Purple Cafe & Wine Bar, Seattle Wine Tasting
I visited the Seattle location of Purple Cafe & Wine Bar on a hot weekday afternoon, intent on trying the wine program. Upon entering, I was drawn to the unavoidable vision of the immense wine tower in the center of the restaurant and bar. Hundreds of bottles surrounded the cylindrical tower, wrapped by a spiral staircase leading to the upper level. Floor to ceiling windows brought full lighting and color to the centerpiece, making it even more spectacular.
The wine list, while close to one-hundred pages, is not your typical volume. A selection of aperitifs, and why you want to drink them, precedes "brewed liquids" and almost thirty wine flight options. From simple descriptions (Rose, Spain) to clever, (Acid Freaks, Earth) there is a trio of wines to please any taste. Next are in-depth sections on Madeira and Sherry, with accompanying flights. Sixty wines by the glass from all over the world (Slovenia?) are available, and they are happy to provide a taste of any of these. Then comes the long list of bottles, with explanations of style and particular wines that are both informational and entertaining. "We were going to wait until they were old enough to drive, but we figured most of us got our learner's permit around this age" says the introduction to the trio of E. Guigal Cote Rotie 2000s. There is not a corkage charge on the first bottle, and most of the bottles are available for "retail sale" at forty-percent off the list price.
I enjoyed two flights of reds from France and Spain, while snacking on Gorgonzola-Stuffed Dates and Baked Brie. The pours were generous and full. Brief description cards helped identify the wines, but did not provide tasting notes that would affect my expectations of what I should taste. My server brought two additional red wines that she described as staff picks for the foods. This leads to another note on the wine list: "Every dish on our menu has been paired through a daily collaboration between our chefs and sommeliers." The staff was fully prepped and ready to recommend a wine for any dish on the menu.
Service was excellent throughout, and observant. At one point, the sun began to shine through the window on my table, immediately increasing heat and glare. No more than a moment later, the blinds to that window were being closed. My server checked on me and asked if I would be comfortable enough to remain at that table.
Purple is a different kind of wine bar, offering complete wine tasting experiences, for beginners to world explorers. I could easily see myself becoming a regular visitor, working my way round and around the globe, a glass at a time.
Purple Cafe & Wine Bar - 1225 4th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101
Brian McClintic, Master Sommelier And Much More
Master Sommelier. Vallin winemaker. SOMM Film Star. Les Marchands Wine Bar owner. Brian McClintic shared some of his experiences from all aspects of his busy schedule.
What was it like having a camera in your face while studying for the master sommelier exam?
I think it impacted me positively. The Master Sommelier test is very social. The tasting is with a panel. Service is obviously social. The theory test is oral. You’re walking around with so much information in your head, a lot of people become socially awkward. The film forced me to come out of my shell, to lighten up and stay loose, and be the best version of myself. I was able to stay outside myself, to not get lost in myself.
how do you drink your way through a calendar packed with wine projects?
I cry myself to sleep every night?! Really, they just flow into each other. We were already making wine, and it all happened at once after the movie in a whirlwind. It’s ironic, wine is to celebrate, it’s social. It’s not like coffee, not a shot of espresso and go about your day. With wine we take our time. My day is not like that. Imagine if your job was eating just your favorite food. Now imagine if I asked you to start eating it twice a day. And you love steak. You wouldn’t be able to do that very long, not without throwing a salad in. I’m tasting wines constantly. Your palate can only take so much. But I love what I do. I remind myself at the end of the day that it’s just wine.
What wines were difference-makers for you?
As for ah-ha wines, there was never one, but there were several stages along the way. I was working at a steakhouse, and it was all about Napa Cab. From five to five-hundred-dollars. That’s where I learned to taste the difference. But then a guest would ask about our tiny French section, and I would think, “Bordeaux, is that a grape or a section? How do you pronounce these things?” So one night I splurged. I bought an eighty-five Pomerol, and took it to a friend who would know, and it was like, “Oh!” The smells and tastes were like nothing I knew. That was my new to old world intro. At a certain point you experience Burgundy, and at first you think, “It’s thin and soft, it smells light. Why is everyone going crazy for this?” I was working at the Little Nell in Aspen, and had my first Grand Cru Burgundy. That was when I got Burgundy. After that, going back to Napa Cab...they seemed unctuous, over the top. If it were just me, ninety-percent of what I drink would be whites.
what do people need to know about santa barbara wine?
Oh, I could talk forever. So there’s the new world of wine, it’s still in it’s infancy. In the old world, monks have been making wine over the course of centuries. Santa Barbara was only planted in seventy-one, so it’s very young. All of California, really, are like infants playing in a sandbox. Just highly gifted, intelligent infants. It’s the old world we learn from and give credit to, and we’ve come far very quickly. But do we know what grows best where? No, not until we know what is best viticulturally. Santa Barbara is a geographic anomaly. San Francisco area is great, cellar temperature year-round. Santa Barbara has the coolest, longest growing season in the valley. It allows us to plant grapes that ripen, but grow over a longer period of time. But it’s branded for tourism. You say “Napa” or “Sonoma” you immediately think wine. You say “Paso Robles”, you think wine. You say “Santa Barbara”, you think palm trees, sun, beaches, and bikinis, not wine. Everyone asks, “How can we change it?” I say, “Don’t! Stay out of the spotlight while we figure it out.” Maybe Gruner Veltliner is perfect for growing, but Pinot Noir is the most marketable. Now there are progressive growers who choose to plant what’s best, not what is most marketable. There are makers who want to work with Gruner Veltliner and others like it. And there are drinkers who want to try Gruner Veltliner, that are more open than ever. I like to say Santa Barbara has unlimited potential.
On winemaking and service
Vallin was not started to be a money-maker. It was to keep four guys connected together. But once we started, we decided, “OK, we’re going to do some serious wine.” Lots of somms make wine, put juice in a bottle, put a label on it, we’re not doing that. We said, “So Syrah is not the most marketable wine. Syrah is a world-class grape, let’s get behind it.” Northern Rhone is the heart of Syrah, and we made it our focal point. We were in Burgundy, drinking Jamet Cote Rotie. Let that sink in. Vallin was on the label, we liked how it looked on the label. We researched and found it was a street name, then went further and found it was actually a surname. Vallin means valley dwellers, from people that originally settled the Rhone valley. We said, “That’s cool and simple, let’s go with it.” It’s exciting to see three years later, we sold out of the ‘twelve, and are just waiting for the ‘thirteen in the barrel to be ready to bottle.
Brian exams the well-stocked shelves at Les Marchands
Service for a sommelier is different than any other service. The court teaches specific standards of service, so that if the Queen of England asks you to do a wine service, you could deliver that. It’s very technically precise. With staff, it’s different. You take the clientele, the concept, into account. Les Marchands is not buttoned-up like formal fine dining. We’re very warm and approachable, and technically proficient. Usually it is one of these, but not both. This is without being stuffy or pretentious. We size up each guest. We tailor service to each guest, it’s all about how we meet them where they are. Michael Jordan, the sommelier not the basketball player, is a master sommelier and my mentor. He said, “It’s not how much you know, it’s how much you care.” That’s something that has stuck with me, so simple but so powerful. We guess where guests are at, and think how can we meet them there. Invariably every night there is one guest you could have done something better. And being attuned to the needs of others is something applicable to every area of life.
expect to experiment at Les Marchands wine bar & merchant, santa barbara
Most people look at our by the glass list and say, “What language is this?” But then we pour them a tasting and they’re in. We’ve found that “yeah, I’ll try it” makes up about ninety-percent of our clientele. When we originally told our investors we wanted mostly lesser-known European varietals on the list, they said, “Are you crazy?!” But these are balanced out by the local wines. There are tremendous values from strange places. Not just to be strange, but good, high-level wines. But they're not marketed, so they’re way underpriced.
What Brian described here played out in my experience at Les Marchands. Several staffers combined to accommodate my group's requests with recommendations that were right on target, and there were many unfamiliar wines available for tasting, along with attractive pricing. Wines by the glass change frequently, allowing for an ongoing educational process for those fortunate enough to be regular patrons.
Les Marchands Wine Bar & Merchants
Tasting Experience At Les Marchands Wine Bar & Merchant
After an impassioned pitch from Brian McClintic of SOMM fame, I was more than eager to visit Les Marchands, his Santa Barbara Funk Zone wine bar. On a pleasant Friday evening in January, the bar was already bustling, and my group of four tested out the adaptability of his staff.
I loved the space, with partially roughed-out walls blending right into refined areas with floor to ceiling wine racks. We sat at a corner table directly adjacent to the end of the bar, where we never felt crowded or over-stimulated by the activity around us. I laid out my desire to taste several wines with my wife, while our companions would have only a glass, and asked for suggestions. There was not a tasting on the menu that night, but our initial server confirmed what I was looking for, and assured us that it could be arranged. Soon, a second server arrived. Based on a series of questions, she recommended six wines between the by-the-glass menu and specials board in the bar. My friends chose their glass from her descriptions that followed.
- Terre Des Chardons Marginal Grenache 2011 - What became my overall favorite. A great funky nose, then red berries and roundness. $43
- Calabretta Cala Cala Nerello Mascalese NV - My favorite that night was tannic and tart, with several layers and a long finish. $29
- Catherine et Pierre Breton Trinch! Cabernet Franc 2013 - Grassy, followed by earth, with a sweet finish. $33
- Bellus Girasole Sangiovese 2010 - Petroleum on the nose, then peppery, dirty, and mouth-drying. $31
- Ojai Vineyards John Sebastiano Syrah/Grenache 2013 - From Santa Barbara County. $46
- Star Lane Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 - From Happy Lane, CA. $46
I inquired of our server about the wine clubs and shipping availability, and another staff member came to escort me to the wine market. He took considerable time to answer my questions about the current inventory and how the clubs work, while addressing numerable questions and requests from staff. The mission of helping customers to discover unknown wines was highlighted. We were discussing Cote Rotie. He described how, if my orders make clear I am a fan of Cote Rotie, or Northern Rhone, or Syrah in general, that Brian and the staff will recognize and use this knowledge to customize future shipments. However, this will not eliminate the encouragement of new experiences, as there will still be the unexpected bottles. I am certain that patrons of the wine bar and club members may be accustomed to hearing, "trust me", from the staff, and pleasantly surprised by the outcome.
There were slight transitional delays in service. I would like to have heard more about the Vallin project Brian is involved in. Perhaps the omission was due to lack of supply of the popular new wines. There was over-sell on the ramen bowl special, a new feature which was suggested four times, even though I stated from the beginning we were only drinking wine.
Four total staff members combined for a complete service experience, accommodating all requests, including the unscheduled, impromptu wine tasting, and answering all questions. Overall, I was pleased with adequate service, and exhilarated by the wines and the discussion of them with several staff members who "got it". I would become a fixture of Les Marchands should I spend regular time in Santa Barbara.
Les Marchands Wine Bar & Merchant
Suite B, 131 Anacapa St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101