A Vintner’s Revival
Balanced, European-style wine is making a comeback in the marketplace. Steve Edmunds never left.
By Patrick Comiskey
Earlier this year winemaker Steve Edmunds of the Bay Area winery Edmunds St. John described a sales trip to New York that was, for him, nothing short of spectacular. At nearly every potential account, he was met with enthusiastic buyers likes of whom he’d never encountered in his 25 years in business. He sold wine hand over fist – this, on the heels of one of the country’s worst recessions, which hit the wine industry hard. In particular, he got an over-the-moon response for his charming 100 percent Gamay Noir, called “Bone Jolly” in a loose play on the word “Beaujolais,” the ancestral French home of that grape variety. “I don’t know what’s going on,” Edmunds told me with a mixture of excitement and genuine bewilderment.
Edmunds’ triumphs have been echoed in Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles where restaurateurs and retailers appear to have tired of the cookie-cutter stylings of American wine, typified by The Ripe and The Powerful. Edmunds’ successes suggest a shift in what Americans are looking for, and may even signify that balance, in the glass and in the market, is being restored, a welcome sign in an age defined by excess.
One of these was Edmunds. In August 2007, Parker wrote that Edmunds had fallen out of step with the rest of California’s winemaking, and used words like “lowbrow” and “superficial” to describe Edmunds’ wines; in one instance, he described the wine “a medium-weight, innocuous effort.” It seemed unduly harsh, and not long after it was published a thread on erobertparker.com was created to discuss it, which led some to question the motives of the critic in singling out a producer in this manner (those voices included my own). In short order the administrator, Mark Squires, terminated the thread, calling it “insulting beyond belief.”
What the article didn’t mention was that much is this recent success is attributed to his hiring PamelaAnderson has his marketing director.
A pretty face (and whatever other attributes) always helps.
I am SO tired of drinking wines that are tiring. After all the big red wines I was into for years, nebbiolo has become my favorite grape. Telling to say the least. And Steve’s wines are the kind that I find myself gravitating to. Wish I could find more of his kind.
Maybe it would be wise to start a thread “ESJ wines…and others like his”.
To those who have been buying ESJ wines: Are you buying direct through the winery or through a retailer?
I put my name on the email list, but haven’t seen any offers.
David, I’ve bought both through wholesalers, and direct from the winery.
When buying from the winery, Steve will total up your order, (probably on an abacus) add tax and shipping, and you’ll be asked to send along a check. When it gets there, he’ll ship your wine.
It’s all kind of retro. But to me, the wine is well worth the effort it takes to get it.
If you go to his website, and check out his newsletter, you can see what wines are available for purchase now. Then just shoot Steve an email, and you’ll be good to go.
I wish this were the case for everyone. Had a pleasant email exchange with him about ordering direct and he said he generally only does it for friends. It felt like it was a major pita for him to do this, so i did not impose.
I wish he would allow direct ordering, it hard to find them at retail and I live and work in the bay area
I really appreciate all the kind words!
My abacus is too complicated for me; I use a solar-powered calculator…
Tim; didn’t mean to scare you off. I really like it when people order wine!
Scott; Triage has our wines in Seattle, (and, you can also order direct!)
![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
