The closing of Bon Vivant Wines is a great loss for the St. Louis area.  Andrew assembled the most interesting, eclectic selection in the area, taking full advantage of the unique and small production wines that come into Illinois (due to the Chicago market), but not Missouri, such as Lopez de Heredia, and the Louis/Dressner portfolio.  Whittling down potential purchases to my budgeted amount was always a painful process, mollified only by the knowledge that when I returned new treats would await.

Despite his great wine selection, I probably bought even more beer than wine from Andrew.  Andrew again exhibited a command for bringing in quality beers, and for taking advantage of the gems available in Illinois but not in Missouri.  As with wine, Andrew was meticulous about freshness and storage, something severely lacking among many other Southern Illinois beer retailers.

I profiled Andrew for the Riverfront Times here, and Bon Vivant won accolades as the “Best Wine Shop” 2009 from that same publication.  Andrew deserved all of the praise directed towards him as he truly did things the right way, and for all the right reasons.  I am saddened, deeply, to see that was not enough to allow Bon Vivant to be sustainable.

This was a transitional year as my kegerator died in early December.  Prior to that, I was well on track to meet my goal of less than 150 bottles opened.  Obviously, when draft was no longer available, bottles spiked, particularly since it was the holiday season and more drinking than usual was done by visitors and yours truly.

So, the overall total was 181 bottles opened in the house.  This year’s breakdown for breweries with more than 10 caps was as follows:

22 – Schlafly – 12.2%

17 – Capital Brewery – 9.4%

14 – Bell’s Brewing – 7.7%

13 – Short’s Brewing – 7%

13 – Southern Tier – 7%

11 – Pilsner Urquell – 6%

I also had caps from 15 other breweries (as well as 32 unidentifiable gold or black caps), which showed pretty good variety given the relative small sample size.  This next year will be interesting as bottled beer will be my exclusive source of malty goodness.

My goal is to not spend any more on beer than I did in 2009, which will be a bit of work given that draft beer represents a hefty savings over its bottled equivalent.  I’d also like to cut out any beer, like Pilsner Urquell, that’s brewed by bigass corporations, and increase the percentage of local beer.  We’ll see how that goes.  With Andrew doing a good job of keeping fresh Capital Pilsner in stock at Bon Vivant, I should be able to avoid the temptation of the sub-$15 12 packs of PU at Schnuck’s, even if it means drinking a bit less pilsner as a result.

Oh, and to up the ante, Andrew also got Dark Horse‘s undefinable, but amazing, Black Bier, and their fine Crooked Tree IPA.  Oh, and some great stuff from Moylan’s.  And then, of course, there are the wines . . . .  Thanks for the continued hard work, Andrew!

We’re blessed in St. Louis to have other passionate, knowledgeable wine merchants too – Jake Hafner at 33, Andrew Traughber at Bon Vivant, John Nash and Simon Lehrer (who is THE cheese man too) at the Wine Merchant. I’ve stocked my cellar with their help, and the help of other great wine merchants like David Lillie and Jamie Wolff at Chambers St. Wine, Paul Wasserman when he was at Woodland Hills Wine Company, Bill Mayer at The Age of Riesling, and many more over the course of my fifteen years as a wine lover.

What does a good wine merchant do for you? First, they put together a nice selection in their store. They sift through the oceans of dull wines out there to find things that interest them. They find the quality. Now, not every merchant (nor should they be!) is into the same things, so you’re going to find variety as you go from store to store. Frankly, that’s enough of a relationship for some people right there – they trust that the wine on the shelf will be a good one and they explore on their own. For some, they’re loyal to one store, others need more to satisfy their vinious interests and desires.

For those willing to take a step further, from anonymous browser to interactive shopper, there are greater rewards to be had. A good wine merchant has the ability to learn your palate, and make thoughtful suggestions for wines that fit your tastes, and stretch your experience to encompass new tastes that you may also enjoy. In my early days of wine, this was critical. While I commend reading about wine, there is no substitute for drinking your way through various regions to bring the words to life. A good wine merchant can be your guide, and all the more so when you engage in an ongoing conversation about their recommendations with them.

My first experience with a good wine merchant was Brent at the Wine Merchant location in Clayton.  I was in my first year of graduate school, and didn’t have a lot of spare cash, but the Wine Merchant had (and still has) a fine selection of quality, but less expensive, wines from the South of France.  I struck up a conversation with Brent on my first visit, told him I was just beginning to really explore wine in earnest, and asked for recommendations within my budget.  When I returned, Brent asked what I had liked and not about his previous recommendations, and he made more based on that information.  From these conversations we worked out from the South of France, to explore every region well-represented in the store’s stock, with Brent guiding the selections based on my reports of what I had and had not liked about the earlier recommendations.  Brent helped make my exploration much more fruitful and pleasant than it otherwise would have been had I simply been selecting wines at random, or from book and magazine recommendations.

Another favorite wine experience was with David Lillie of Chambers St. Wines.  I had been a customer for several years, focusing largely on their outstanding selection of wines from the Loire, when I decided to make a special request of David.  I gave him a budget and asked for him to put together two cases of wine (this was back in the pre-kid, free-spending days . . .) from his current stock that I had not previously had, but that he thought would be interesting to me.  David more than ably jumped to the challenge, and I found several new producers, wines, even grapes that I had not previously sampled, but were very much in my palate’s wheelhouse.

Getting back to Paul’s comment on my 20 Buck Luck series.  The reason I decided to limit myself to grocery store wines was because, even with the $20 limit, it would be too easy to get three really good wines at your shop, or any of the other fine merchants around town.  I thought it would be a humorous experiment to unleash a wine geek (especially one with little to no tolerance for oak or high alcohol) into the grocery store wine aisle to see if he could find any inexpensive potable wines.  The quality I encountered frankly shocked me, and that is why I thought about abandoning the grocery stores for the wine shops, or even Trader Joe’s, (though there is significant crap shoot element there too).  In the end, my friends (apart from Carl, who has always thought this was just a waste of money and abuse of palate) convinced me to continue to tilt at the windmill of the grocery store wine aisle.

I’ll add a disclaimer to any future installments of 20 Buck Luck (I’ve still not recovered from the horror show that was the Pinot Evil) directing folks who truly want to learn about wine without wasting their cash to this post.  Thanks to Paul for pointing out that some clarification was needed:  20 Buck Luck is intended for entertainment purposes only.  It is not intended to represent a recommended method for actually exploring the world of wine.

For those of you really interested in exploring wine, find yourself a good wine merchant.  There are several in the “Places to Shop and Drink” links, or in this post.  The relationship will be a rewarding one, and you will be supporting people who are truly passionate about wine.

I’ve been mail-ordering these wines from retailers primarily on the East and West Coast for the past 5 or 6 years, and picking up the odd bottle that I might find in Chicago. It will be great to have access to Clos Roche Blanche, J.P. Brun, Desvignes, Breton, et al., and be able to support a local wine shop doing it.