I guess that is one way to send a message to winemakers

If you've ever been to Sacramento, you have heard of Corti Brothers market, a long-time, family-run business. Darrell recently took a stance:

"In a rather large corner of Corti Brothers market in Sacramento, California is the wine section. It is filled with lots of selections with an emphasis on Italian wines. The three men arranging the cases and hand-selling the wine are clad in blue smocks so as to avoid soiling their clothes from those same boxes. It is a scene from another time with a decided emphasis on a European sensibility.

"In the center of the section, one can usually find Darrell Corti, the current owner of the store that has been run by his family for the last 50 years. It also could be said that he is a man from another era. He doesn’t own a cell phone and he has no idea how computers work. He answers immediately -- and proudly -- in the affirmative to the query: Are you a Luddite?

Actually, Corti is many things. He’s considered by many to be the foremost authority in California on all things about Italian wine and food. And he’s also steadfast and resolute about how he likes those wines. He likes them tasty and balanced, and he wants to drink them with food. And he is adamant about wines that he believes are way too high in alcohol..."

The story continues at http://wine.appellationamerica.com/wine-review/425/Wine-merchant-Darryl-Corti-.html.

I for one never buy wine according to alcohol content, so it would have no effect on me if I were a Corti customer.

Well, fancy that! What a great article and how refreshing to read about someone who has the balls to stand up for high alcohol and overly spoofed wines! This definitely affirms what I have been doing in recent years, checking the alcohol content before I buy a wine. Simply put, I have realized that 99% of wines I enjoy are in the lower alcohol bracket.

Thanks for posting this, Buckissimo!

I hear you. Those blow-your-hair-back wines are only yesterdays for me. Give me balance.

Good story, and I'm glad to see Darrell's answer to Parker's charge about getting a high alcohol Corti's zin. (Note to Parker: Don't take Darrell on. He's smarter, tougher, and a lot more cranky than you are.)

Going to the wine section at Corti's is like entering Darrell's brain. There are all kinds of things there that you don't find at most wine shops (much less grocery stores) that are there because Darrell wants them there. Not because they'll sell or because they have scored highly or for any other reason. Hell, he puts wines out with warning signs on them telling people not to buy them if they aren't familiar with the style. He puts out aged wines at ridiculous prices because he didn't have to pay a lot for them and he thinks people should try them ($23 for a perfect fourteen-year-old Antinori Chianti, anyone?) Love it or hate it, that store is his domain. I find that I've learned a lot from the wines I've bought there.


It will be interesting to see what happens with this. My guess is that not much will change. Darrell will do fine with his business and the alcohol levels for most wines will stay exactly where they are or go higher or wherever the markets, writers, etc. take them.


Mike

It will be interesting to see what happens with this. My guess is that not much will change.

Remember what they say about the longest journey...it takes that first step.

It will be interesting to see what happens with this. My guess is that not much will change.

Remember what they say about the longest journey...it takes that first step.

Good point. My understanding is that Darrell was one of the first in the U.S. to promote Australian wine. That certainly turned out to be a prescient move.


Mike

Thanks for posting Bucko!! I would be a customer there for sure, agh hum how do I get there!!!!!!

Thanks for posting Bucko!! I would be a customer there for sure, agh hum how do I get there!!!!!!

Well, if you can get to Calgary, then take Highway 2 south to Hwy 4. Take it south across the border where it becomes Hwy 15. Take 15 south to Salt Lake City and turn right on Hwy 80. Take 80 west to Sacramento where you'll want to take the Capital City Freeway south to Hwy 50. Go east on 50 for about 1/2 mile to the 59th St. exit. Take a left on 59th. Go across the light rail tracks and Corti's is on your left at the intersection of 59th and Folsom Blvd.

There ya go!


Mike

I gotta go through Calgary?....blagh!

Ah, if ony that store were closer to Phoenix!

Three cheers for Darrell Corti.

... ...

-- Clark

Mike gave a pretty accurate description of the tenor of Darrell's store. It's his domaine and he is loath to sell anything he wouldn't want to drink.
When I drop in there about once a year, I'll ask Darrell "what's new". He'll immediately grab a shopping cart, lead me about the store, tell me "you must try this", and load it into my shopping cart, with a 5 minute seminar on the wine. Usually wind up w/ 3-4 cases worth.
Darrell is a man from another era. I have watched him work over a wine rep who's brought in a sample for him to try and the guy's on the verge of tears when Darrell is done with him. "Rat piss" is one of his favorite wine descriptors, and I've heard him apply it to some pretty high-end Calif wines.
Darrell is, IMHO, one of the most intelligent men in the wine biz...bar none. If he were a physicist, it rank up there w/ Feynman and the like. I was at a Seminar on Spanish Brandies at the Aspen F&W Festival a number of yrs ago that Darrell was leading. We were already running about 15 min late (to go to the afternoon's Grand Tasting) and everytime the F&W lady tried to end the Seminar, Darrell waved her off. When we finished, about 25 min late now, someone asked a question (over the F&W lady's objection) about the label on one of the old brandies we tasted. Darrell immediately launched onto a very erudite lecture on paper production for ancient wine labels. The audience was spell-bound and not one person got up to leave for the GrandTasting. The poor F&W lady was fuming...but had the good sense not to mess w/ Darrell. He was not invited back to the Aspen F&W Festival the next year. I quit going as well.
You can ask Darrell a question on any subject and he can usually lecture w/ authority on the subject (I haven't tried him on the Higg's Boson yet, though). He is easily the USofA's foremost authority on Italian wines and way more expert on them than most Italian authorities. Also the USofA expert on Spanish/Portugese wines, though he looks w/ disdain on the charaicture of wine the Priorat wines have become. My first experience w/ Priorat wines was thru DarrellCorti, the deMueller rancio wines, which Arpy's scores have now managed to drive out of existence. He was one of the first to discover Australian wines, well before DanPhillips and Arpy. Same w/ NewZealand wines. Greek wines?? Yup, Darrell was there first. Last time out I bought a $35 Turkish wine that Darrell insisted I must try.
Darrell is, in every sense of the word, a Rennaisance man. He can easily leave you w/ the impression of an arrogant a$$. But, once he figures out you're genuinely interested in what he has to say, you'll not meet a more generous, friendly, honest, sincere guy in the world. Sacramento is indeed fortunate to have Darrell Corti.
Tom

He can easily leave you w/ the impression of an arrogant a$$. But, once he figures out you're genuinely interested in what he has to say, you'll not meet a more generous, friendly, honest, sincere guy in the world.

That sums him up pretty nicely, Tom. Thanks for some personal insight. (You just don't want to be on the same wine judging panel with him!)