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Dining Delights
Wine Shop offers a taste of the world
By Margo Oxendine, Staff Writer
 | | David LeMay, far left, ponders the selections, while Allyson Alexander, Cathy and Meade Snyder enjoy the sparkling wine tasting at The Wine Shop in Hot Springs last Friday. |
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HOT SPRINGS - Dining without wine can fall short of delightful.
Here in the hinterlands, we relish our remoteness from the traffic and turmoil of urban life. Yet, if we want a good bottle of wine, we probably won't find it at the local grocery.
Take Highland County, for instance. A friend in Monterey is having a party this weekend. She sent a plaintive email: "Please, buy me some decent wine for the party! I'll pay $20 or $30 a bottle."
The seven wines I found were more than decent, and less than $15 a bottle.
That's because we are fortunate in Bath County to have The Wine Shop in Hot Springs. If you're a guest, or the host, for dinner, this is where you'll find the wines to make it a dining delight.
Last Friday night, The Wine Shop offered a tasting of sparkling wines from around the world. The first thing Rob Crittenden, owner of Roanoke Valley Wine Co., told tasters was this: All champagne is sparkling, but all sparkling wine is not champagne. True champagne comes from - you guessed it - the Champagne region of France.
 | | Rob Crittenden of Roanoke Valley Wine Distributors explains the delights of the French wine St. Hilaire Brut, which could perhaps be the first of the world's sparkling wines. In the background is Crittenden's associate, Ben Ferreira, who hails from Epernay, France, in the Champagne region. (Recorder photos by Margo Oxendine) |
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Because the United States is somewhat lax on the restrictions France tries to enforce in the rest of the world, our sparkling wines from, say, California, are welcome to advertise themselves as "champagne." The French can only shrug their shoulders and mutter, "Mon Dieu!"
The seven sparkling wines tasted Friday included bottles from Italy, Spain, Tasmania, California, and three from France. Of those, just one, Michel Arnould et Fils Brut, could be billed as "champagne." They ranged in price from $9.99 to $37.99 per bottle.
That price range is indicative of what one will find at The Wine Shop in Hot Springs. There are wines that are quite costly, and there are racks of "Terrific Tens" - all sorts of tasty delights from around the world for $10.99 and under.
 | | Calvert and Ted Armbrecht Sr., owners of The Wine Shop in Hot Springs, made knowledgeable selections from the seven sparkling wines offered at the tasting. Their son, Ted Jr., is managing partner of the shop. (Recorder photo by Margo ) |
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"Anybody who thinks you can't get a good wine for under $10 are crazy," says Carole Murillo, manager of the shop. "There's something here for every taste, every budget."
Regardless of how knowledgeable the tasters were about wines, Crittenden, a major distributor in the region, imparted a fascinating tidbit that surely surprised.
The second wine tasted was one with which many are familiar: St. Hilaire Brut. It is growing in popularity - crisp, clean and bright - yet just $13.99 a bottle at the shop.
Turns out, St. Hilaire is the great-grandfather of sparkling wines - the very first to be bottled and sold. It was also the first to be imported to America. Who was that importer? Well, none other than Thomas Jefferson.
According to Crittenden, Jefferson fell under the spell of St. Hilaire while an ambassador in France, and didn't want to live without it in the hills of Virginia. He brought back as much, probably, as his ship could carry. When Jefferson died, 49 bottles of St. Hilaire were still in his cellar.
Ben Ferreira of Epernay, France - in the Champagne region - is Crittenden's debonair, savvy associate at Roanoke Valley Wine Co. (www.rvwc.com). He explained some secrets of champagne and other sparkling wines.
The first thing you should know, if you don't already, is that the price is not relative to the quality level. Major brands such as Dom Perignon and Veuve Cliquot - two of the most costly on the market - are also marketing giants, with slick, grand advertising campaigns. Dom Perignon, which The Wine Shop sells for $180 a bottle, might be the first wine that comes to mind when a major celebration is in order. Yet, in a taste test, it may fare no better than the Arnould, which costs less than $40.
Another tip: There's a small legend on each bottle denoting whether the grapes used come from the grower-winemaker himself (RM); from a cooperative (CM), which grows grapes for many makers; or, from a maker who negotiates (NM) for whatever grapes he may use. Makers such as Dom Perignon, which sells about 300,000 cases of product annually, are NM; thus, the cost per bottle can rise about 11 percent. The Arnould champagne, by the way, is made from the maker's own grapes.
There's so much to know and to learn about wines, it can be daunting. But the most important thing to know is one's personal preferences: Sweet? Dry? Sparkling? Still? Red? White? Rose?
Carole Murillo, who's been at The Wine Shop since it opened in November 2005, admits, "I was very intimidated when I started this job, but I just keep learning. And the more I learn, the more I want to know. Wine is very exciting."
The managing partner, Ted Armbrecht Jr., has owned a wine shop in Charleston, W.Va.'s Capitol Market for about 10 years. His parents, Ted Sr. and Calvert, are co-owners of The Wine Shop.
At the tasting Friday, Ted Sr. noted, "What we'd really like to happen here is, people who come in for the weekend will buy wine here and bring it home, rather than just buy what they need for the weekend."
There are several incentives to do this. First is the friendly, knowledgeable staff, Carole Murillo, Keene Byrd, Mary Miller, and Victor Murillo. They provide personal service of the caliber not found in big-city wine shops. They get to know their customers - often after just one visit - and they know what each customer prefers.
"People always come in here and ask, What's good?" notes shop manager Murillo. "I always reply, What do you like?"
Here's another advantageous thing about The Wine Shop: If you buy a wine with which you're unfamiliar, and you don't like it, you can return the bottle and get something that better suits your taste.
The shop also offers a frequentbuyer discount that's hard to beat: For every $100 spent, the buyer earns a 10 percent credit toward future purchases. For instance, someone who spent $200 on a case of wine after the tasting last week could go back tomorrow and buy that supremely tasty Arnould champagne for just $17.99.
The Wine Shop is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Whether you want an eight-dollar red that goes well with barbecue, or a bottle of something sparkly for the holidays, you'll find it, right here in Hot Springs.
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