Getting to Know: Chris Miller

What’s your position at K&L and how long have you been with the company?

My business card says “wineguy,” a term that suits my endeavors, both present and future, fairly well I’d say.  I’ve only been working at K&L for about four months.  I did, however, spend close to a decade, first as a supplier rep and then as a wholesale sales manager, trying to sell vast quantities of wine to K&L, something which was met, every now and again, with varying levels of success. 

What did you do before you started working here?

Just prior I was the wine director/sommelier at Pizzeria Mozza.  Just prior to that, I was on a 4 and ½ month trip around the world.  And just prior to that, I worked as a portfolio and sales manager in Northern California, again, trying hard to get my wines placed at K&L. 

What’s your favorite movie?

Wow, tough question.  I’ve always thought The English Patient is one of the most poignantly beautiful films I’ve ever seen.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Listen to music, read, cook, hang with my fiancée, go to the gym, ride my bicycle, drink lots of beer, and wish I had more spare time to do all of the above plus snowboarding, scuba diving, surfing and traveling. 

What was your “epiphany wine”—the bottle or glass that got you interested in wine? Is there a current wine that you consider the equivalent?

October of 1995 on the steps of the cathedral in Toledo, Spain, at sunset.  Not sure what that fellow backpacker and I drank straight out of the bottle that afternoon, but I did have a revelation, and knew wine would be a part of my life forever.  That, or ’78 La Tache. 

Describe your perfect meal (at a restaurant or prepared at home). What wine(s) would you pair with it?

Wow, another tough one.  A fall afternoon at the Hog Island Oyster Co. on Tomales Bay, fiancée, six or seven dozen fresh shucked Kumumotos with a tangy mignonette and a mag of ’88 Salon Champagne.

How do you think your palate’s changed over the years?

When much younger (much younger!), my initial musical tastes tended towards AC/DC, Ozzy Ozbourne, Speed and Rap Metal.  Now I’m really into the Thievery Corporation, Ray LaMontagne, Yo La Tengo and Gillian Welch.  There’s an unmistakable similarity in how my palate has developed. 

What do you like to drink?

Per my analogy in the previous question, I prefer lower alcohol, higher acid, cool climate, complex wines, as opposed to huge, oaky monsters. Hugh Johnson once said, “When I finish a sip of wine, I want to be left with a question mark, not an exclamation point.”  Bravo, well said chap!  Oh, pretty much any beer under the sun, and I’m a coffee snob.

What words of advice do you have to offer people just getting into wine?

Find a “wine guru” you like, someone to whom you can ask a lot of questions, get advice, etc.  Taste as many wines as you can. Read some. Most importantly, in the words of the esteemed Flava Flave, “don’t believe the hype,” and trust your palate.

If you could have dinner with any three people in history, who would you invite? What wine would you serve each of them?

Toughest question of them all.  The prophet Mohammed, Buddha and Jesus Christ. Think what a fascinating conversation that would be. I don’t think any of them are big drinkers, but I would tempt them with some Krug Rosé, a mag of ’96 Leflaive Montrachet, a ’90 Jayer “Cros Parantoux” and ’88 Rouseau Clos de Beze to go with our vegetarian feast.  Then some Racer 5 IPA’s late into the night. 



Trey's Blog: Day Two in Bordeaux

Jeff Garneau tasting at MedocaineSaturday, March 27

Today was the second easiest day of the trip. We arrived at Compagnie Medocaine at 11 a.m. and had a quick, easy tasting of a few ’06s and ’07 Petite Chateaux.

3 p.m. – Château Labegorce

We have had some luck with the older vintages of Labegorce lately. We sold a bunch of 1997 and 1999, both in 750ml and 1.5L bottles. The tasting included the ’09 and ’08, as well as the 1996 and 1998 through 2003. I think the 2003 was the group’s favorite overall. The wine has a ton of ripe fruit, and now it has had a few years in the bottle for everything to come together. I think the combination of the style of the winery and the vintage made for a good combo. Look for this wine to show up on our shelves in the coming months!

Pichon Lalande (taken from Pichon-Baron early in the morning)6 p.m. – Château Pichon-Baron

This was our first tasting of multiple ’09s. We ran through the following wines:

2009 Pibran – Shows very well; ripe, clean fruit, bright, fresh, hints of licorice, good wine.

2009 Les Tourelles – Nice texture, velvety, pleasant.

2009 Pichon-Baron – A blend of 67% Cabernet and 33% Merlot. Big, concentrated wine with a seamless mid palate, intense fruit and integrated tannins. Well-balanced with a long spicy finish; tastes good now.

2009 Jardin Petit-Village – 100% Merlot. Second wine of Petit-Village. Bright, sweet fruit, forward, tiny production (fewer than 750 cases).

2009 Petit-Village – Very aromatic, integrated oak, ripe, sweet tannins, great balance and depth of fruit. Excellent wine.

2009 S de Suduiraut – The dry white from Suduiraut. Fruity, seems slightly sweet.

2009 Suduiraut – Big, rich and intense, very nutty in the nose; dark, deep flavors, 93% Sémillon, 7% Sauvignon Blanc.

The ’09s really impressed us. They showed a ton of sweet ripe fruit with plenty of acidity, balance and length. We also tasted the same wines from the 2008 vintage.

Clyde Beffa and Jean Rene at Pichon-Baron8 p.m. – Dinner at Pichon-Baron with winemaker Jean Rene Mattignon

Dinner at Pichon-Baron is always early on in the trip, and so we usually are feeling pretty good and fresh for the dinner. It can, and usually does, get a bit loud. Our whole group was there: Alex Pross, Jeff Garneau, Mark Levin, Clyde Beffa, Sanford Rich, Kerri Beffa, Ralph Sands (and me). We started off with a magnum of Krug., which was gone before everyone even showed up. The Krug was followed by several bottles of Bruno Paillard. Tough to drink the Bruno Paillard after the Krug, but somehow we managed to survive.

The wreckage from dinnerWe started off with the 2007 S de Suduiraut, which was very pleasant and fresh.

The following wines were served blind and picked by Jean Rene. (The notes are from Alex P and me.)

2004 Domaine L’Arlot Nuits-St-Georges Blanc – Great body. This wine had weight but was light and airy enough to make us openly wonder what it was…we all knew it wasn’t a Bordeaux Blanc but nobody guessed it was a Nuits-St-Georges Blanc.

1960 Petit Village – Ahh, aged Bordeaux…there may not be a more fun, exciting and interesting wine to drink blind than Bordeaux; this wine truly delivered with soft tannins and the tell-tale old Bordeaux feel…

1982 Petit Village – Super wine. Delivered power, elegance and depth of fruit. This wine displayed the hallmark sweet, rich fruit of the ’82 vintage.

1952 Pichon-Baron (recorked in ’85) – Stunning. Is this wine really almost 60 years old? Seemed like it was from either the late ’70s or early ’80s…more fruit and lively acidity than one would expect. This wine shows what older Bordeaux is capable of… the group’s favorite for the night.

1976 Suduiraut  – Rich, heavy dark, golden color; thick.

1997 Quinta do Noval “Nacional” – Wow, very young but tons of fruit and richness. Decadent.

1964 Quinta do Noval “Nacional” – Great wine, tawny-like in color and aromas; nutty, sweet and elegant.

1964 Quinta do Noval “Colheita” –  A great way to end the night…sweet, long and elegant, this wine had the tell-tale nuttiness that you crave from a Colheita. I could drink this all night long.

The weather here is wet, cool and very windy. Not the best tasting weather but even worse golf weather. I think I will have to back out of tomorrow’s scheduled golf tournament.

 Trey Beffa

Champagne Trip, Day 2: Krug!

Krug has become one of the great wine monuments of France by making and delivering great Champagne in the bottle since 1843. The only other producer that I can think of in all of France with a longer track record for perfectionism is Chateau d’Yquem in Sauternes. I love the vinous, powerful style of the Krug wines, which are all barrel fermented and aged for a long time. It was my father's and my choice for the millennium; I contributed a bottle of Grand Cuvée, and he generously contributed his last bottle of 1976, and the two of us had a private party.

I arrived at Krug a half an hour late because half of the roads in Reims were closed—some because of road construction and some because of a strike. If I could have found a place to park, I would have ridden my bike the rest of the way. (I was less than a mile away when the police turned me away!) When I finally arrived, I was welcomed by Julie-Amadine Michel, and we took a tour of the Krug caves, where they store a mind boggling amount of reserve wines for the Grand Cuvée.

This Pinot from Bouzy will likely be included in the 2009 bottling, for release in 2017!

At Krug they use 40% reserve wines in their Grand Cuvée, with some of them dating back 12 to15 years at the time of bottling. After bottling, they keep the wines on the lees from 7 to 10 years—so a completely fresh disgorgement of Krug Grand Cuvée will contain some wines of 19- to 25-years-old. Blending many vintages allows the wine to have a complexity that only age can bring, but with vigor from the younger elements in the blend.

Olivier Krug Joined us for the tasting

After the tour, we sat down to taste Grand Cuvée, and the 1998 and 1995 vintages with Olivier Krug. The Grand Cuvée delivered the complexity that the story promises; it was a Rubik’s Cube of terroir, grape variety and time when I studied it closely, and at once a disarmingly delicious drink when simply enjoyed. The 1998 is only the second Krug vintage (1981 being the other) to be dominated by Chardonnay in the blend. Because of a scorching August, much of their Pinot and Meunier were overripe. This Champagne is drinking very well already, with a golden color, an amazingly toasty nose of brioche, a buttery rich mid-palate and a powerful finish. The 1995 was also drinking well, and seemed to be even toastier still.

Olivier and I also talked about a tasting he next time he was in the US, and I am pleased to say we will have a small gathering in the Redwood City store on Wednesday June 10th at 5 p.m. It will be an honor to have him in the store. Please send me and email at garywestby@klwines.com if you would like to come. It will be very limited, so please do not wait to drop me a line.

—Gary Westby