If you pour it, they will come!

What a weekend we had at The Grind, from an unbelievable wine tasting to great music and a room full of TV stars. If you missed it, you were one of the few, because we had a couple standing room only nights.

Everly played again on Saturday, this time for a full hour, covering Tom Petty and singing some of their originals. Amber belted out Peter Gabriel’s “In your Eyes,” (great pipes!) and the boisterous crowd fell silent when the girls sang their signature (soon to be) hit “Home is Me, You Are Mine.” I truly believe this song will be getting major radio play before we know it. It is absolutely haunting, and shows the range these two have. If it doesn’t give you goose bumps, you aren’t alive!

Joy and Amber received a lot of support from the One Tree Hill cast and crew, with several co-stars, the creator and at least one editor coming out to hear them sing. A few of them seemed to enjoy our place, and one or two said they would be back. Hopefully, we will get Everly in here one more time to practice before their Nashville performance.

If you missed last week’s wine tasting, boy howdy did you miss a good one! Both parking lots were full, cars were lined up the street, and we were standing room only inside. I’m not sure if it was the wine, or the fudge, or both. But the crowd enjoyed the pairings, as we matched wines with different fudge flavors from Carolina Beach’s own Fudgeboat. An almond champagne, a fume blanc, a Syrah, cab and zin, and then wrapped it up with a sweet sparkler (matched with chocolate-covered strawberries). We ran out of fudge, and most of the wine, so I think it is safe to say the response was good.

Friday night, Dave and Jeremy rocked the house, and at the end of the evening, after the crowd had cleared out, Dave sat back down at the piano and serenaded us with a couple numbers. It was pretty cool. Saturday, before Everly played, Lou and John Garcia came in with a couple other gentlemen, calling themselves “Your Elected Officials,” and got the crowd warmed up for the girls. They rocked, and had the crowd wound up with “Keep Your Hands to Yourself” as Joy and Amber walked in the door.

Dave and Jeremy played Blackhorn Saturday night, so after we closed, we all went over and closed down Blackhorn. It was a very interesting evening, and there were several situations that caused me to exclaim, “This is why we close at eleven!” I can’t relate them all here without offending any number of people, so let’s just say I am glad we close at eleven.
This morning, I bought myself a new pry bar and small sledge hammer, as I prepare to tear into the walls in advance of kitchen construction. Wednesday, we will be in Raleigh for Sysco’s food trade show, getting more ideas and seeing new products. Chef Ed will be travelling with us, so the creative juices will be flowing.

Anyway, this week Billy, from Tryon, will be doing our tasting. He always has interesting wines (remember “The Other?”), so we are looking forward to Thursday. The big, bad Benmarco is also one of his, and we have nine bottles of this huge malbec blend. There will not be any more until next year’s release!

Our usual music will return Friday and Saturday (as far as we know!), and we will be fully stocked and ready to pour.

So, come on out to 2 Wine Guys @ The Grind, and let us pour you a glass.

Shawn

Gearing up at The Grind!

Drink ‘em if you got ‘em, because we have a lot to cover this week. From famous acts to kitchen construction, from new wines to a wine tasting in conjunction with The Fudgeboat, there is a lot of information to impart. A glass of wine may help. Or three.

Anyway, let’s start at the beginning. We received our construction schedule last week, and it appears we will be ready for a soft open at the beginning of May. Demolition starts next week, and we expect to have our grand opening on May 15 – which just so happens to be our one year anniversary. So, start the countdown, and go ahead and get your appetite fired up.

We had a good wine tasting Thursday, and then some special entertainment on Friday. Dave and Jeremy played (and they always sound great together), but during one of their breaks, a duo by the name of “Everly” got up and cranked out a few of their originals. They are preparing for a show in Nashville, so asked us if they could use The Grind for practice. You can check out their music here:

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You may recognize Joy, as she is about to enter her seventh season as one of the lead actors on “One Tree Hill.” She loves our place (yes, some actors have good taste!), and we love having her here. She and Amber have fantastic voices, and they got a great response from the audience. We told them they could practice here anytime they wanted.

Dave was back Saturday night, and had some enthusiastic fans, and there was a fair amount of wine flowing. We had walked in the Lo-Tide 5K earlier in the day, finishing almost last (although our walk did involve a pit stop at The Grind – wink, wink).

Even though the test kitchen was not open this week, Chef Ed did delight us with an amuse bouche, consisting of pumpernickel bread, bacon-infused cream cheese (yeah, go ahead and think about just that for a minute), a slice of green apple, and topped with his soon-to-be-famous “Three Mile Onion.” Susan did her annual German pot roast, which includes a gravy with ginger snaps. So we ate until we wanted to invade France. Fortunately, we were too full, so we drank their wine, instead.

As the week began, we found ourselves at Empire’s Wilmington wine show, tasting 31 wines before I decided my palate was amply coated. Susan and I participated in the Sommelier’s Challenge, which was a blind-tasting of six Rieslings. We had to try to identify numbered glasses against six AVA’s across the world. Susan, who rarely even tastes the whites, won the challenge, over about 12 or 13 other people. Even our reps got a kick out of that, because when they come to taste us on wine, she refers to the whites as “meatloaf.” I will let her explain that to you. After the tasting, we went to Caprice Bistro for some snails and steak frites, and a Sonoma pinot noir. Sorry, but after Willamette Valley, I find it hard to truly appreciate a pinot noir from any other region…the Oregonians seem to have mastered that temperamental little grape.

OK, now for the week ahead. I will be doing Thursday’s tasting, in association with our friends at The Fudgeboat in Carolina Beach (they are located on The Boardwalk, at the end of Harper Avenue). We will pair different chocolate treats with different wines, including an almond champagne, a fume blanc, a cab, a syrah and a zinfandel. This tasting will include some of our glass list favorites, so you will get to see how wines you may already enjoy pair with food. And if you haven’t tasted them, then you are about to find out why they are some of our customer favorites. This will really be a fun tasting, apart from simply being delicious…so, check it out!

As for inventory, The Other is back in, and we picked up a couple new cabs (really nice ones, in the mid-20 price range), as well as a new blend. We also replenished a lot of regular wines, as we have had a couple weeks of serious wine-drinkers in the shop.

So, the shelves are full, the weather is warming, and good food is on its way. Come on down to 2 Wine Guys @ The Grind and let us pour you a glass.

Shawn

Benmarco’s back, and there’s gonna be trouble…

Ah, Benmarco Expresivo, a beautiful blend of malbec, cab, syrah, petit verdot and tannat, has finally made it in to the shop. This once-a-year release showed me that I could like a malbec. Of course, as is typical with my taste, old Ben showed me that what I like is usually outside the scope of my budget.

But, being the giver that I am, I had to taste it to make sure it was up to par to serve to our customers. And what we found was the 2006 release is even better than the ’05. Wow! If you are in the market for liquid candy, and you don’t mind spending a little money, you will NOT be disappointed. Last year, we drank five of the six bottles we purchased, and only managed to sell one (and only as a matter of good timing on the customer’s part).

Speaking of good timing, Chamber of Commerce weather graced our little slice of paradise this past weekend, creating the perfect atmosphere for good music, and a lot of wine and beer consumption. In fact, it is currently about 80 degrees, and I am sitting on our spacious deck, sipping a glass of Rutherglen Red (a very popular blend of Shiraz and Petite Sirah, that we featured on our glass list last summer). My only regret at this point is my clothing choice, as jeans are a bit much for the weather. Maybe what I need is a good wardrobe malfunction!

Anyway, I apologize for that image, but this is good wine. Fruity and spicy, not unlike myself.

OK, back to the weekend. John, as always, put on a nice tasting. And The Grind was rocking both Friday and Saturday night, with 2 the Ninez kicking off the weekend and Dave and Lou wrapping up Saturday. Good crowds both nights enjoyed some great music (yes, Lou “Repunzel Hairpants” had actually practiced, but Dave still did most of the heavy lifting).

In the process, people drank us out of the Monkey Business, The Fugitive, and a few others, and, in a sure sign that summer is right around the corner, they also cleaned us out of Pinot Grigio and several beers.

Although we took a break from the test kitchen this week, we did talk a lot of food, and Chef Ed introduced us to his “Three Mile Onion,” which is essentially red onion picked with habanero, and for which we saw many, many possibilities. Several people expressed concerns that we would be so busy people would not be able to get a seat. I have a couple answers for that. One, is the French Laundry in Napa, which has a six month waiting list (but we won’t take reservations). The other is Freddie’s in Kure Beach, who always have people waiting for a table (in other words, you put out a good product, consistently, and offer good service, people will wait). But my favorite is what will be my motto…”come for lunch, stay for dinner.”

In other words, once you get a table, don’t give it up!

If only we have those problems.

In the meantime, we continue to build our wine list. We have some new good ones, some good old ones back in, and some we are trying to work out of the shop. I still have some Nouveau to get rid of, or else it becomes cooking wine. So, if you think you might be interested in a good deal, let me know…we’ll talk.

This week, Malli, our new Empire rep, will be hosting Thursday’s tasting, with an Oregon theme. She will be pouring two Pinot Noirs, a Pinot Gris, and two blends (a white and a red) from Sokol Blosser in Willamette.

Speaking of Willamette, Eric put a button on the front page of our blog that will take you to the entries about our trip to Oregon. If you have not read these, they will definitely give you a little more perspective into our love of the grape. If you have read them, well, they are worth reading again (if I do say so myself). But they are in order of most recent to least, so start at the bottom if you want the proper chronology. They can be found at www.2wineguysatthegrind.com.

As the season approaches, so, too, does the town’s efforts to collect revenues. That means the pay parking lot in front of The Grind will start receiving enforcement beginning on April 1, from 8am to 7pm. It is free after 7pm. We have some spots right in front of the building, as well as a small lot in the back. No one can waive parking tickets, not even the mayor.

OK, that is probably enough for now, as I have heard several smarmy comments about the length of my emails. So, come on down to 2 Wine Guys @ The Grind, and let us pour you a glass.

Shawn

Here's to your health (department)

We just got word from the New Hanover County Health Department that our kitchen plan is approved.

Whoo-hooo!

So much for time off...

This, that, and…The Other

OK, before I get started with food, wine and the general merriment that is The Grind, I have a special announcement. As luck would have it, for the second time this year, “2 the Ninez” are going to rock our little tree house. Yes, Friday night, we will get to hear the soulful sounds of this fantastic Raleigh duo. Be here or be queer. Or, be here even if you’re queer, or straight, or just not sure.
Or something like that.

Anyway, we had a great tasting last week, including two big hits from the Peirano family. The winemaker’s blend, “The Other” sold out halfway through the tasting, and the Petite Sirah sold out over the weekend. Both wines will be back in stock Friday, and it is likely they will become part of our list.

Jeremy and Dave played to a full house Friday, and Dave played to a good crowd Saturday. They drank all of our Eberle Syrah, The Girls, the Layercake Malbec and a few others. But, have no fear, these selections – and a few old favorites – will be back on the shelves by the weekend.

We had a busy weekend in The Grind’s test kitchen, gearing up for a summer of food. Susan stuffed strawberries with cream cheese, powdered sugar, almond extract and sliced almonds, then drizzled chocolate over the top. Go ahead, think about that for a minute…I’ll wait.

Good? Check your chin for drool before continuing. I played around with some more “Finnerty Flatbreads,” a few variations of quesadillas (including a vegetarian blend topped with tamarind sauce, that our green friend dubbed delicious), and a crabmeat and brie quiche. I also did a quesadilla with tilapia and Muenster, topped with a chipotle/chorizo mayo that was outrageous. Our friend Ed suggested drizzling a little roasted red pepper coulis over the top, for presentation and flavor. And, since he was trained at Johnson & Wales, and interned at a little New Orleans restaurant called “Emeril’s,” I thought I would give it a try. And it was good. And pretty.

There were so many other things coming out of the kitchen, but I guess we should leave some mystery, eh? We are hoping the Health Department will sign off on our plan this week, and then we can finally begin construction!

Things did not slow down after Sunday, as we spent Monday at Tryon’s trade show (following an amazing lunch at Cornerstone Bistro in Porter’s Neck – definitely worth the drive!). I don’t know how many distributors were represented at Tryon’s show; I only know that after 32 wines my notes become considerably less descriptive. We went over to Circa after, and had a bottle of the David Bruce Petite Sirah, just for good measure.
Tuesday, we went to Wrightsville for Southern Foods’ trade show. We spent a couple hours tasting samples of everything from pasta to bison, cheese to gelato, baklava to cake. We had stopped at an Italian bakery in Wilmington and an Italian deli in Wrightsville on our way to the show, to look at some dessert options for the shop. So, needless to say, we did not need to cook dinner last night.

Thursday, our friend John, from Turner Wine Imports, will be hosting our tasting. Remember “The Fugitive”? That is one of his, introduced at a previous tasting. He will have some interesting wines this week, too, so don’t miss it.

As I said, Friday is 2 the Ninez, and Dave returns Saturday, so make it a point to groove on down to 2 Wine Guys @ The Grind, and let us pour you a glass.

Shawn