Justin: a business man and a party wine

We are very lucky to meet the men & women behind the labels.

West Street Wine Bar sits in Reno, Nevada which is about as far as winemakers from California will drive without making it such a major affair.  And since Reno gets the same benefits as Las Vegas but is a much smaller community wine servers like myself reap the benefits.  Of course the business of wine is extremely personal so it exudes all people involved to break bread and drink wine together, turns out, this is exactly why I love it so much.  

Justin wines are typically big and fruit forward, and despite slight vintage differences, consistency with these bold characteristics always come through.  This makes Justin a perfect party pleaser wine, from his introductory priced cabernet to his serious and complex blends: Isosceles and Justification.  When I met Justin himself, I was not expecting to meet a tall, dark, slightly reserved man who clearly knows the business end of wine.  Justin utilizes his brain power to push his brand, hiring smart people to make the product and spending his time marketing.  Smart.  

He has a restaurant on site, a winemaker, a master sommelier and a master chef.  He surrounds his winery with the best of the business and then he goes out to meet people like me to hear from my mouth how I feel about the wines: His new 2007 vintage cab is more fruity than the 2006 but still has everything you would look for in Justin wines.  Buy it.

Unfortunately, I can already see wine snobs poo-pooing the entrepreneurialism at use here.  There is a lot of ideology when you get "deeper into wine" that the winemaker is someone who slaves away making wines, making very little money, but enough to survive on their passion.  That isn't fair, this same kind of hate for "sell outs" is prevalent in the music industry, art business and any business based on objective creativity.  I believe that if you are passionate and talented you should have just enough potential to make money like a mutual fund broker and not be hated for it.  Go Justin.  Go Madeline!

end rant.