best product it can possibly be. And I think that over time, other areas in the U.S. have said we have to adopt this principle, or else we're gonna fail and we're just gonna be, you know, that crappy vineyard that people grab a $10 bottle of wine at in New Jersey. And what's interesting about this vineyard that I went to was uh they're probably not super successful. They probably have very little distribution channels into retail stores like yours, but you can tell that they really care about what they're doing, even if they're not experts in wine making. So maybe they invested in better oak barrels to uh to have this you know different flavor come out in the wine. Maybe they just really focus on what they're doing where they can kind of conceal some bad aspects of the fact that it's Jersey juice. That's my take on it, at least. I I I think it's I think it's what you put into it and what you can try to do to it.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

And I think a lot of the, you know, from what I've been told by some of my reps that come by, and especially this wine, it's that a lot of those vines are coming from California. Like they're planting these, you know, they're taking things. Yeah, they're taking things from California, they're bringing it to Jersey, and they're planting it here. So you're getting these, you know, California vines um that are just gonna produce, you know, something really good. You never think of Jersey, and I think that's that's where it gets tough, I think, to probably try to move that product because it just has New Jersey on it, and New Jersey's not really known for it. You know, they're known for other things such as like you know, corn, tomatoes, all this other stuff, but it's not really known for wine. And I think it's a tough market to kind of dive into. Like we used to go to Wyndham, New York, and there was a vineyard in upstate New York in Windham, and honestly, their reds were not the best. Their one their white wines were really, really tasty. They had some really good white wines, but their red wines just didn't have any kind of flavor. I don't know if it's just it's not the correct, you know, temperature, terroir, anything like that. But it just for some reason, it just didn't speak to you know myself and a couple of my friends that I went to it um and tried their wines. But like I would say, like you, you know, upstate New York is known for their whites. A lot of their whites are really, really top-notch stuff.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Well, that kind of makes me think about the whole aspect of going to Napa, going to Bordeaux and hearing how different producers explain why their wine is quote unquote the best. Uh Napa will say we create this complex system of knowing that if we can't get the precipitation we need, we'll somehow manifest it and we'll create certain conditions that Mother Nature or God can't to uh try to pretty much like exact the wine to their requirements so that they're they're very OCD out there in Napa in terms of how they go about things, even if certain aspects of climate and weather out of their control. Bordeaux, their whole philosophy is we don't tamper with anything, we let the grapes fend for themselves and strive and you know fight for existence, and then we do the best to harvest the grapes and oak them appropriately. And that's why I think in Jersey, Long Island, certain parts of the East Coast, it's very difficult because you're dealing with people who A are not as up to snuff as people in Napa Valley or Bordeaux are, and you're also dealing with just the not the best conditions for making wine.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

But I mean, look at Wolfur Estate, though. You know, we talk about trends in wine. I was just about I was just about to mention them. Yep, keep going. Well, no, what were you gonna say about Wolfur Estate? Because this is a wild one for me because it's Long Island wine, but yet I think it's so popular, and I'm not even sure if it's a domestically popular thing or if it's just a New York and New Jersey thing.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

I think, but this goes to our question. This goes to our conversations that we constantly have about this this thing called wine. It's uh it's what really drives you know shopping habits for people, you know, and this kind of directly ties into it. What the question you're asking is, you know, you can you believe like this Wolfer Estate, the Wolfer Estate, they have what's the wine they have that's the rose? Is it the Summer in a Bottle?

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Summer in a Bottle. It's Summer in a Bottle. That's that really multicolored, really uh eye-popping label they have. And almost anybody who's actually listening to us right now knows exactly what we're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

Yeah, and it's uh yeah, I think about two years ago I went to Long Island. Um my friend lives out there, and he invited us um out there with his wife, and we were just gonna tour Long Island Vineyards, just drive around and just drink some wine. And I was amazed. I never ever in my wildest dreams would have thought when I went there for the first time that that's how wine country is out there. It's just one long road, and all these vineyards are right on top of like right next to each other, right on top of each other. It's beautiful to see because a lot of these places you can go in there, try these great, you know, try these really good wines and actually sit, have some food, sit outside, just get the fresh air, have a nice, you know, flight of different kinds of wines. And you know, it just was amazing. I think that's that's such a huge selling point to like the Long Island Vineyards, is actually going there. I think that's what you kills it. But you know, going back to what we were talking about with like Wolfer, you know, what is it? Is it really the you know, it's everybody believes their product is great, you know. We we've all had some really good wines, we've had some really bad wines, you know, or we have wines that are just kind of eh, they're they're good, they kind of do what they need to do. But what really drives it to you?

SPEAKER_02 13:51

Where would you say that you've taken Lisa on a trip at some point during your marriage where you went to a vineyard or you went to wine country and you just had a fantastic time with her?

SPEAKER_01 14:07

Uh it it was that time in Long Island.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

It literally literally was. I I have people who come to me all the time, especially in the store, and they say, Ah, you know, I was in this part of Italy, and uh, you know, the the rolling hills of Tuscany and how beautiful the air was and the the service, and we had this wine and it was fantastic. And then we found that wine, or we brought that wine back home with us, and it wasn't as good again. And I said, Well, most likely they gave you this house wine that wasn't bad, it wasn't good, but the idea was you were so captivated by the beauty of where you were that you completely forgot that it was just a mediocre wine at best. So I think a lot of times people go to Wolfur Estate, it is a really nice winery, it's a really nice location, and the service is fantastic. You can get up and walk around the vineyards, the weather is great in the summer, and you kind of get lost in the fact that you're just enjoying your time with your family, you're enjoying your time with your wife, and you sort of subconsciously forget that the wine is okay at best. So if you were to have that same wine you had with Lisa back, um, you know, whenever you went to Wolf Restate and you had it uh at your home, you'd say, hmm, interesting. It's not as great as I remember it to be. But for marketing reasons, that label on the bottle grabs people.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

It's yeah, it's like I think it's the whole experience. Like, like that's how I felt Long Island was like we went to Italy a couple years ago, and we went up, we we had like we just found a tour, like it was like a wine tour. We're just like, you know what, let's just go to this, you know, vineyard. Um, let's they have like a they had like a whole package where you get a flight and you have dinner. So every wine they had they had a wine for every meal. So we went to this vineyard, and we all got so sick because you know, if people haven't gone to Italy, it was you're going on this real thin road up this mountain. So we went up this mountain all the way to the top of the mountain, and all you're doing is going in circles up this road. So as you went, you just your head was spinning, like you felt like you were getting kind of seasick and you were going higher and higher. We went to this vineyard and they took us on a nice tour and we went all around. And they showed us how they make the wine, they showed us their wine cellar. You know, I have a couple of pictures on my phone, and they just took you and showed you what they made. They made, like, you know, a rose, they made, you know, they had reds, and then they had uh a white wine. So then you had this magnificent dinner, but what they gave you was like, so you they opened these windows, these bay windows that overlook the ocean. Wow. And you sat there and you had these meals with this wine overlooking the ocean. It was beautiful, it was amazing. Were the wines spectacular? No, they were good, but they weren't like I but I what I loved about it was that experience of just you're sitting there with family, you're having wine, you're eating food, you're laughing, you're talking, and you're learning so much about the process of making all these wines because they had somebody talk about it, but just the view was amazing, and I think that's what made it so much better than it was. Like if you just went to a yeah, but if you just went to a restaurant, the guy just said, Okay, this is from our vineyard, this is from our vineyard, just put everything down and you drank it and you talked about it with your meal. You just sit there and go, All right, was it worth it? No, it just was it was okay, but I think the view made it.

SPEAKER_02 18:07

Well, my sister uh gave me this gift card. Uh, we've talked about this restaurant before. Faborg. Montclair. No. Uh a French restaurant in Montclair. And I hear the best things about this place. Like the food is phenomenal. They have a great little outside bar. But I remember maybe about a year ago when they first opened, I took a look at their wine list and I said, you know, they're charging a pretty good amount for very basic wine. So I I always find that very interesting that there's wine menus out there that otherwise the restaurant is perfect. The food is great, the chef gets great reviews, the ambiance is incredible. I'm sorry, when did you go? I no, I haven't been to this place. I haven't been there. I was supposed to go, but then my sister said, Hey, listen, here's a gift card. Have them do the delivery to your place, you know, because they're offering that like a lot of places are. And I but I just remember a few months back, I was looking at the wine list and I was saying, God, like these wines are like $10, $12 retail wines that they're cranking up to 40 or $50. And I have no doubt people will have no problem paying these prices because they just don't care. They're in this amazing atmosphere and having great food where the wine's just gonna taste that much better because they don't care. And this is often what we talk about. Like, can you sell a $12 Sauvignon Blanc for $25 or $30? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

But it works in restaurants, it doesn't work in retail. That that's the that's the funny part I love. It's like I can work in my store, and you've probably had it before, where somebody will come to you and maybe complain about a price or give you like a you know, might roll their eye at you. But if it was a restaurant and the markup is 400%, people are fine with that. They're like, I'm at a restaurant, I accept that there's a 400% markup. I'm cool with that, I can live with it. But if you came to my store and I marked it up 50%, you'll sit there and yell and scream and go crazy that it's a retail. How could you how could you rip me off? This is retail. You're not supposed to. It's I I just it it cracks me up when I I talk to people and I'm like, how much would you pay for this if it was a restaurant? Would you would you sit here and argue with me? And it's just amazing how it goes, but it it's to get back to that point of like where you're saying you're talking about the the whole experience. It's like, and to go back to that story, we went to so we went to Italy. My father-in-law was celebrating his birthday. So we were out there for it, it was a special occasion. So he took us back to his hometown where he was born. And we went to like just a tiny restaurant there. Like, nothing big. The lady came out, she had like an apron on, she was in her slippers, she had a kitchen in the back, she had a fridge with with wine, right? White wine. And all they did was speak Italian, they were talking to everybody, you know, yelling at everybody. And they brought out some white wine and some red wine. And I'm talking about like no label bottles, just bottles. Just put it on the table. Everybody drank it. And the greatest thing about it was that it's just a great, it was just a good table wine, but you didn't feel anything. You, I mean, like, you know, if you drink too much wine, you can feel like a buzz, kind of you can get that that buzzy feeling, your head starts, you know, you starts getting wacky, you get a little tipsy. But we must have drank 12 to 15 bottles of this red and this white wine, and acting like normal, and it was. Totally good and it was totally worth it. And the experience of just being in this mom and pop kind of place where you know mama is making the sauce and she's bringing it out to everybody, it was such a cool experience as well because you can get those two types where you're overlooking the ocean and you're having this great meal with wine, or you could be, you know, at Nona's house, as they say, having wine and having just fresh homemade pasta. And I think, you know, even though it was a no-frills restaurant, it was such a great and cool experience to say, hey, I did this, and I actually got to try some really good homemade wine. And it just was worth the experience. It's just like hanging and doing that made it so fun that it was just a great time to, you know, just hang out and drink and see get the whole experience of Italy.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

So it's interesting that you mentioned that because uh I'm more interested in finding that great homemade wine or finding that great generic wine sometime. Oh, wait a minute. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Let me stop you.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

Let me stop you. All right, are you go ahead? Are you gonna try to promote your no no no no that you make in your toilet? No, are you gonna are you gonna try to promote it? Your hooch. Is that what you're gonna try to do? No, I'm not promoting anything. I'm not promoting anything. I have to warn everybody out there if that's where I thought it was going, so I had to kind of step in there and stop him. Because he gave me a bite.

SPEAKER_02 23:36

Do not buy into it.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

So to all of Aaron's family and friends out there, you know, when you get that no labeled bottle, you know what you're getting. You're getting some good quality hooch. All right, continue.

SPEAKER_02 23:49

No, I I think that Americans are spoiled, and I think that there's two different dining experiences. I forget who taught me this, uh, but it's a fantastic little lesson in um you know consumerism versus just getting together as a family. In America, oftentimes we go to a restaurant and we say, okay, uh we get there for a 7, 7:30 uh reservation. We maybe order two or three glasses of wine or cocktails, we get an appetizer, we get dinner, a little chit-chat in between. Coffee and dessert is optional. We're out of there by like an hour and a half, two-hour turnover. I know you've been to restaurants where you feel like you're slowly being kicked out of the restaurant. It's it's it's a fast turnover. Europeans have this aspect where they say, we're not gonna be specific about what we're ordering to drink. We could just have that house wine in front of us. But the idea is that we're spending a lot of time with each other. Well, there's no real limit on how much we're gonna eat or drink. We just want to treat this like a fantastic family gathering. And sometimes I hear that these European meals can last three, four, five hours. And that fascinates me because I'm thinking to myself, people do not care about tannins or structure or acidity or what the vintage is or where it's from. They just say, here's a nice jug of wine that we're gonna enjoy with our family. And I always tell you, in your store, I say, Floyd, why do people need these all these options? Shouldn't it come down to a few really good examples of what wine should be versus we have 27 different varietals at all times?

SPEAKER_01 25:54

But you know, it's it's about variety, and I've always said, you know, to you and to other people, you know, what do I what does wine make me feel? Or why do I drink wine? Why do I like wine? I love wine because I love the family togetherness aspect of what wine does. It brings us together, it's for celebrations, it's for family, it's for caring, it's for love, it's just for being with special people. And I think that's what wine means to me. So, like when I I it's you know, we've talked about like the Sopranos, and there was an episode where Tony, you know, he was trying to figure out, you know, why he's having all these panic attacks, and he reminisced about how his dad used to, you know, get very horny when he had meat, right? When he used to bring home meat, and Tony would always have these, you know, these feigning spells around meat. And the doctor said maybe it's because of, you know, your what you're you saw with your father, how he got when he had it. So, you know, Tony got very happy when he had gabagul, as he says. Um, so it's that reminiscent, it's that that thing that always it's the association. So it makes me smile when I think about the holidays, you know, having wine, having a dinner, but being around family and celebrating those special times, that's what it means to me. It it and I think that's what wine does for for me. And I know we've had a discussion where you've had what you know what you feel about wine, and it could be so many different things. And it's like I was telling you, I want I opened this bottle of wine to kind of um as a celebratory thing to say cheers to you for your birthday. And you know, it's it's cool to do that, and that's what I think. And I don't know if it comes with age, you know. I know we we j we joke about millennials and you know, older people and boomers and how everybody drinks wine and what it's like.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

That's all they do, though, is that they dissect and they they ruin this kind of I don't know if you're referring to like the art of it or just the sentimentality or just the basic, let's break bread and have wine. You know, like I I I think I think that's the there's like the duality to me. There's there's the one part of me that's very academic, and you've seen it because I we've had some really, really complex wine before where I've said, listen, this is not just something that we would have with Sunday dinner. This is something where me and you are kind of uh the the best example of this I can think of is the 05 Disson that we had.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:39

And Lisa's like, what the hell's wrong with you guys? Whoa, why why why are you talking about tobacco notes and how how it's how it's opening up in the kitchen?

SPEAKER_01 28:49

But I told you it's it's so it it it goes back to the movie sideways. It's like you know, when Paul Giamatti is out there and he's you know drinking the wine and he's talking about asparagus and this and that, and then the friend basically just goes, okay, tasty, really good. Like that's my wife, and I always joke around with her because I'll say, Hey, how does it taste? And she'll just go, smooth. Oh, okay. It's it's good. And I think that's what we and then when you were here that night, it's me and you are like we're we're swirling the glass, we're like looking at the color, and we're it's like we're making love to the wine. It's just the funniest thing. And I think that's what people, if you've seen us together or you've you know sat with us and talked to us, it's like we look like to other people, we look like the fools, we look like the crazy people. Yeah, we look like jerks because we're swirling wine, we're we're you know, we're sniffing it and we're talking to each other. Oh, I get I get you know herbs and I get chocolate and jam okay, cigar box, and it's just like we look like idiots, but I think that's what it makes. That's what makes it.

SPEAKER_02 29:55

It's like you couldn't be any dumber.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

But I mean, that's what's crazy about it, and that's what's so funny is that you know, as we talk about this, and I've always said, you know, millennials, you know, I don't understand like the drinking habits, and you're like, you know, you millennials are thinking differently about wine and how a person such as myself thinks about wine, or a person like my father-in-law, mother-in-law think about wine. And um, it's just now it's so you know, to talk about like really why are customers drinking what they drink? And I know some of the things we've talked about is just, you know, it could be age, it could be, you know, how old people are, it could be like how they were, you know, brought up with wine, you know, or it could be, well, somebody's 20, somebody's 30, somebody's 40, different generations. And then we could talk about, you know, association, as I said, what associates people to wine, what makes me drink wine? And then we could also talk about like, is it labels? Is it really, you know, somebody looks at you've and you know you've had the customers like, I'm gonna grab that bottle because I love the label.

SPEAKER_02 31:07

Yeah, I don't know what it is about this, but I I have a good feeling. So I'm I'm I'm gonna get it. I I think I I think that it's a lot of things. I think that there's this idea, and I noticed this because I was doing a few deliveries on Saturday, and uh I've I've been seeing a lot of people, and you know exactly what I'm talking about because you live right near uh a very well-known park. Um, but you can see people when it's getting warmer and nicer out on a Saturday or Sunday evening. People kind of do like these little block parties where they don't necessarily congregate, but they kind of talk um from house to house across the street. And I I always see it, I saw this guy, he had to be like maybe in his you know, late 30s, early 40s, but he was, you know, smiling and having good time, and he uh had in his glass what had to be like a Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc. And I'm kind of perplexed by this idea of why I've seen so many people buy and consume uh not Chardonnay, but Sauvignon Blancs, Pinot Grigios, and just these crisp, white, easy to drink uh wines. It it's it's I'm definitely seeing a trend here. Like people are almost hoping that it becomes summer overnight. And I I I can't explain it exactly because I I'm red wines are always gonna be popular, but I always feel like it's the it's the crisp, dry white wines that are kind of winning right now this season.

SPEAKER_01 32:55

Oh, that's yeah, definitely for now. I think that we when all this hit, you know, with uh with coronavirus, I think when all this came down, I think everybody just panicked, right? And we didn't know how long we were gonna stay inside, you know, if we were gonna have to stay inside, if we're gonna have to do all the social distancing. And I think everybody just went bonkers and crazy and just pretty much grabbed anything and were preparing for. Well, if I'm locked down and the weather is beautiful, I gotta have my white wines and my roses. To me, like at the store, it's like I have no roses yet because I usually try to get roses, I try to taste them and then have a good idea of what I'm trying to sell. But this year I didn't get that chance because I closed, you know, for early March. Um, so I didn't have the chance to kind of place an order and stock up and be ready for it. But it's like the Sauvignon Blancs at the store, man, I am amazed. They flew out the door. Flew. Everybody was drinking Sab Blancs all of a sudden, they're gone. Nobody, nobody on a regular day, not that many people were drinking Sau Blancs, but I think this whole lockdown mentality that everybody was kind of thrown into made them all just say, I need my Sau Blanc. Because if the weather gets beautiful outside and nice, I gotta have it. I'm not going out to the store, I'm not having anybody bring it to me. I gotta have it. Aaron, bring me a case of Sauvignon Blancs if you have it. And it's like the same thing with Rose, where Rose is like, you know, it's kind of like you know, the drug dealer to come out to your car, hey man, you know, you got a new I got I got a bottle of rose to sell.

SPEAKER_00 34:32

Yeah, I got a bottle of rose to sell you, man. You know, it's gonna cost you about like 50 bucks.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

It's it's outrageous now how it's like toilet tissue. It's like how toilet paper is now like this new kind of um cache. It's it's kind of like the prison cache, you know, where it's like smokes. But you know, I I don't I don't understand all of a sudden there's this there's there was this grab for save blancs, not not Chardonnays, Save Blancs.

SPEAKER_02 34:58

Like we have to get it, if I was if I was to get sort of uh really nerdy about it, I think that Sauvignon Blanc reminds people who are either aware of it or not aware of it. There's this herbaceous quality to it, it reminds them, I always say bell peppers, green grass. It it doesn't have this buttery, oaky, heavy, full-bodied feel to it. So I feel like maybe there's this kind of association with nature and being outside that make people say, Oh, yeah, I want that dry, crisp, um herbaceous, uh very kind of green type of white wine, where people that often say chardonnay they say, Oh, it's too oaky, it's too buttery, it's too creamy for me, it's too full. So maybe it's this idea of being outside and being kind of uh connected with nature and wanting to be refreshed versus anything that might be heavy, bold, or complex. That's the exactly that's the only way I can really think of why Sauvignon Blanc is just destroying Chardonnay because Chardonnay, I mean, we're running out of that too, but at a much slower rate.

SPEAKER_01 36:20

Yeah, and and and you're right. It's Chardonnays are typically heavy. You know, you're usually pairing them with heavier dishes, you're not really drinking them on its own. It's like, why do I like Sauvignon Blancs? I like Sauvignon Blancs because I don't necessarily need food with them. I could sit outside, nice sunny day, have a glass, you know, have some cheese crackers, very light fare, and be satisfied with a Sab Blanc. And I think with Chardonnays, it's like, all right, if I'm gonna crack open a Chardonnay, what am I eating tonight? Am I gonna eat chicken and I don't want a red? You know, am I gonna eat you know more lighter? You know, it's just uh it's so interesting to see that how the Sab Blancs just flew off the shelf, but I get it, I understand, and I can understand why shards didn't fly too. But Pinot Grigios that flew out the door, uh Sauvignon Blancs flew out the door, and I was surprised to even see Rieslings, the Rieslings to go.

SPEAKER_02 37:15

Well, a lot of it is just um, you know, people are just in general drinking more. Okay, they're just drinking, they're just drinking more. So what does the trick? Like right now, you know, I could technically go into my wine fridge and say, you know what? I want a big bold cab. I want a big bold Zinton, I want something that does the trick. But I've been nursing Estella right now for like the last uh you know, 30 plus minutes because it's just it's not something that I have to think, oh, I went out of my way to get a full-bodied bold wine. I just want to just kind of have a beer to sip at. So I think that you know, when when when you constantly hear Floyd and I saying uh the everyday stuff, you know, it it gets annoying when you hear it like that, but a cab to me is not an everyday wine. No, absolutely. Something like a Chianti or a Pinot Noir or a lighter style wine where you can sip at it and then you can put it back in your fridge and have it a day or two later. That's an everyday wine. Exactly. It's and we've talked about this before, but I I think that's the difference between Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. Rose is funny to me because rose is highly seasonal. Yet what is it? It's it's I I don't get the fascination with rose like you might.

SPEAKER_01 38:49

No, it's and it's it's me, Rose. I like roses. Like I have uh I'm I've been drinking this one that I got at uh a bigger store, chain store. Um, because you know, I don't like drinking my own stuff. I I'd rather go buy it and have stuff to sell at the time. High on your own supply. Never never get high on your own supply. So I like I like roses, but see, I understand how roses are made. And I think a lot of people don't understand how roses are made. So a lot of people think rose is like a varietal, you know, and they think that, oh, it's a varietal that must and it's oh it's gotta be sweet, right? Everybody thinks this, like, oh, the darker it is, the sweeter it is. And you know, it's fun to educate people and say, you know how roses are made. You know, it's it's the juice is white, and they just leave it with the skins for a little bit, you know, contact with the skins for a little bit of time to give it that light, nice color. You know, it all depends, but they're made from varietals we drink every day. So the one I I drink now, I there's this uh it's a Pinot Noir, it's from Oregon, and it's a Pinot Noir rose, and I really like it, and I've not ever found a rose that I like from just a Pinot Noir grape, you know. So it's been very interesting, but I'm not fascinated and I don't understand why other people are because I'm like you. I'm in that sense that you know what? Cabs are not meant to be drank on an everyday, you know, basis. Or if you're feeling like you want to drink a glass of wine, you'll open up a big cab. No, you'll do that with you know a multiple channel di Abruzzo. You'll do it with like more inexpensive wines. You know what I mean? Like a primativo. You'll start, you'll open maybe one of those to have a nice glass and then put it away and come back to it.

SPEAKER_02 40:35

I like you know, I like to be surprised by a more economical or cheaper wine to say, you know, you know what? I spent nine, ten, twelve bucks on that tops. Exactly but oh wow, like you know, it wasn't too heavy, there was no complexity. That's the biggest problem about what we do is that we try all this stuff, and sometimes I don't want to think about what I'm drinking. I just I just want to have it and say, that's delicious, that's refreshing.

SPEAKER_01 41:06

Exactly. And it's like Pinot Noir. So Pinot Noir is Pinot Noir is like you can open it's that's what I love about Sauvignon Blanc's Pinot Noirs. It's that wine that you don't necessarily need food with. You can pop it open, have a glass, not get too tipsy, not get too many of those tannins. It's not super full, it's just a nice, light, easy drinking wine for every day. So I think that's what's great about those wines. So I can understand why people run and grab a Sauvignon Blanc, they run and grab a Pinot Noir. It's so on that it's those wines. They don't need anything.

SPEAKER_02 41:40

On that note, this is how I would want to conclude the episode here. Why is it uh, and you know, we're we're talking about what's in demand, what's popular, why are we not really selling Pinots? This is this is a mystery to me because we are selling them, but they're not at a high pace, not at a one at a high level. That would seem like the most obvious choice. Like if I was to call you up right now and say, Floyd, listen, put together for me a care package. Um some cabs would be nice, but I need some everyday stuff like Pinot Noirs, so that you know, uh, when I just kind of feel like having a glass of wine at the end of the day, you know, I'm not really thinking about a big bold cab. Why is it that you think people are kind of shy with Pinot's right now?

SPEAKER_01 42:36

Because I think of it, it goes back to when my mother-in-law would have us over for like, let's say, a dinner or a party. So we would always go over, and what are we drinking during the day? Let's say it's it's 80 degrees, beautiful day, sunny, there's a big party, everybody's there. We are always, when I walk through that door, we are always offered a glass of white wine first. We always start out with white wines. There's no, would you like a glass of Pinot Noir? Would you like a glass of uh cab? Would you like a glass of um any anything else, you know, any other varietal? They never put red out first while you're eating appetizers. So it's always Persico and it's always a white wine. And then after that, you kind of go to that, all right, we're gonna have, we're gonna sit down and have dinner, we're gonna have some food. Now we're gonna whip out the red wines. And most of the time, you know, they're they're Italian. Most of the food food we eat is Italian food. So we're always, you know, trying uh, you know, Tuscan wines. We're always trying either super Tuscans or we're going with a nice cab. And sometimes even a Pinot Noir, if somebody's really not a heavy wine drinker, we usually go with that. But most of the time it's gonna be like a Chianti or a Nebbiolo, stuff like that. But if I was to take a guess, I think I think people are drinking like that. I think that's why I don't think we had such a huge Pinot Noir uptick. Because I think maybe people are being the same way. I think that's that was like if we were in normal times at this moment and I was still going over to my mother-in-law's house, that's how I think we would be drinking. So I don't know if people are doing the same thing. I know I do that, which is funny that you brought it up. It's like during the day, if I'm outside, let's say it's a Saturday, it's beautiful, like this past weekend. I was outside with white wine. We were having cheese and crackers, my kids were playing. They invented like a miniature golf course out of like cans, and we just sat out there and we had white wine. And then when we came inside and we cooked dinner, we opened up a bottle of red. So I don't know if people are still doing that where they're saying, you know what, I'd rather have white wine from when we're relaxing, and then maybe we'll have because I noticed the cabs are going. The cabs are selling well.

SPEAKER_02 45:00

And I noticed like the cabs are just a um I more so than the mallbecks, more so than the red blends. Cabernet is uh I I'm keeping track of it because people are coming to me and saying, get me a cab. And I'm saying, okay, what kind of cab you're looking for? But yeah, cabs are just, and the the answer is always the same. I want something big and bold and something that I'm just gonna really enjoy. And a lot of people say I'm looking for something intense. You know, maybe it's that factor of saying, uh, I don't want to take it light. With reds, I want to go all the way.

SPEAKER_01 45:43

And that's what I said. I don't know if people are playing it the same way. I play it, but like it's you know what, I don't want any light red wines. I want something big and heavy because even in the store, when I look around, it's like Malbecs are still, they're still in there. Pinot Noirs are still in there. It's the cabs that have gone the whites.

SPEAKER_02 46:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:03

No, I was gonna say it's I've noticed that. It's it's the whites are gone and the Cabernets are moving, and then it's kind of like the Spanish wines are still there. You know, so there's also like the Malbecs are still there, the Pinot Noirs are making a good run at it. Yeah, because everybody, if they call you, they're like, Well, I only want this, this, and this. Um, but you know, it it's I think I trust me, I think that's what I believe it is. If I was to take a guess at it.

SPEAKER_02 46:36

So, question if you could pick a varietal, not not a varietal, I'm sorry, you could pick something other than wine to kind of make a an episode out of because we've been kind of going back and forth about this. Are we uh are we kind of feeling kind of the perfect martini episode coming up, or are we going to finally compare different types of tequila up against each other?

SPEAKER_01 47:02

Listen, I I I think we have the the problem with us, since we have too much time on our hands, is we have uh literally like a hundred episodes before the pandemic hit us, you know, like The Walking Dead. Yeah, me and Aaron were at the store, and we before we recorded our first episode, we literally wrote down like 60. We had 60 episodes lined up, ready to go. We had tequila, you know, what's the perfect starter drink to your night? We had every episode planned. So, you know what? I think we should just kind of you know come back and just talk about, you know, we even talked about maybe, you know, champagne, doing a champagne episode, doing a Bordeaux episode, doing all these different episodes. I uh Aaron, I think we have a ton of material. I think we're not gonna run out of material.

SPEAKER_02 47:57

I'm not scared here. I'm kind of I'm kind of wondering. I think we're looking at a really good weather weekend coming up next weekend, from what I'm seeing. I want to know kind of I want to kind of know what you want to you know virtually drink on um like a Saturday or Sunday and what you want to talk about because you know we we don't even scratch the surface really, but I'm kind of wondering if it's a tequila type of vibe or more of like a bubbly type of vibe.

SPEAKER_01 48:23

Well, yeah, maybe it maybe something crisp, maybe something cold. Um we'll talk. We'll definitely talk because I think that uh we can't do uh you know bourbon or whiskey. That was like our first couple of times. I'm I'm tired of that. Are you tired of that?

SPEAKER_02 48:42

Going downhill. No, no, no. I I actually uh I did try a wild turkey rare breed. That's that was a cool one I tried recently. Oh, that's cool. Um I I my friend was saying, I know Floyd is gonna bust your chops because you're you keep on posting these bourbon pictures, and I'm like, yeah, well, I don't know. Floyd's Floyd's gotta get used to it. It's it it's it's it's tough because the problem is you post too many bourbon pictures, you get all the bourbon followers, and then you lose all the wine followers, you know?

SPEAKER_01 49:16

Yeah, you gotta kind of mix it up and play it nice, and you know, not give you gotta give all the children fair and equal love and attention. You can't just favor one, you have to kind of spread the love around. Um, so you have to kind of keep it on that level. But no, you know, you've you've grown. You've you it's you're my boy, Blue. It's like I've I've seen you when you first started. You were like Mr. Bordeaux, everything was Bordeaux. I brought we went to dinner one time and I brought a wine, and you were like, Well, I wouldn't spend that much money on this wine. You were just so that guy. And then you slowly went to that with bourbon, which uh it still cracks me up because I read your Instagram posts, and I just think you've transformed into that guy we all know and love um about you know your bourbon hunting and what you really like and the notes you pick out. And I would never spend that amount of money. You know, you're always good when it comes to the critique of everything. But it's like you've grown, and every time I talk to you, it's always something different that makes me laugh. And I'm like, man, that's a good episode. I'm gonna bring that up next time we talk about you know what you're doing and how you're you know looking at everything we drink. But um, no, I think uh I think we we're we're ready to go with a couple more episodes. We have a lot, a lot to talk about, and especially, you know, after you saw me go out the house today with my sweatpants and nicely shaved head, it's you know, times are tough, so I need to get on the microphone and talk to somebody because it's like it's the shining. It's the it's the shining. It's like it's it's Jack Nicholson the shining in my house. So I gotta get some fresh air and start talking to people. But you know, I think I think we we have enough to tell people and enlighten people on, and I think that um so far we've been doing a great job. I think the feedback's good.

SPEAKER_02 51:00

Yeah, the the the the the feedback is I can actually listen to you guys without you know killing myself for that one.

SPEAKER_01 51:06

Absolutely, man. All right, so let's uh we'll we'll end it there and then we'll come back uh with our next episode and talk about something you know that everybody wants to listen to. Maybe we'll talk about celebratory drinks to celebrate, you know, your birthday. You know, what makes a good celebratory drink?

SPEAKER_02 51:24

We're reaching out to you, so anybody who has a really good idea of what we should talk about next time, that's something to also consider too, you know.

SPEAKER_01 51:33

Oh, absolutely. If people want to give us feedback and send something they want us to talk about, that'll be great. Uh, you can follow us on Instagram. Please stop, please stop drinking. Stop drinking all that and talking about it, guys. Sound drunk.

SPEAKER_02 51:48

12-step program.

SPEAKER_01 51:50

But you can follow us on Instagram. You can follow me at Unwind Boutique on Instagram. And Aaron, uh, you can follow him at the chosen vine on Instagram. And I think that's how we're gonna end it today. So it was great talking to everybody. It's great talking to you, Aaron, and like I said, man, happy birthday and enjoy your 21st birthday. Don't party too hard. You know, you know, we're still quarantined, right? You know, you're not supposed to bring any ladies, you're not supposed to bring anybody to your apartment. No ladies, no nothing.

SPEAKER_02 52:16

No, no, no. I I get that. I get that. I'm following the rules.

SPEAKER_01 52:21

All right, man. It's nice talking to you, man. Everybody have a great day, and that's it for Sam and Sammer. You too. Stay safe. Thank you. You too. Bye bye.