What is the first wine you ever tasted?
I think it was an inexpensive sparkling wine. I was hanging out in the back of a friend’s antique Dodge pick-up staring at the evening stars. Good times.
What traits do you most appreciate in a wine?
Lightness and a connection to the land.
If you were a winemaker, what type of winemaker would you be?
I would make the most earthy and natural wine possible. But I would be somewhat modern, a minimalist in my approach.
My wine would be light and healing. People in my region would come with their empties. I would fill them up for a fee. No label; all word-of-mouth marketing. Eventually, I’d become good friends with my clients. We’d catch up during fill ups. They would start asking if I had any of my delicious savories to sell that day. I always had simple things on hand, so I would finally add a large wooden table and call it a cafe. My prices would rise with my reputation. Then, after a good long life I’d pass on. My friends would toast with goblets of some special reserve wine I’d been keeping for a celebration. . . My daughter and son would keep the vineyard in production.
What is your idea of happiness as it applies to a wine?
Happiness is energy, a current. Wine can be a catalyst and help the opening up of your heart to the current, or it can be a sugary mask to deaden the current. We all know the difference when we are drinking wine.
How do you buy a wine, or recommend a wine to friends?
Standout wines get my attention immediately. They are usually affordable, full of minerals, and are not too noisy. I buy them and stay loyal for a while. When I recommend, I share my finding, offer a taste, then I ask what they think about the wine. It is always interesting to hear other opinions.
What’s your top comfort food/wine pairing?
The pairing of a place I love with company that is enjoyable is more important to me than any specific combination of food and wine. I try to stay true to myself and find the right people first . . . that’s how I know the right food and wine will follow.
What do you think of the booquet concept and its current team?
It’s been inspiring. Pascal and I knew each other a bit from the neighborhood. I didn’t appreciate just how effervescent his enthusiasm for wine was until we started working together to build booquet.
We started in the spring of 2009. The first step was to spend a long time listening. He had so many ideas! I just tried to get into his head. We drank a lot of espresso.
My role was to help him hone in on the opportunity as he saw it. While I liked the idea for a social site that simplified the search for great wine right away, we had a challenge boiling down the ideas into a subset of useful services for users. (Wireframing with Jeff Rodanski at Slice of Lime and CJ Grimes at Clearnet was a key milestone in that process.)
We’ll go live next month, thanks to a team of incredibly talented people. (Meet them here.) I wonder how we’ll celebrate the launch? …
Tell us something we wouldn’t guess about you
Sometimes I wonder if I made a mistake, but at the time I reasoned, “Food is everywhere, not just in a school.” I still believe this. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago I bought a gorgeous 6 lb. Rockfish from the fishmonger at my Farmer’s Market. I took it home to clean and scale and made my own stock. I was a bit rusty; I lost too much of the delicate flesh, but cooking is forgiving. Each time you try, you learn. So, my kitchen is my school, my workshop, and the center of my family life.
Tags: Booquet team, Christine Kraft, uncorked