The Fantasy Rages: Shine On

The butcher arrives, looking like he woke up under a bridge. I rush downstairs, hot on his heels, to pick up my meat order: a towering stack of milk crates, loaded with plastic-wrapped côtes due boeuf, entrecotes, rumpsteaks, racks of lamb, lamb stew meat, merquez, saucisson de Toulouse, rosette, pork belly, onglets, scraps, meat for tartare, pork tenderloins larded with bacon and garlic, pâtés, rillettes, galatines and chickens.

~ Tony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential

My restaurant, of course, will need wine. And since it's my restaurant (well, maybe the concept, anyway), it should have my wine in it, right? Anyway, let's just say that wheels-are-in-motion re: my friends at the Wine Country Inn coming out, in 2009, with their own wine label. How does this work? Do we have to make the wine? No! Let me let you in on a little secret in the wine world, one only spoken about in the most hushed tones: not every winery sells all its wine. There! It's been said in public. (I feel better, somehow.) So what we're doing is talking to several wineries who have, shall we say, extra wine... which they bottle but then don't put their labels on. Later, when they find someone like us, we put our labels on their wine. Viola! Our wine. These unlabeled wine bottles even have their own name: shiners (see pic).

Anyway, Jim and I are now involved in a very intensive exploration, tasting various wines, negotiating prices, etc. In my mind, I'm playing with label concepts, names, the all-important (to me, the marketing guy) story behind the wines, if you will. Things are coming together: spreadsheets, notes scribbled on napkins, and so on. All so that one day when you walk into my restaurant, I can offer you a very small, hand-selected list of wines... including one of our own. Shine on.