The SOMM Journal
On the Lines of the Front Range
What’s selling now, to three Denver/Boulder somms.
BY RUTH TOBIAS | AUGUST 9, 2023
Originally featured in the August/September 2023 issue.
Timothy Hershberger, wine and beverage director, Fruition, Denver, CO
I find that the Denver wine drinker these days is very curious.... I think that a lot of that has happened since the pandemic, where people were sitting at home and they were like, "Well, we're going to go to the liquor store to get some wine let's try something we've never had before. And that has carried over quite a bit.
We've had a lot of success with Albariño and Grüner Veltliner and Gamay. And it's refreshing to me because ... my mind is curious too. I don't work at a steakhouse because I don’t want to sell three cuts of meat every night; I want what's new and fresh, what the chef's making now. We've also introduced a pretty extensive brandy, or fruit-based distillate, program. We have a big selection of eaux de vie and aged brandies and grappa, and this has [also] piqued [the] curiosity ….. of people who are interested in trying things that they’re not familiar with. We have a cocktail on [the menu] that's Sherry-based right now and that's not something that a lot of people are very knowledgeable about or necessarily comfortable with because they think of the cream Sherry that was on grandma's shelf.
Seeing people gravitate to something because they're not familiar with it is really refreshing for me and I love it. It's been really fun to be on the front lines of that.