2008-05-02
Wine Garage
Quality Wines You Can Afford
by Michelle J. Baker
When Todd and Joy Miller moved to Napa Valley in 2001, they were surprised to find that they could hardly find any wines for less than $45 a bottle. Then they went to a dinner party at a winemaker’s home, and were shocked to discover that many winemakers couldn’t afford to drink the wines they made. That’s when the Millers decided to open the first wine shop in Napa Valley that only carried wines under $25 a bottle.
So in 2003, Todd Miller swapped his corporate necktie for jeans and boots and started scouring Northern California for great, undiscovered wines to offer at his new wine shop, the Wine Garage in Calistoga. Miller drove the roads less traveled, meeting with winemakers, walking in their vineyards and tasting their grapes, barrel samples and finished wines. The winemakers, tickled to have a real, live wine buyer at their winery, shared stories with Miller over a glass of wine at the dinner table.
Day and night, Miller bought lots of wines from unknown wineries, loading up his truck with cases of wine and hauling them back to Calistoga. He sold them to his Wine Garage customers at a fair price, and they kept coming back for more. Over the years, the Wine Garage built a great reputation as a fun place to drop by, browse, talk wine with the staff and winemakers who often hang out at the store, and then pick up great deals on great wine.
Now, nearly five years later and with a list of 1,500 loyal wine club members, Todd Miller has become a vintner, and the Wine Garage is entering a brave new world as a winery with its own label wine. What makes this label different is that Miller did the same kind of leg work he used when he started up the Wine Garage, combing vineyards in Napa, Sonoma and neighboring appellations to find the highest quality grapes. He hired Massimo Monticelli, a seasoned winemaker with stints around Napa Valley including Silver Oak, and now proprietor of his own winery, to help him make the wine.
And coming soon, the Wine Garage debuts its first vintage. In keeping with the “garage” theme, you’ll now find a couple of gas pump nozzles hanging from the wall in the store, only these have on tap a much tastier kind of fuel. One nozzle will fill a half gallon jug with a Rhône-style blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre. The other nozzle pumps a Zinfandel blend. The Wine Garage has recently bottled its own private label, Wine Garage Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Zinfandel.
The Wine Garage still carries a wide selection of bargains from Sonoma and Napa, and gems from as far afield as Paso Robles, Lodi, the Sierra Foothills and Mendocino County. The store still doesn’t carry any wines priced over $25, and Miller doesn’t buy a wine for the store unless he loves it. What’s best is the Wine Garage staff takes the guesswork out of wine shopping: tell the staff what you’re looking for and they will steer you to the perfect bottle.
The Wine Garage’s wine club is one of the best deals around. Club members can choose to receive six bottles of red wine (or three red and three white) six times per year for $100 per shipment, plus shipping. The Wine Garage also offers an “Intense Red” selection of massively concentrated and extracted wines, also six bottles six times per year for $125 per shipment, plus shipping.
The Wine Garage, located at 1020 Foothill Boulevard (Highway 29) in Calistoga, is open from 11 a.m. till 6:30 p.m. Monday thru Saturday and 11 a.m. till 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
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