KT: Name a couple of your favorite wines — and price is no object.
MD: I’ve got a Barbaresco, a noble, age-worthy red wine from the Piedmont in Italy whose producer is DeForville. You could open this bottle when your great-grandchild is born. They’re epic, an indigenous variety from the northeastern part of Italy, which is incredibly foggy and very surreal. The wines are earthy and primordial, wintry, dark reds I love this time of year drunk with risottos or stews. That’s $30. Another is Domaine Eden, a domestic cabernet sauvignon from California. I love the pioneers of the California wine movement, and they’re one of them. They haven’t changed the style of their wines because of commercial pressure or need to keep up with the modern palette. The wine is $41.
The Kingston Wine Co. logo. (Photo: Phyllis McCabe)
KT: Is there room for innovation in the wine industry?
MD: I’m not this Luddite and am all for updated traditionalism. A young man doesn’t need to make wine exactly like his great-great grandfather. There are certain modern resources he or she can use, however it’s better to express the tradition. There’s a Burgundian expression, “let the wine make itself.”
KT: What about organic wine?
MD: I stock a handful of affordable everyday organic and biodynamic wines, made by people I highly respect who are using as little additives as possible. But I’m not a true believer … the certification process for smaller operations can be very burdensome.
KT: Are you planning to offer tastings?
MD: Yes, but what I really want to develop is a more class-like structure where I can share my knowledge.
KT: You’re opening in the middle of winter. Has that been tough, and what kind of feedback have you gotten so far?
MD: In the past few weeks the feedback and reaction has been overwhelmingly fantastic. Instead of a traditional liquor store where the owner stands behind the counter and adds up the bill and sends people on their way, I make a concerted effort to get in front of the counter. The reaction has been great. People have said winter is the worse time, but we are committed to being a 12-month artisanal operation. We’ve created a store with a unique ambiance and voice, and my hope is people will get in their car and come down here. I think winter is a great time to start because I can really immerse myself in all the details of the business.
KT: How do you like Kingston so far?
MD: You feel like you can make a bigger splash when you throw the penny in the pond. The pace is wonderful. There’s all this residual energy coming from the city. I see it in the diversity and eclectic nature of our customers. My inner citiness is very much satisfied with the outlets to creatively engage. The people of Kingston are very creative, quirky and iconoclastic. I’ve dug into that and gotten connected with lots of folks. We feel so proud to be part of the community.
KT: What’s the symbolism behind your logo?
There’s a shield, circle, triangle, and roots. Roots are a huge part of wine’s nourishment and they also represent the winemaker’s connection to the land. The shield refers to the heritage of the winemakers. It also resembles a glass. The triangle represents change, which refers to the fact that many of the wines we carry are changing and evolving. What looks to be mountain peaks signify we’re a wineshop in the Catskills. The circle represents the soil-to-bottle process and also the sun, which makes possible the photosynthesis of healthy grapes.
