Brice Station Vintners

Elite '09

138

538

Ben P.

San Francisco, CA

3/2/2008

I had a great time at Brice Station.  They serve a variety of reds and whites, and the guy at the counter was informative and funny and really laid back.  We got (because we asked) a history of the their name, and a lesson in mixing wines.  Including mixing right in the glass, which I hadn't done before.

Maybe it's the lawyer in me, but I tend to be a fairly by-the-rules kind of guy.  As a kid, I never mixed food on my plate, right down to the rice.  If we were having stir fry, I was having a pile of meat and veggies, and a separate pile of rice, which I would eat separately.  I loved school lunch trays because they had little dividers to keep your food from even touching, much less mixing.  I'm the same way with wines.  I certainly drink a number of blended wines (whether it's a true blend like a Meritage or a table wine, or simply a varietal that's been blended), but my approach is that that sort of thing should be left to people who know what they're doing.  And I don't yet count myself among them.

Well, the friendly wine guy wouldn't have that, and essentially dared me to mix two of the wines--any two---together, just to see what would happen.  So, I gave in and mixed their Merlot and their Cab Franc, 50/50.  And the result was fantastic!  The Merlot contributed bright fruits while the Cab Franc added complexity and body.  They paired great!  In fact, my choice greatly pleased the wine guy, because he apparently has been advocating that Brice Station sell bottles of those two wines, mixed.

It's always fun when you learn something new.  I learned to be a little less uptight about having my wines touch.  Just like I grew out of my separate food phase, maybe in a year or two I'll have grown out of my separate wine phase.  If that happens, I'll have Brice Station to thank for it.

P.S.: We all benefited, because I bought an extra bottle of the Merlot and the Cab Franc to mix at home for guests some time.

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