Among the last points you may anticipate to hear from a person like Paula de Pano, with 14 years in the red wine globe and an Advanced Sommelier certification to her name, is, “I’m so against the white wine brother.”
For de Pano, the really concept of the “red wine bro”, that arrogant oenophile who trades sampling notes on premier crus like they’re mint-condition Pokemon cards and name goes down high-end, collection agency vineyards as if he simply casually run across Beyonce every Tuesday at lunch, is the reverse of how she comes close to red wine.
“The a glass of wine bro way of thinking continues the idea that red wine is hard to reach as well as cliquish,” she states, “as well as it shouldn’t be.”
Paula de Pano. Daniel Turbert Next springtime de Pano obtains the chance to place that philosophy into action, with the opening of Rocks & Acid, her brand-new red wine store and bar in Chapel Hillside’s Southern Village. The store is the end result of a profession in white wine that has included jobs at Asheville’s the Edge Cooking area, elderly sommelier at Eleven Madison Park, as well as, for the previous five years, Fearrington Village, where she succeeded Max Kast as the drink as well as service supervisor for the Fearrington House and also Fearrington Town’s different eating options.
Rocks & & Acid will integrate de Pano’s love for distinct, terroir-driven white wines with her passion for a glass of wine education– classes will certainly be a normal, as well as important, part of the shop’s values. “We intend to come, enjoyable, as well as appropriate,” de Pano says.
She intends on sourcing wines from wineries and also wine makers that follow the very same worths she holds, specifically sustainability, stability, and, especially provided today’s social environment, a dedication to variety and also equity.
“Primarily I do a background examine the wine,” she giggles. “This is something that a person has purchased and also I don’t want to place it right into their conscience that they’ve perpetuated something they do not believe in.”
Rocks & Acid Access is likewise something that is essential to de Pano. Customers can anticipate a wide range of wines at Rocks & & Acid that are value priced, and offering inexpensive choices to higher end glass of wines will certainly be an emphasis of the shop. For example, de Pano plans on stocking wine from Robert Perroud, which for around $22 a bottle offers clients the possibility to experience a Cru Beaujolais at distinctly un-Cru prices.
One more focus of de Pano’s (along with an added pushback versus that hard-partying white wine bro mindset) will be a focus on accountable pleasure of a glass of wine. By offering distinct options at affordable rates, as well as pushing the academic part of a glass of wine, de Pano wishes to show that one can take pleasure in as well as learn from a container of white wine without feeling the need to obtain plastered.
“There’s a great deal more to red wine than just getting yourself intoxicated,” she says. “I’m not slamming the area, I love the area I remain in. I just do not want people to be drinking for the sake of getting drunk,” she proceeds, a nod to the growing movement in the drinks world towards moderation as well as recognition of really actual problems bordering alcohol consumption society and also dependency.
At the end of the day de Pano hopes that Rocks & & Acid will be a location where customers can not only visit for a glass of red wine or to grab a container for dinner, but really an area where people can be in continuous conversation around white wine, learning and growing through sampling. “My tastes aren’t your preferences– you require to uncover what you like,” she says.
With strategies to provide nibbles like cheese and charcuterie plates as well as a smattering of diner tables for individuals to collect with friends, de Pano is looking to construct an area space for her customers, where one needn’t really feel ashamed concerning asking concerns. Keep an eye out red wine brothers, Rocks & & Acid aims to make white wine obtainable for the masses, not the priceless few.
Right now plans are for a spring 2022 opening, although de Pano acknowledges that she’s at the grace of the allowing as well as developing procedure. In the meantime Rocks & & Acid can be located on Instagram at @rocksandacidwineshop and de Pano is @sommgirl.