RWC Sources: Vintage 59 (19 September 2018)

RWC Sources: Vintage 59

September 19, 2018

I am often asked how I select wines for the shop. The smart-assed answer is "I taste 'em, and if they're good enough, I buy 'em." This is true, of course, but it is more complicated. I depend on a few good sales representatives from a few good wine distributors and/or importers to bring me samples of wine they hope I'll have interest in. It is, like most everything else involving wine, all about people.

Tomorrow's (20 September 2018) RWC "Wine of the Week" - Domaine Claude Branger Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine Monnières-Saint-Fiacre 2014 - is a good example of how many steps it could take for a wine to end up in this store. 

Working backwards, I tasted this wine last March, over lunch with Vintage 59 representative Debra Lewis. We were brought together by Jennifer Minke, sales representative for The Country Vintner, Vintage 59's local distributor. I first met Vintage 59's founder and president, Roy Cloud, soon after he formed the company (1997) and soon after opening my first store (Chesapeake Wine Company) in late 1998. I've known Jen since the late 1980s - she even worked a short stint at CWC in the early days. I've known some of my sources for longer - up to nearly 40 years at this point - and some for shorter, but it is not unusual to have layers of relationships result in the latest wine find at RWC.

Like long-time importers such as Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant; Vineyard Brands; Rosenthal Selections (and more), the Vintage 59 logo on a bottle's back label is a virtual guarantee of quality. 

Other Vintage 59 wines you can find at RWC:

Champagne E. Barnaut - Bouzy (Blanc de Noirs and Brut Rosé) 

Domaine Joseph Voillot - Volnay (Bourgogne Rouge Vieilles Vignes)

Chateau Coupe Roses - Minervois (several different cuvées)

Chateau de Caladroy - Cotes du Roussillon-Villages Les Schistes