Size Matters: Big Adventures in Wine Country--Sheldon Wines

The first in my small series on microwineries, Sheldon Wines of Santa Rosa, California is the perfect example of the adventurous spirit required to make wine!  Meet husband-wife team Tobe and Dylan Sheldon, in the middle of their adventure of a lifetime.  These stories will focus on wine, but will also focus on the stories behind the wine…on the people making wine happen.  

Size Matters:  Big Adventures in Wine Country--Sheldon Wines

To say wine making came naturally to Dylan Sheldon would be an understatement.  

At the tender age of seven, he harvested his first grapes. 

 

Deciding he was a bit cash poor, he picked red and white grapes along the side of the road.  Keeping the reds separate from the whites, Dylan crushed the grapes.  Tasting the juice, he thought it was incredibly tart.  He added sugar and left the juice to ferment.  He did some research at the grocery store and found the proper spelling for the wine words he wanted:  Burgundy and Chablis. 

 

He went back home to check on his product before its release.  Dylan’s roadside wine stand had “Burgundy” and “Chablis” for sale at twenty-five cents a glass. 

His first customer rolled up to the stand, stepped out of his car, and started chuckling pleasantly.  Curious if Dylan’s parents (who weren’t big wine drinkers at the time) put the boy up to this, the customer laughed even harder at Dylan’s honest no.  The response was a full dollar for the glass of wine and a lasting impression in Dylan’s mind that people who drank wine were nice.

Dylan’s "official" wine-making adventure started in 2003, the year he and his equally daring wife Tobe made their first wine under the Sheldon label.  This was a match set in wine-making heaven, as Tobe and Dylan found their own passion for life, and wine, reflected in each other. 

Tobe explained their relationship best:  “We leap into business ventures with the same enthusiasm that we leap out of airplanes or off cliffs. For good or ill, Dylan and I are very passionate people, we are inspired to create; be it wine, food, music, prose, or a new tool that will aid production. We are makers and doers.”

At first, the two split their business responsibilities almost fifty-fifty—doing nearly equal work making and marketing their wine.  However, each individual’s prowess began to show through.

 

Today, Dylan does more of the wine making part of Sheldon Wines.  As proven with that first vintage at age seven, Dylan is a very intuitive winemaker.  Being very scent and taste driven, he remembers nearly everything he has tasted.  This gives him a very unique way to connect the vineyard to the barrel to the bottle.

He listens to each vintage and knows what those yearly differences will mean in the cellar.  He adjusts to these changes so he can “coax the best possible” wine out of his fruit.  Dylan embraces the dynamic nature of wine as part of the adventure, and instead of fighting it, he adapts to it and uses it to his advantage, which is, perhaps, one of the most important talents in the wine business. 

While Dylan is channeling his passion into the grapes, Tobe does more of the winery operation and marketing of Sheldon wines.  Her talents lie in artistic ventures like writing.  She welcomes guests to the tasting room while focusing on sales…not to mention the piles, and piles, and piles of state and federal paperwork to sell wines in both in-state and out-of-state markets.

 

Together, they believe that good wine making starts in the vineyard by doing the right thing, “or maybe even before that with the intention of the owner, grower…a synergistic desire for balance and integrity.” 

They source fruits from vineyards to which they are attracted based on several factors.  The first focus is sustainability, shown through organic farming.  Next is the site itself; it must be unique in its soil, slope, and sun.  Then, the vineyard must be exciting to the Sheldons.  Finally, the people connected to the vineyard must be “good” people. 

Dylan and Tobe work with small vineyards, usually just one to two acres.  They have full control over how the vineyards are treated, from farming to harvest.  Often times they do all of the work; other instances they may just consult on the site but never actually “get dirty.”  No matter the case, the only person who has more say in the final fruit than they do is Mother Nature.

These small vineyards have allowed Sheldon Wines to produce some very unique selections from equally unique grapes.  Sheldon and Tobe were influenced by their time in the southern Rhone Valley of France.  They often make wines that have “high aromatics, acid, and sass.”

The list of wines past is quite long:  old vine Chardonnay, Viognier, Rousanne, Marsanne, Grenache Blanc, Grenache rosé, Tempranillo, Tempranillo rosé, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Malbec, Merlot, and Gewurtztraminer. 

 

Current wines in the bottle or barrel are equally as distinctive:  Grenache Blanc, Grenache, Pinot Noir, Vinolocity (Grenache), Red Hat (Petite Sirah-Cabernet Sauvignon blend), Cabernet Sauvignon, Graciano, Syrah, Tempranillo, Brut Rosé (Tempranillo), Viognier, Mourvedre, and port (Syrah). 

True to the microwinery label, all of these wines are small-lot productions.  Some of them are part of Sheldons’ Lower 48 line, wines that only have 48 cases produced from two barrels.  These all add up to between 400 and 500 cases a year, except 2005 when Dylan and Tobe made 1200 cases.  (This number only includes the actual Sheldon Wines label.  They often custom crush and/or consult on additional projects and labels for others as well.)

 

Many of the Sheldons’ wines are one-of-a-kind and exceptional, like the Graciano rose—a very rare grape find in California.  Though Cabernets are not uncommon, the Sheldons' is.  It is the complex, high-acid, sassy style for which they strive, one of the most unique Cabs in the area.

 

To continue to show Tobe and Sheldon’s diversity, they are currently making a traditional method sparkling wine from Tempranillo grapes. Even though the young vineyard’s grapes only spent fifteen minutes in contact with the skins, the must was slightly colored from the strength of the Tempranillo, leading to a beautiful shade of pink for the upcoming Brut Rosé.

All of this happens in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County.  It is this “wonderland of microclimates” that allows the type of wine making for which Tobe and Dylan aim.  Tobe loves the county for so many reasons.  First, “It still retains its farmer soul.”  It is filled with small wine producers who form a community of support to build others up by lending a hand whenever needed.  They all work hard to craft delicious wines “with integrity” and celebrate others’ successes.

 

Tobe says it best when she states, “I am very proud and thankful for the gift of living here.”

 

At this point, Sheldon Wines is at a cross roads.  Passion…adventure…these are what drive Dylan and Tobe, but they are not always what drive the operation of a winery.  Making wine is an incredibly expensive endeavor.  Making wine from small acreage plots and exceptional vineyards takes a lot of resources, both time and money.  In order to make more money, Dylan and Tobe would have to make much more wine.  However, to do this they would have to increase from their small lots, which is against what Sheldon Wines represents.

 

In order to preserve the passion and excitement the Sheldons feel for their craft, they have decided to stay at the current 500 case total production level.  This means they are focusing on direct-to-consumer sales in the tasting room, on their website, and through the wine club.  Off-site sales will happen at select restaurants and wine shops with “excellent, authentic customer service.”

Together, Tobe and Dylan see wine making as a calling, as part of life’s adventure.  Every day they want to learn.  To create.  To experience.  To never settle.   “It [wine making] fulfills a need, and we will give it our all until it doesn't....and then a new adventure will make itself known and we will dive in.”

*All photos provided by Tobe Sheldon of Sheldon Wines with some photos by Will Bucquoy* 

 

In the Family Way--Prairie Berry Winery's Anna Pesa Wines

Walt Disney once said, “A man should never neglect his family for business.”  However, what if a woman spent her entire career attempting to honor her family?  That is exactly what Sandi Vojta of Prairie Berry Winery in Hill City, South Dakota has done.  She was the fifth generation wine maker when she joined her father Ralph in the commercial endeavor of making wine in the Midwest.  She started by primarily making fruit wines from the “berries of the prairie” like her ancestors.  Over the past ten years, Sandi has expanded not only her wine production but also the ways she honors her family in every aspect of her profession. 

Though Sandi has been using different Vitis Vinifera (traditional winemaking grapes) for several years in addition to the hybrid grape and fruit-based wines for which Prairie Berry is so well known, in 2012 she began production of the new line of Anna Pesa wines—a unique brand with a specific taste profile in mind, a taste that would honor Sandi’s goals and her family’s traditions. 

Anna Pesa was Sandi’s great-great-grandmother who immigrated to the Dakota Territory in 1876.  Before coming to the United States, Anna lived in Moravia, Czechoslovakia, where she made wines using traditional grape varieties found in that country.  Over one hundred years later, Sandi is using Riesling, Chardonnay, Zinfandel, and Cabernet to make a style of wine much like her Grandmother Anna would have. 

Because of South Dakota’s harsh winters and shorter growing seasons, most Vinifera grapes that Sandi’s grandmother would have had the ability to access don’t grow well here; hybrid grape species that didn’t even exist in the late 1800s weather the Midwest conditions best, so Sandi had to leave the state of South Dakota to source the grape varieties similar to what Anna might have fermented.  Much like Anna did, Sandi sought the best fruit possible to create the style of wine the Prairie Berry winemaker envisioned.  Sourced along the West Coast, Sandi has long-term contracts with many growers that she has worked with for several harvests already.  Because she is a South Dakota wine maker, her concern in choosing fruit is not about expressing the terroir of where the fruit was originally grown; instead she wants to express a specific style of wine after production—a style she believes her grandmother would have appreciated.

Cultivating relationships with the growers is the first step in the process of making these wines for which Sandi proudly exclaims Prairie Berry has “pulled out all of the stops” to produce.  Getting the fruit is definitely a long-term, committed relationship, as it takes a year for growers to nurture the grapes to harvest before Sandi and crew then spend up to two years turning the fruit into wines that they hope leave a lasting impression on consumers.  Having multiple sources of fruit is actually a benefit Sandi has that many winemakers don’t.  She is not “putting her eggs in one basket” if one growing area has a vintage that doesn’t meet Sandi’s standards.  Though these grapes grow thousands of miles away, Sandi works with farmers at every step of the way.  She has input into choosing the yield (amount of grapes) per vine, pruning of the vines, thinning of the shoots, and even managing the canopy of leaves (covering the fruit).  These specific growing techniques lead to grapes with the particular sugar and acid content that Sandi wants for the style of drink honoring her grandmother’s wines from the old country.  Modern technology and shipping systems have also made cross-county grape growing easier for the South Dakota businesswoman, as juice samples can be sent to her at any time. 

After the fruit arrives at the winery outside of Hill City, Sandi begins the painstaking work of creating these labor-intensive wines.  The recent production expansion at Prairie Berry was finished specifically for Anna Pesa wines.  They are handled and fermented in smaller lots; then these two, three, or four smaller batches are blended to achieve the style and complexity of Sandi’s vision.  The wines receive old-fashioned production treatments from beginning to end:  battonage, stirring the lees (dead yeast cells) into the wine; delestage, racking the wine from one vessel to another; and punching down, stirring the cap of seeds, stems, and skins back into the wine.  Though these practices are very hands-on and time consuming, they enhance the structure, mouthfeel, complexity, aroma, and flavor of wines.  The additional production space has also allowed room to age these wines with barrels from different cooperages (barrel makers); the differences in oak also adds to the complexity of the final blended wine.  Sandi’s work with and passion about wine has definitely paid off in the end product that meet her stylistic goals, her family commitment, and her grandmother’s memory. 

Anna Pesa 2013 Riesling:  Listed as a semi-dry Riesling, this is a Riesling for those who believe Riesling is just a juice for novice drinkers of sweet wines.  This serious Riesling will renew faith in the grape.  On the nose, it smells of the traditional slight petrol, stone, and apple aromas.  On the palate the green apple and acid with minimal sweetness make it reminiscent of dry styles from Germany or New York State—some of my favorites!  So unique yet so Riesling, it would be a wonderful food-pairing wine.  This is a wine worth buying on multiple occasions.

Anna Pesa Riesling--a serious, dry Riesling. 

 Anna Pesa 2013 Chardonnay:  I enlisted my Chardonnay-loving friend to give me a more objective stance since Chard is not necessarily my favorite grape.  However, this is also an old-world style wine.  Buttery herbs are on the nose, yet the palate is very surprising with zippy acid and golden-delicious apple flavors.  Not an over-oaked California type and so much more complex all the way to the finish.  A Chardonnay that I didn’t need any help assessing—and my Chardonnay-loving friend gave rave reviews too! 

Anna Pesa Chardonnay--a Chard for those looking to escape the butter bomb style.

Anna Pesa 2012 Zinfandel:  Aged a year longer than the Anna Pesa whites, the Zinfandel was very spicy on the nose, with black pepper, dried herb, mushroom, and earth coming through.  A beautiful, deep garnet color, the spice carried through on the palate with great tannins.  No big, over-ripe Zin sweetness comes through, so if a big California wine is the expectation, that is not what will be experienced with this wine.  This has a light berry essence that is more pronounced on the finish.  Good balance between the tannin, acid, and fruit.

Anna Pesa Zinfandel--a more restrained, spicy Zin.

Anna Pesa 2012 Cabernet:  Ruby red, chokecherry in color, this wine is a more robust wine than the Zin but definitely more restrained than a bold California Cab.  Dried sage and boysenberry on the nose, its fruit is the first taste on the palate.  Then the strawberry and blueberry mellow out through even tannins to a slight white pepper on the finish.  It would be one of the easiest Cabernet Sauvignons to pair food with because of the balance between tannin and fruit.  When I first tried this line of wines, I liked the more reserved Zin better than the Cab.  This time, on the second tasting, I liked the more fruit-forward Cab.  This shows my appreciation of both wines. 

Anna Pesa Cabernet Sauvignon--the most robust of the Anna Pesa line, yet still old world style restraint.

Though the first vintage has only been released a few weeks, future vintages are already in the works, including these same four varietals in addition to a 2014 Anna Pesa Chenin Blanc currently fermenting.  In further attempts to emulate Grandmother Anna, Sandi would love to source a traditional Moravian grape like Blaufrankish to make a wine.  However, these varieties are very obscure and hard to find in this country since few Americans have heard of or tried this grape as a single varietal.  Even if she could find Blaufrankish grapes, Sandi would have to get special TTB approval to bottle it as a Blaufrankish (as it would have been called in Moravia) and not a Lemburger.  Then she would need to convert Merlot drinkers to Blaufrankish wine!

            Sandi has paid tribute to her family with every step over the past two years as she has loved these wines into the bottle.  Sip after sip, the old-world influence of these wines came through.  When drinking the end product, it is evident that European wine making was the inspiration, even if the grapes came from the U.S. West Coast.  Sandi Vojta has spent over a decade doing a great job of mixing family and business.  As the fifth generation to make wine, she has worked to honor her ancestry while meeting her own stylistic goals.  Her newest wines not only pay tribute to her great-great grandmother, they are reminiscent of an old-world style that make her Czechoslovakian roots very proud.  Anna Pesa and her other descendants are smiling down on Sandi…probably with a glass of Moravian wine in hand. 

A Dream Come True--Belle Joli Winery

         Three years ago, Matthew and Choi Jackson bought a plot of land on the outskirts of Sturgis, South Dakota.  Their goal?  To move a step forward in the fulfillment of a dream.  However, this dream had actually been a work in progress for over a decade, from the time the first grape vines were planted on a small half-acre plot inside Belle Fourche city limits in 2000.  To say a dream is coming true for the entire Jackson family as they celebrate the grand opening of their sparkling house and wine tasting room off Exit 32 this weekend is more than an understatement!

            After the initial purchase of the land, the area was then annexed into Sturgis city limits, and the process of getting water and sewer to the site was the first hurdle to overcome.  Last fall, ground was finally broken and construction commenced on a modern tasting room and wine-making facility that would house the equipment to make the Black Hills’ first sparkling wines produced in the traditional method—the same method used to make world famous Champagne wines in France.  Of course, nothing can go as smoothly as planned, and a Black Hills winter that saw the initial blizzard of the year the first week of October and the last snowflakes in May slowed down construction by several months.  Finally, on the Friday of opening weekend for the seventy-fourth Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, Belle Joli’s sparkling house and tasting room opened its doors. 

The modern front entrance welcomes visitors.

Sparkling house, producing the first traditional method sparkling wines in the Black Hills.

            In addition to the new facility, Belle Joli has been in the process of a facelift to its labels as well.  A new logo that will be consistent on all wine bottles was introduced; all labels now feature the two trees that stand out front of Belle Joli’s Sturgis location.  Wines are also being labeled by varietal names instead of a unique brand name.  For instance, the Riesling (with a small blend of Edelweiss) was called La Lure.  Now it will simply labeled Riesling, making it easier for consumers to know what they are drinking.  The same is true for the Chenin Blanc (formerly Dakota Breeze) and Cabernet Sauvignon (formerly St. Cab).  More modern-style coloring of the labels and logos also adds to the updated look of Belle Joli ushered in with the opening of the new tasting room.  Yet one more change is the planting of grapes out front of the Sturgis site; these grapes should be ready for harvest and wine making in under five years.

The Belle Joli tasting lineup.  New and old labels on display.

            Even with all of these changes, some things must stay the same.  The majority of Belle Joli’s grapes are still sourced from South Dakota, either from their current vineyards in Belle Fourche and just outside of town or another grower in Spearfish.  Matthew still produces three dessert fruit wines:  cherry, pear, and peach.  The Deadwood tasting room is also still open on Main Street Deadwood for tasting of all the wines Belle Joli produces.  Finally, the most important consistency, is the likelihood of seeing any member of the Jackson family at one of the tasting rooms, smiling and inviting customers to enjoy wine.  Mathew’s parents, Patty and John, have been an integral part of the winemaking business and have worked hard to help Choi and Matthew accomplish this tasting room goal.

The beautiful patio with the rolling hills in the distance.

            So, pick up a glass of Belle Joli bubbly—either the Brut Vintage (made from Washington State Riesling grapes) or the Brut Estate Reserve (made from Belle Joli’s La Crescent grapes)—to toast to the fact that dreams do come true!  It may take a lot of time and patience, but Matthew and Choi have proven that good things do come to those who wait…and work…and work some more. 

Cheers!

Grand opening events this weekend at Belle Joli: 

            Friday, August 15, 4:00 p.m.—Ribbon Cutting
            Saturday, August 16, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Public Open House
            Sunday, August 17, 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Wine Club Member Party

Read about Belle Joli's harvest and hard work here.

When it’s Hard to Watch the News

          This is another one of those weeks when I turn on the television, and I inevitably walk away with tears in my eyes.  There just seems to be so much bad news lately:  Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, Boston Marathon bombing, Oklahoma tornados.  It is really hard for me to focus on wine and writing about wine (a subject that makes me so incredibly happy and joyful) with so much sorrow and pain in the world.  I wish I could write words that would help the victims, help the families of victims, help those of us who want to do more…but instead I write about wine.  At first I was thinking of how trivial wine seems in times like these.  Then I realized, wine is very serious business, and it is the livelihood of thousands and thousands of people in the United States alone, not even taking into account how many people in the world rely on wine for the roofs over their families’ heads and the food for their children’s mouths.  Wine is a very important industry.

            According to the National Grape and Wine Initiative in 2007, the wine industry is responsible for over 162 billion (with a B!) dollars of economic impact in the U.S.  Research done by MFK Research LLC in a report entitled The Impact of Wine, Grapes, and Grape Products on the American Economy: Family Businesses Building Value, the wine industry provides over one million full-time American jobs.  Part-time and seasonal work could also be added to this number.  Wine making starts with the grapes, which is essentially an agricultural business, and big business at that.  In 2005, there were 23,856 grape growers—that’s a lot of grapes!  In 2000, there were a total of 2,904 wineries in the U.S.; in 2005 there were 4,929.  By 2012, Winebusiness.com estimates that number at 7,116.  All of these wineries create over 11 billion dollars in winery sales revenue (again from the 2007 article).   Over three billion dollars can be attributed to winery tourism expenditures.  These numbers are proof of the growing importance of wine in our country.  Grapes and grape juice also add to the overall industry (though they may not be as fun for us to consume…wink).  The non-fermented family members of wine add another 1.669 billion dollars to the economy.  All of these numbers add up to a lot of tax dollars:  17.1 billion in federal, state, and local taxes.

            Many of us may automatically think of the large wine producing areas, like California, Washington, and Oregon, when we think about the above numbers.  However, all 50 states now have wineries; my little, old, sparsely-populated Wyoming already has three—only one using state-grown fruit.  South Dakota, a state where agriculture is the number one industry, now has multiple vineyards and wineries.  Though grapes are still in the “other” category of agricultural products here (where corn and soybeans are royalty), growing grapes and fruit for wine on a commercial basis is a part of the ag industry that didn’t even exist twenty years ago!  This can be said for many states in the Midwest, like Minnesota, Wisconsin (both in the forefront of creating and using hybrid grapes), Nebraska, and Colorado (which now has two AVAs—Grand Valley and West Elks).  Wine has turned into a budding (pun intended) and important growth industry all over America. 

 

Scenes from the "budding" wine industry:

Table Mountain Vineyards--Huntley, Wyoming

 

Belle Joli Winery--Belle Fourche, South Dakota

 

Grand Valley AVA--Colorado

            During these hard times that are so much in our thoughts and minds, it may be hard to focus on the fun parts of wine—the smelling, sipping, laughing, and loving.  However, it is essential to remember the serious side of wine.  It is an important industry all over the nation, an industry that a mere two decades ago was non-existent in many states, like the area I call home.  I wish all of the families hit by the recent disasters well and will keep praying for them.  I also wish all the wine industry families well and will keep praying for an industry that continues to strengthen our economy. 

Wyoming and Wine—We’re a Frugal Bunch

Catherine Pulsifer once said:  “Being frugal does not mean being cheap!  It means being economical and avoiding waste.”  This saying applies whole-heartedly to the recently released Wyoming Liquor Division list of top wines sold in the state last year. 

Focusing on wines sold in 2012, twenty-two of the top fifty-one were box or jug wines.  Franzia was number one with its Chillable Red, with over 5,000 cases sold!  Franzia had seven of the top fifty-one wines sold in Wyoming in 2012.  Peter Vella, another boxed wine, had four of the fifty-one.  Carlo Rossi jug wine and other box wine producers Black Box and Bota Box were also represented with two each.  The state Liquor Division lists Hornsby’s Crisp Apple Cider as the second best selling wine in the state…even though hard ciders aren’t wine at all, but would belong more in the beer family.  A second hard apple cider by Angry Orchard ranked twenty-ninth in sales. 

Now, if you are reading this list of best selling, cheap, low-quality wines as proof that Wyoming has incredibly poor taste in vino (like I did at first, before I tucked away my inner wine snob), I decided to quit looking at the glass as half empty and look at the glass as half full…and maybe the bottle as half full, too!  My first silver lining to the wine sales stats was the placement of the Folie a Deux Manage a Trois Red as the number six wine.  This reasonably priced wine with its oh-so-racy name is a blend of Zinfandel, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes; it’s a dry, tannic red wine, and it impressed me that Wyoming drinkers are drinking this more “serious” wine.  The next pleasant surprise was Apothic Winemaker’s red blend.  This does not have a risqué name, but does have a super-cool red and black label and super-serious grapes:  Merlot and Syrah.  Apothic is a bold, tannic red and was the number nine seller in the state!  Yes, there was the dotting of many different producers of white Zinfandel on the inventory; however, Wild Vines Blackberry Merlot was number twenty-three.  (This was a huge victory in my eyes, as this is the “wine” that the largest number of non-wine drinkers request from me at fundraising and open house events.  I always direct them to a Moscato d’ Asti or another sweet wine.)  I was also heartened to see three Pinot Grigios, five Chardonnays, four Merlots, and two Cabernet Sauvignons in the top fifty-one wines sold.  Though these wines were all from less expensive producers like Woodbridge, Cupcake, Fish Eye, and Barefoot, it shows that Wyoming palettes may be beginning to like some dryer and more acidic wines, not just the box wines.  The fact that only two Moscatos and one Riesling made the list also shows that once Wyomingites get past the box and jug wine craze, they seem to be moving past these two, what I consider to be, gateway wines—wines consumed by novice wine drinkers that allow those wine drinkers to move on to other wines. (Riesling was my gateway varietal into the wine world more than a decade ago!)

All of this data taken together makes me have great hope in Wyoming’s wine drinkers.  Yes, they still buy more box and jug wine than anything else, but this seems to be more frugality than just poor taste in wine. When buying wines that rarely cost more than fifteen dollars, they are being economical and avoiding waste while drinking dryer reds and acidic whites made by the well-known producers of quality but less expensive wine…not necessarily just cheap!  I hope Wyoming winos (dare I spell wineaux) will continue to try the new producers of reasonably priced wines, all while being the sensible spenders they have proven to be!  Expand those palettes, Wyoming winos!

Say It Isn't So!

Over a year ago, I decided I wanted to try to promote the wine industry in every form in and around the Black Hills and Wyoming.  I have written multiple “reviews” of wine or wine-related businesses, but, at this point, I haven’t written about all of the places I’ve visited or wanted to write about.  I was much chagrined to find out that one of the places I have visited, yet never wrote about, closed in December. 

Manchegos in Rapid City was a tapas-style bar with a focus on wine, especially Spanish wines.  The atmosphere was absolutely amazing!  The small bar was filled with dark wood and often had live music on the weekends.  The main dining room was spacious and well designed.  I loved the Spanish tiles on the wall and the booths in front of the tiles.  The outdoor patio was a special place to dine, as well as the roof top deck (which I never sat but did go check out).  Every detail was covered, even down to the beautiful tile work in the bathrooms (okay, I only actually saw the women’s bathroom, but I HEARD the men’s was cool too)!  As for the food, I enjoyed many of the tapas menu items.  My favorite was the warm potato and corn salad, but I also loved the garlic mussels, garlic shrimp, and the caprese salad.  The best part of Manchegos, however, was the Enomatic wine machine!  The Enomatic was a wall of wine with an automatic measuring system where a wine lover could choose one ounce, three ounces, or five ounces of any of the wines in the Enomatic.  A debit card was loaded with a dollar amount and wineauxs (French for wino J) could sample whatever they wanted or choose a full glass of a favorite wine. 

I am disappointed that this business closed its doors before its one-year anniversary.  I loved the atmosphere and the idea of the tapas menu.  I also loved how much the Enomatic promoted people try to wines they may not have and did so in such a fun way.  There are already future plans for the wonderful new building in Rapid City; I really look forward to what is in store for this prime downtown spot.  I hope that the new business owners (owners of the current Firehouse just down the street) will continue the fun atmosphere, and I tip my hat to the former owners for trying a new approach in the hills. 

Here is the link to the Rapid City Journal article on Manchegos' closing. 

Rapid City Journal's Article on Manchegos' Closing