Francois Servin poured his Chablis @MetroWines on Saturday Night, May 19th.
There were over 40 people crowding the bar through the two hours of the tasting so a sit down interview was not possible. This is what I gleaned from Francois as he responded to questions from the crowd.
First, Francois is a lovely and engaging person, with or without great Chablis!
We just had a great time hosting Scot Covington, winemaker for the highly regarded Trione Vineyards and Winery in Sonoma. Trione is not a nationwide brand, they are known for their small lot productions. So, I ask what brings Scot to Asheville. "A very small plane," he says.
Scot Covington has an extensive and commendable biography of experience. But, lets be honest here, what we wanted to know was why his name, "Scot" only has one "t." I know. I know. You are thinking shallow. Well, we will get to the wonky stuff but the explanation for the lonely "t" actually turns out to be interesting.
We caught up with Teutonic Winemaker and Owner, Barnaby Tuttle, on his way to Home Grown in Asheville for lunch. Barnaby was eating his way through Asheville! After the Teutonic Tasting @MetroWnes on Friday Night, he went two doors down to Gan Shan downing a bowl of Drunken Noodles and a healthy serving of Bok Choy. He woke up hungry at Midnight and had frozen pizza burned to charcoal on the bottom and cheap BIG BOX beer. Yes, even winemakers DO crazy when on the road!
Barnaby is a Portland, Oregon native. Before his current incarnation, he was an iron worker and worked for an autowrecker that salvaged vintage car parts from the 50s, 60s and 70s. Hold that thought - both jobs become very important later...
I told Quincy that the purpose of these interviews is to get to know the winemaker personally. The truth is that we can read about their wines on their well done websites. And, let's face it, with winemakers also working to market their wines and answering questions from retailers and writers like me! they may have necessarily developed some standard operating answers.