It’s no secret that the majority of wines featured in The Drops of God have been from the old world — Italy, France, and Spain. However, when we decided to launch WineSalon here in the United States we knew that we had to play to our greatest strength- the wealth of high-quality local wineries in Napa and Sonoma wine countries. It took a lot of discussion (and drinking) to determine how to choose our partner wineries.
First, we sat down with Shin and Yuko Kibayashi, authors of The Drops of God, and tasted through a blind selection of wines to get unbiased reactions. Through this process, a pattern started to emerge. It became clear that Shin and Yuko had a talent for discovering Old World-style wines made in California wine country.
The wines they chose were especially good at showing the expression of terroir. They were magnetically drawn to elegant, light-handed winemakers who strove to reflect the characteristics of the climate, soil, and weather. Many of the wines chosen were very food-friendly, no doubt inspired by their years of experience in creating food and wine pairing scenarios for The Drops of God.
Shin and Yuko were drawn to the crispness and food-friendly acidity of Massican’s Annia and Gemina
Shin and Yuko were quite surprised at how food friendly and terroir-driven New World Wines could be. They favored small-production wines, many of which were family-owned and farmed.
Amazed by their ability to select unique high-quality wines, we asked them about their tasting rationale. They warned us that professional wine tasters often lose sight of how people actually drink wine. Most wine lovers aren’t blind tasting wines ten at a time, scribbling notes with nothing but crackers to munch on. More often, people drink wine with dinner, enjoying the company of friends and family. They reminded us to always think beyond ourselves, about how our members experience wine.
Professional wine tasters often lose sight of how people actually drink wine.
As storytellers, they want to experience great wines that also have a unique story to tell. Sometimes this comes from the history of the winery, but the winemaking process itself reveals a story. If there is a heavy hand in the winemaking process, the uniqueness of that wine is often lost and overpowered by the tastes and aromas of oak and steel. What makes most wine memorable are the unique sensations that can only come from terroir.
Illuminated by their wisdom and advice, we developed a rigorous selection process for each of the wines that we offer through WineSalon
Each wine is tasted blind for overall quality and impressions. First we take in the aroma and then the flavor. We then reveal and evaluate the price of the wine. Does it provide great value to our members and perform above its price point? Only once a wine meets these criteria does it move on for consideration. Our team then considers context. Context revolves around two key aspects. Is it a memorable wine? Does it express terroir in an artful and meaningful way? Can we imagine drinking this wine with our favorite foods, at our favorite events, with friends and family? For a wine to inspire us, it needs to spark in us memories and feelings of other great times we’ve had with wine.
Our wine lifestyle quiz may seem unusual, but we encourage you to take it for yourself and see which wines it reveals.
Visit our online shop to see a full selection of wines.
To read The Drops of God manga online click here.
Cheers—
The WineSalon Team