Moscow Food Co-op - Wine, Beer and Cheese

Wine, Beer and Cheese

Written by Joseph Melior, Beer, Cheese, and Wine Buyer

Welcome to 2012. I hope the holiday season treated everyone kindly. I had a lot of fun at the Tasteful Thursday events. I saw many of your smiling faces and I have a feeling that the wine and cheese tasting went over quite well. It was a real pleasure to have such a variety of local wineries. Congratulations to our lucky winner who received a magnum bottle of Treana red. Based on the number of entries received, I’d say we’ll have to have another raffle so keep your eyes open.

Now that we’re into a new year, I’d like to express my gratitude to all of the lovely people who make my job so much fun. Thank you for another successful year. Your patronage is greatly appreciated. It’s been a lot of fun keeping up with everyone’s preferences for various beers, wines, and cheeses. I hope you’ve been enjoying the nice selection at the co-op. I know I have! As always, if there is anything you’d like to see that we don’t carry, please let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

Written by Joseph Melior, Co-op beer, cheese, and wine buyer, wine@moscowfood.coop

Towards the beginning of fall, I received an invitation from Karl and Coco Umiker, the co-owners of Clearwater Canyon Cellars, to help with the fall harvest of grapes. Their vineyard is located in the Lewiston-Clarkston valley on farmland that has been in Coco’s family for two generations. My wife and I helped harvest Cabernet Franc as I questioned Karl and Coco about various aspects of their winery and vineyard.

Coco, with a Ph.D. in food sciences as well as undergraduate degrees in microbiology, molecular biology and biochemistry, has a thorough scientific knowledge of wine-making. Karl has an undergraduate degree in chemistry and a masters in soils which enables him to ensure that their soil is healthy and supportive for all the great grapes they grow. While we ate lunch, I was able to sample the results of their knowledge. I’ve had the pleasure of sampling quite a few wines, and the Umikers make wine that fits the top of my list.

Beer, Cheese, and Wine: Small Vineyards

Written by Joseph Melior, Co-op Beer, Cheese and Wine Buyer, wine@moscowfood.coop

“The best way to learn about wine is to uncork a few bottles and start sampling.” Harvey Steiman, Wine Spectator's

This month I had the distinct pleasure of following Steiman’s advice. A representative from Small Vineyards arrived with several wines to sample. Small Vineyards is an American based Italian wine importer. Small Vineyards “typically taste 200-300 wines each month, but only fall in love with one or two.” The importer specializes in finding smaller scale operations. Most of the vineyards practice sustainable and organic agriculture for their grapes.