Wine and Austin Whole Foods

If you're looking for the previous post in this space, I removed it. While there's another post  in the future (on the more general topic of where Whole Foods stands in relation to wine) my original structure and words terribly muddied my message, so much so that people I thought I had praised, viewed themselves as bashed. Not pretty. Nothing could have been further from my truth. I don't mind when my blog gets me in trouble because of something I believe in, but it's another matter entirely when I get into hot water unintentionally. And and so with the benefit of a few days and enriched clarity, here is the post as it should have been written.

I was thrilled that the Texas Wine & Food foundation brought me down and that  Devon Broglie and his staff at the wine department of Whole Foods said, "We'll take her!" 

Having a backer like Whole Foods has always been a dream for me. There were a fair number of visitors. Conversations were intense. The public was open and curious.  In the middle of the tasting, Devon and I shared a few sips (Pinon Vouvray, Silex 2009, Coquelet 2010) where he  he fessed up, "I'm on the twenty- year plan here."

He  knows that change happens at a slower pace than certain impatient red heads would like. But still without the twenty-year plan, what they have right now in Austin is already commendable.  People cramming their wine bar at 1pm on a Sunday afternoon. All over the wine department, shoppers were drinking and sampling wines at different stations. Those who came over to the Naked Wine stand almost always left with a bottle of wine (Wine of the day, hands down; $23 for the Montesecondo Chianti Classico 2007.). However, my moles nationwide, from other Whole Foods have told me that they fear Whole Foods when it comes to wine is headed to more industrial instead of natural, and if this is true, I beseech the company to utilize their talent within their ranks, such as Melanie Mann in New York and Devon in Austin. Whole Foods should become a leader here, and maybe with the proper coaxing, we'll see it to fruition.

And there you have it. The Texans have a lot to teach this little old Northerner, and I hope they'll find I'm a willing and eager student.  So, to Devon from Whole Foods and Marshall Jones at the Foundation here's a big hug your way, with deep gratitude.--Alice

 

Comments

[OldOriginalNick]

You could say the exact same thing about most of the supposed Organic, Vegetarian, and Vegan restaurants out there, even here in NYC. They think they have natural wines, they just don't understand the difference. Even the vegan restaurants think their wines are all vegan, and they're not even all organic! (Almost all natural wines, being unfined and unfiltered, are vegan) And the customers, for the most part, don't care either, in my experience.

[Alicefeiring]

But some customers do care, I saw many of them on Sunday.

[Alicefeiring]

(This in from a Reader in Kentucky)

I read your blog regarding the WF Austin experience. Distributors definitely hold the cards. Since I read your first book, I've asked my local wine shop to try to get different wines and despite their efforts, all I can really still get is Eyrie and Montinore. Good stuff, but not enough stuff. If their distributors won't stock it, it's tough to change the paradigm.

I have close friends who are totally into natural foods, have their own chickens, grow herbs, buy only local farmers market produce, and prior to your books, hadn't thought of any contradiction with drinking Bogle (I wanted to say Yellow Tail, but I don't think they were ever at that level.)

I read a very sad thing on another blog (sorry). If consumers don't ask for natural wines, some of the grape varieties themselves will actually cease to exist. That strikes a hard chord.

Bob W. (Cave City, Kentucky)