Metro Wines Blog
We caught up with Teutonic Winemaker and Owner, Barnaby Tuttle, on his way to Home Grown in Asheville for lunch. Barnaby was eating his way through Asheville! After the Teutonic Tasting @MetroWnes on Friday Night, he went two doors down to Gan Shan downing a bowl of Drunken Noodles and a healthy serving of Bok Choy. He woke up hungry at Midnight and had frozen pizza burned to charcoal on the bottom and cheap BIG BOX beer. Yes, even winemakers DO crazy when on the road!
Barnaby is a Portland, Oregon native. Before his current incarnation, he was an iron worker and worked for an autowrecker that salvaged vintage car parts from the 50s, 60s and 70s. Hold that thought - both jobs become very important later...
I told Quincy that the purpose of these interviews is to get to know the winemaker personally. The truth is that we can read about their wines on their well done websites. And, let's face it, with winemakers also working to market their wines and answering questions from retailers and writers like me! they may have necessarily developed some standard operating answers.
"Don't give up your day job." That's how Kent Rosenblum, veterinarian, explained his venture into the wine world.
While working as a veterinarian in Montana, Kent took a trip to California and was bitten by the wine bug or, as he says, "I fell in love." He started buying grapes and making wines, for the most part, in his basement.
It was a big deal in 1978 when Kent turned out 400 cases. He sold his wines to family and friends. Lots of them. But as is turns out, it was actually All of them. "The wine made a profit so I thought I would make more," Kent says, "but I ran out of friends!"
"Paolo, will you live to be 100?" "Probably not. I have stress!"
That's what Paolo Parpinello, Winemaker for Poderi Parpinello in Sardegna, said when asked about the recent outcry that Cannonau, a grape indigenous to Sardegna and the star of one of his most popular wines, is, in essence, the fountain of youth!
I ask Paolo how did this fountain of youth stuff get started? "On the Today Show," says Paolo in a way that lets me know he has been asked this question many times.
"We do not hire "rock star" winemakers or wine consultants that pop in and out at Groth," says Suzanne Groth. "We look for dedicated winemakers invested in our wines who will watch the wine through the entire process." Groth winemakers have been working with the winery for three decades. "We make certain that there is a multi year overlap to insure passing down techniques and insuring consistent quality."