Episode 20 - orange you glad i didn't sing run for the roses

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Andy Pates: 00:01

Hello, and welcome to Samples for Monday, 05/11/2026. Happy belated Mother's Day. If you are one, if you have one, if you had one, if you know one, moms, thank you for all you do. Happy belated birthday to super Jessica. Hope you had a good relaxing one.

Andy Pates: 00:25

Drank some Natty Light. Had some carbonic Zinfandel from Your Own Creation and listened to some David Allen Co. This is a busy week starting off with the PM Spirits, the seminar with Lalo and Jason Cox. Really happy to be working with those folks and the PM Spirits and David locally. As we discussed many times, this is a growing and important category.

Andy Pates: 00:58

I think rum is finding its way. The caboose is, picking up speed in terms of spirits and, you know, we certainly have a growing and thoughtful, selection. So I'm I'm looking forward to learning more about that and tasting through, you know, these incredible artisanal beverages. So thanks for everyone's help with the seminar, attention, attendance, follow-up, execution. I do want to talk a little bit about wine and with Washington State still fresh on everyone's palates.

Andy Pates: 01:34

I think maybe the Royal City Syrah like stopped finishing on my palate probably like Saturday morning, but, it's pretty obvious that Charles knows what he's doing in terms of making not only wines of place and with Syrah really leading the way, but you know obviously in terms of the the marketing and the communication and his position in the in the marketplace and reputation and all of the success and accolades, I I do think as discussed many times, do think we have great potential with that supplier and brand and people involved. But I related to that in Washington State, you know, we as discussed in meetings and in in in in probably on this podcast, you know, we have the really strong Oregon Washington connection. And, you know, David O'Reilly, is is is one of our biggest suppliers. And, you know, Joe Swick trained under David. He trained under David and Peter Rosbach before going out on his own.

Andy Pates: 02:47

And I think that the Swick wines deserve your attention and certainly sampling. You know, it's a producer that he's living in Portland and also in San Francisco with with the Bay Area with his partner. He's sourcing top vineyards from Washington and Oregon and in the Gorge which is really sort of the the gateway to Washington and Walla Walla Valley. One of the most beautiful, drives in North America. If you ever have the opportunity to drive from Portland to Walla Walla through the gorge, it is absolutely breathtaking and you go through the Hood River Valley and you really see, you can just see going from almost a rainforest into a high plains desert.

Andy Pates: 03:44

It's I I highly recommend it if anyone, is able to do that. The flight actually from Portland or Seattle to Walla Walla is more expensive than the flight from Chicago to either of those cities. So the drive, if you have the time, it's not only economical, but it is gorgeous. It just makes you really seem, I don't I don't know. It's just I'll stop rambling about it.

Andy Pates: 04:13

It's, it's something that everyone should do. It's like visiting the Grand Canyon or going to Zion or going to I don't know what that to take the train along in the Canadian Rockies. That's on my bucket list. I haven't done that yet. But anyway, so Joe Swick who trained under David O'Reilly and Peter Rosbach, You know, he's making a wine that's an homage to what he learned with David.

Andy Pates: 04:41

You know, David one of David O'Reilly's most famous wines, one of our top sellers is the Abbott's Table, which is a blend and it's not really a kitchen sink blend but you know depending on what they're working with it's variety based and then you know there's other you know, depending on what's available in the cellar or what what what David wanted to make that was just a a delicious table wine. You know, Joe is doing that now with Bring It. And Joe is, you know, he I would say is one of the low intervention, you know, dare I say natural wine producers. He started making a lot of no sulfur wine, received a lot of acclaim for that in the genre and at the time. And then I think he just became a little bit, I mean to quote him, he just became a little bit bored with a lot of the wines that were like so carbonic or so macerated or just, you know, so exaggerative in their flavor profile and I think that's what attracts a lot of young people to natural wine is the exaggeration.

Andy Pates: 05:56

I mean, my my path into wine I I, you know, way back in the day was those exaggerated flavors but it wasn't carbonic and volatile acidity. It was, you know, concentration of fruit and lavage with oak and you know it was more of a new world palette than that later turned into an old world palette. But in terms of natural wine with young people which are, let's be honest, saving the industry right now in terms of categorical drinking. Joe decided to dial in his wine making a little bit more. He wanted to make cleaner wines, less problematic wines, more consistent wines and so he did, add a little bit of sulfur at bottling and in some cases during the winemaking to dial it in.

Andy Pates: 06:48

But I think when you taste these wines, they have low levels of sulfur. They're very energetic and expressive. They have a quicker evolution, which I think is a sign of a natural wine where the curve of evolution is like, you know, big rise sort of a big fall. There's some of the great natural wines in the world that certainly aged just like any classical longer Elavage higher sulfur wine. But I think for the most part a lot of the glue glue or immediate gratification, know, these wines have a let's just say a shorter drinking window.

Andy Pates: 07:24

And through adding a little bit of sulfur and having a longer elavage and just you know dialing in with the vineyards and working longer with the growers in the vineyards. I think he's making low intervention wine, certainly can show his wines at all the natural wine fairs around the world. But he's also making wines that can, you know, be sold to a clientele that doesn't wanna have that conversation or doesn't know about it. They just want delicious wine that's energetic, that, is digestible and drinkable and isn't going to, you know, make them feel incredibly hungover or incredibly allergic or sick. But, you know, I talked about that a little bit at the meeting on Friday.

Andy Pates: 08:09

So I would like to see more participation in Joe Swick in terms of sampling and presentation and sales. So, you know, a few of the wines. If you if we look at that go come back a little bit and and we think about, you know, is is is Rose the new orange? I mean, certainly, if you look at our sales over the past rolling 12, our rose sales are about 870,000 and the year before that in a rolling 12 from, you know, this month going back twelve months, 870,000 and the year before that 775,000. So that's a pretty decent increase in terms of rose.

Andy Pates: 08:56

And I think we've figured out the rose game. Buy less, price it accordingly, discount when you have a vertical and eventually that freshness premium price will fade and and will be current with the vintage. So, that strategy is certainly working. On the orange wine side or the mass excuse me, the maceration side, the last twelve months rolling backwards, we sold about 440,000 of, you know, so called orange wine. And the year before that, it was about 410.

Andy Pates: 09:34

So I guess more or less flat depending on outages. So you can see for us at least orange is is, you know, pretty flat, which I guess is the new up all things considered, but the rose is is on a growth curve. So what is what is your rose world looking like this May and spring as we as we get into summer, you know, a couple weeks it's gonna be Memorial Day and then summer will officially be here. So definitely make sure that you have the rose well presented, the offerings, accounted for and everything sort of dialed in. The last of the older vintages that are on sale will be dribbling out and then the new fresher appropriately priced wines will be coming in.

Andy Pates: 10:21

So what is your rose world looking like? I think orange wine is a year round thing. I think rose does have seasonality to it as we discussed. But as far as Swick, going back to Swick, the flood, the most popular wine, which is this macerated wine, that will be coming back later in the summer. We do have only Zul, which, you know, Joe is saying that is sort of it's his rose meets orange or orange meets rose because, you know, it's starting to have less of that, dark rose color from the macerated Pinot Gris and to have more of a the aesthetic in the glass of being an orange wine.

Andy Pates: 11:04

So I think that that's one that can be presented to both sides. It will certainly you know, most wine lists will have a rose orange section, which is cool. And I think that only Zool, is something that can show up on that. We have you'll see the new vintage of only Zool on orders, so don't be alarmed with the three and a half cases of the 20 I believe twenty twenty three that we have in stock, the twenty twenty four, there'll be a 14 cases of that ordered soon. And then also with SWIC on the classical side, you know, there certainly is the new vintage of Pinot Noir, which is, you know, it says the Swick name on it.

Andy Pates: 11:44

It doesn't have the the the clever, the fun scripted labels. You know, Joe said for the original wines that he made in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, he wanted to put his name on there. So when you see Swick on the Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, you know, it is is I would say is made more in a classical safer way, but, you know, he still does, like I said, make those wines that that have that that energy and that, I don't know, that natural feel to them. So you can sell those broad market. We have great supply.

Andy Pates: 12:21

And then the Chardeau will be coming back a little bit later in the, let's say, early summer along with the flood. Another wine that I think has universal appeal, especially in Chicago, is the Cabernet Sauvignon. He's making a throwback style, an old school style where the feel is a lower alcohol. The fruits are more red. It's not so much of this, like, jammy, inky, oaky, sloppy, goopy wine.

Andy Pates: 12:54

And I think he's achieving that with doing a semi carbonic and whole cluster as part of the blend. So, you know, I think probably 30% or maybe one third of that wine has some whole cluster and that's gonna give it that sort of like lifted middle. But if you haven't tasted the Cabernet Sauvignon from Swick, I highly encourage you to sample that this week and and sell it broad broad market. And then, of course, and speaking of pop, we do have the macerated city pop pet nat. Now that came in fifteen days ago, not a single sample.

Andy Pates: 13:40

Say say homage team, you gotta, like, get on that. So I think for sparkling wine, orange wine, macerated wine, natural wine, city pop, would be super fun. And so I'd like to see some sampling of that this week. So, that's all I got. Joe Swick, he is currently one of the foundational members of our Pacific Northwest portfolio.

Andy Pates: 14:13

I think he makes delicious wine. I enjoy his company when he comes to town. He does wanna come back at some point. I've been holding off on market visits as much as I can just given everything that's going on, but it would be great to have him back. So I wanna see some Swick samples.

Andy Pates: 14:29

I want you to tell that David O'Reilly connection story when you present Bring It. You can certainly do a lot of Ghostbusters references with only Zul, city pop, Pinot, Cabernet Sauvignon, old school style, classical Pinot Noir, and then, of course, wine and keg. And then if you wanna get freaky with pools and egg egg aligote and egg sauvignon, etcetera, etcetera. So, have a good week. I'll see everyone at the seminar and picking up checks.

Andy Pates: 15:06

I won't I'll spare you, singing it to Ghostbusters with the only Zul reference. So have a great week. Cheers.