Sunday, February 10, 2008
Food, "Behind the Bar"

Good wine hunting

 

By Hope S. Philbrick

Doug Bryant is founder and CEO of Sherlock’s Wine Merchant, a chain of retail stores located in Buckhead, Brookhaven, Decatur, Town Center and East Cobb. A passionate supporter of French wines, Bryant was awarded France’s prestigious “Le Mérite Agricole” (Medal of Agriculture) in 2006. While stocking an impressive selection of French wines, his stores’ shelves boast a diverse selection of wines, beers and spirits from around the world. Sherlock’s also provides wine education through tastings, clubs and classes. The Sunday Paper recently talked to Bryant to learn more.

Q What sparked your interest in wine?
A It really developed through my father’s passion for and interest in wines. I grew up with wine on the dinner table. I traveled with my father—who was a physician—to different wine regions and wine societies and met interesting people in the industry. I’d always thought I’d go into the real estate business, but, in 1986, I had an opportunity to take a position in a retail store that sold wine, beer and liquor.

I’m in the wine, spirits and beer business but also in the education and cookware business. Several years ago, Mary Moore and I got together with the goal of putting wine and food together in a meaningful way. Our store in Brookhaven is a comprehensive cooking store with a demonstration kitchen for classes plus a comprehensive wine store focused on unique and artisan wines. We later replicated the concept in Decatur. It’s been a fun and interesting experience. The cross training has been beneficial and consumers have responded to it.

What’s your goal for Sherlock’s?
To be known as the wine merchant with the friendliest and most knowledgeable staff. A core business value is education of wines and also how wine and food work together. We’re constantly training staff through wine certification programs and our own in-house programs in partnership with Cook’s Warehouse. Wine staff members and I also travel extensively to different wine-producing regions around the world. The goal is to further our understanding of wines and foods, as well as give us knowledge to help our clients have a better wine experience.

I feel it’s important for everyone on the staff to have some kind of exposure to winemaking along with the people and food in a region. To be able to tell a client that we’ve visited a producer and why we believe the wines are such great quality and value is an important part of what we do.

Traveling also gives us an opportunity to identify new and interesting wines that we think are of high quality and worthy value that we then try to make available in Atlanta.

What are some new and interesting products?
We have wines that you just don’t often see very often in this marketplace from Alsace, Germany, Austria and Italy. And this summer, we’ll have a great selection of rosés.

One of the luxuries that I have as a proprietor is being able to focus more intently on my passion, which is the wines of France and, in particular, the wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy. I enjoy wines from all regions, but France is an area that I focus on. Within our company, we have specialists in other regions.

What I find interesting is that people in the United States will start drinking domestic wines and over time start exploring other regions like Australia and Chile. Eventually they end up enjoying and studying the wines of France and Western Europe, which do tend to be more food-oriented. It’s interesting to see clients’ palates progress and change over the years.

I think that today’s consumers are more interested than ever before in exploring new varietals and regions. The focus now is on South Africa, Italy, Argentina and Austria. Today’s consumers are far more educated about wines than they were 10 years ago and more interested in expanding their knowledge about wines. Atlanta is a great place to be in the wine business right now for this reason. SP
For more information, visit www.sherlocks.com.