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WINE COUNTRY THIS WEEK | WINE COUNTRY NEWSWine Garage – Here Comes the Jug!by Michelle J. BakerWine Garage founder Todd Miller drilled a couple of holes inthe wall at his bustling Calistoga wine shop nearly two yearsago in anxious anticipation of having his own winery’s juiceflowing from one side of the wall to happy customers waiting on theother side.Well, it took a while, but the Wine Garage winery is finally openfor business. From those holes in the wall now hang a couple of fabricatedstainless steel nozzles, and out of them flow two righteous anddelicious blends, B1 (a Bordeaux-style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon,Carmenere, Merlot and Petit Verdot) and R1 (a Rhone-style blend ofSyrah, Zinfandel, Grenache, Mourvedre and Petite Sirah). “My biggestproblem,” says Miller, “is that customers can’t decide which to buybecause they love them both so much.”And with good reason. Miller bought theindividual lots of finished wine that make upeach blend from some of his personal winemakingfriends. The wine came from grapesfrom several of Napa’s most prestigious vineyards.He’s sworn to secrecy on the vineyardsources so the Wine Garage blends don’tcompete against the same wines priced at two,three or even four times what Miller sells it for– just $29.99 for a half-gallon jug, filled toorder.When Todd and Joy Miller moved to NapaValley in 2001, they were surprised to find thatthey could hardly find any wines for less than $45 a bottle. Then theywent to a dinner party at a winemaker’s home, and were shocked todiscover that many winemakers couldn’t afford to drink the winesthey made. That’s when the Millers decided to open the first wine shopin Napa Valley that only carried wines under $25 a bottle.So in 2003, Todd Miller swapped his corporate necktie for jeansand boots and started scouring Northern California for great, undiscoveredwines to offer at the new wine shop, the Wine Garage in Calistoga.Miller drove the roads less traveled, meeting with winemakers,walking in their vineyards, and tasting their grapes, barrel samplesand finished wines. The winemakers, tickled to have a real, live winebuyer at their winery, shared stories with Miller over a glass of wineat the dinner table.The Wine Garage carries a wide selection of bargains from Sonomaand Napa, and gems from as far afield as Paso Robles, Lodi, the SierraFoothills and Mendocino County. The store still doesn’t carry anywines priced over $25, and Miller doesn’t buy a wine for the storeunless he loves it. What’s best is the Wine Garage staff takes the guessworkout of wine shopping: tell the staff what you’re looking for andthey will steer you to the perfect bottle.The Wine Garage is now a licensed winery, and in addition to theblends on tap, they produce a line of their own Wine Garage wineswww.WineCountryThisWeek.comfrom grapes they crush. For reds they offer aSonoma Coast Pinot Noir, Napa Valley Zinfandeland Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon; there arealso two whites, Joy Ride (named for Todd’s wifeand business partner, Joy), a lively blend ofAlbarino, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier and Muscat,and a 2008 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc.The Wine Garage’s wine club is one of the bestdeals around. Club members can choose toreceive six bottles of red wine (or three red andthree white) six times per year for $100 per shipment,plus shipping. The Wine Garage also offersan “Intense Red” selection of massively concentrated and extractedwines, also six bottles six times per year for $125 per shipment, plusshipping.The Wine Garage, located at 1020 Foothill Boulevard (Highway29) in Calistoga, is open from 11 a.m. till 6:30 p.m. Monday thruSaturday and 11 a.m. till 4:30 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call(707) 942-5332, visit the website at www.winegarage.net or send anemail to team@winegarage.net.11