Perks are fun. Perks are good. When I was first hired here at The Wine House, I expressed my feelings with the phrase, “This is going to be good for everybody.” It is true. It has been good for me, good for The Wine House (I think), Wine House customers (I hope), and particularly good for my family and friends. One perk my friends enjoy is, well, having a friend who works at The Wine House.
Just over the past week, I’ve had these three conversations with some of my friends:
“Pete, I’m completely out of white wine, so bring a bottle when you come over. Something good.”
I brought a bottle of 2007 Schlossbockelheimer Riesling Trocken from Schafer-Frohlich which was mind-blowingly good and suited our take-out Brandy Ho’s dinner perfectly. I also brought a couple of liters of Gruner Veltliner to temporarily solve his white wine problem.
“Pete?”
“Hi Doug.”
“Pete, I need some more wine.”
“Okay.”
To the uninitiated, this means that Doug wants a case of wine, all white, at around 12-14 bucks per bottle. Dry, crisp, and lipsmacking characteristics are preferred to soft, round, and heaven forbid, sweet. He loves the Brunel Cotes du Rhone blanc, so I will be sure to toss in a couple of those.
“Petey!”
“Amy!”
“I need your help.”
“What can I do for you, my child?”
“Rick’s parents are coming over Saturday night and we need some wine.”
“Okay, what are you looking for?”
“Some interesting wines that you like that won’t break the bank.”
“What are we talking, Amy?”
“I don’t know. Let’s say less than twenty per bottle”
“Okay, done. How many bottles? White or Red?
“There are going to be six of us total. They’re coming in the afternoon, but staying for dinner. I don’t want to run out of wine, so do you think six bottles is okay?”
“Sure, that sounds perfectly reasonable to me. White/red?”
“Let’s do two white for the afternoon and four red for dinner.”
“What’s for dinner?”
“Nothing fancy. Caesar salad, bruschetta, pasta, rib-eyes with Rick’s famous scalloped potatoes.”
“That’s a lot of carbs, girlfriend.”
“Shut it and stay on the subject.”
“Okay, I think I can work with that. Do you want, say, two bottles each of two different reds?”
“No, do four different if it’s not too much trouble.”
“Okay. Done. You need anything else?”
“No. Thanks so much Pete, you’re awesome. Do you need my credit card?”
“Nope. Got it on file.”
“Okay, great. I’ll see you …”
“Tonight around seven.”
I picked out some great wines for Amy and her guests and was in the process of pulling the wines from the floor when David saw me and asked who the custom six pack was for. I told him, and he said we should offer such a service to all of our customers; you know, give all of you the friends and family treatment. Not only that, why not mark it down to a round price like $99.98? Hey wait! Amy paid retail! He shrugged his shoulders content with his idea. So here it is, this is the identical six pack I chose for my friend just the other day discounted almost 20%! Feel free to contact us should you need any sort of custom sampler pack assembled to your tastes. My rhyme and reason follows the links to each wine.
A note to Amy, if you read this, know that you have fourteen minutes of fame left, in addition to a working credit here at The Wine House! Peter Zavialoff
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Okay, we start off with a bang. When you are entertaining guests, something recognizable as being a fine wine of distinction is mandatory. This Sancerre is rich in flavor, balancing a citrus blossom profile with its mineral lift. Served chilled, it will be the ideal, Welcome to our house wine.
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No one likes to be one-upped, so we change white grapes all together. White Burgundy is the perfect follow up to a crisp Sancerre. Actually, white Burgundy is the perfect follow up to almost anything.
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This is also the recommended order that these wines be served. This fruity blend of Syrah and Grenache has an ineffable depth to it. It is so user friendly, I almost ignored her request and doubled up on this one.
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Ever notice how sometimes you have a nice bottle of red ready for a steak dinner, but it disappears before the meat arrives on the table? Happens a lot. Won’t happen to these folks; this is a well crafted Cab/Syrah which will stand up to all that yummy comfort food.
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I felt I had to toss this Super Tuscan into the fray, because when I think about steak and pasta, I think of this wine. 80% Sangiovese, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, bellisima!
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If you asked me, this is the bopper of the bunch. Crafted by the Gerard Perse of Chateau Pavie fame, this wine is huuuge on the quality/price avenue. If there is any of this around for those rib-eyes, they will be happy campers.
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Regularly $123.93. Special sampler price $99.98!!!
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The Wine House San Francisco 