plonk's posterous - Filed under 'Liquid Planet'

Plonk wine, Missoula and a 1970 Grands Echezeaux

A quick recap of my wine selling trip to Missoula, MT. First of all, if you've never been to Missoula, you're missing out. It is an unbelievably well kept secret. The town is about as cool as you'll find and the wine scene here is much more sophisticated than you would ever imagine.

Anyway, my distributor, Kurt Winegardner and his rep for that market, Lacey Capps, were kind enough to escort me around to various places and introduce me to some of the local wine hot shots. Places of note:

Scotty's Table http://scottystable.net/ Beautiful restaurant located next to the river in an immaculately restored building. One of the owners, Katie Gill, was gracious enough to taste with us even though she's pregnant, don't worry, she didn't swallow. I think they will be adding plonk to their list and I couldn't be more excited.

Liquid Planet http://www.liquidplanet.com/ Killer wine shop, great design and super selection. The wine buyer, Heather Thuesen, was super busy but still gracious enough to take a few bottles to get started. I would typically prefer my wine to be in restaurants and wine bars to start but this place is a perfect complement to cool wine spots in this town.

Red Bird Restaurant and Wine Bar http://www.redbirdrestaurant.com/ This place was the big surprise of the day. This place is somewhat legendary in Montana and everyone I spoke to before going to Missoula said, "you have to be in Red Bird". Lots of pressure but I was willing to give it a try. We entered through the kitchen and as we were making our way to the bar I noticed a young woman whom I thought I recognized. I pointed at her, she pointed at me and sure enough we had worked together in Yellowstone National Park back in the mid 90s. Her husband, who is also a part-time server at the restaurant, is an old compatriot from Texas. His name is Tom Catmull (http://www.tomcatmull.com) we had also worked together in Yellowstone. I then meet the wine buyer and it's someone who used to sell me wine at my old wine bar. To make a long story just a bit shorter, I ended up knowing almost everyone there. Small world story. I had such a good time with those guys that we went back for dinner and brought a bottle 1970 Grands Echezeaux from Domaine de la Romanee Conti, courtesy of Kurt Winegardner. We shared it with the owner, Laura Waters and the rest of her staff. The wine turned out to be a magical Pinot, only the way old Burgundies can be, and the night was a blast. Best of all, they said they would pick up my wine.

Great trip, great town, great people. Try it some time.

Cheers