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Wine shop brightens downtown
I received a few comments this week about Dolce Vita restaurant earning an Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator magazine and those comments simply substantiated what the award recognized. Rick and Sue Crippen have one of the city’s best wine bars in town thanks in great part to Rick’s never-ending curious nature about wines and to his desire to offer great wines at affordable prices.
A few doors upstream at 420 Main St., Mike Chariton recently opened Planet Wines, the city’s first wine shop. Chariton said he’s been interested in wines for years and about two years ago decided to find a way to blend that personal interest with making a living. Investing all your savings along with some home equity is about as serious as a person can get about melding two diverse worlds, but Chariton seems quite excited about the future of his shop and the sophistication of local wine drinkers.
*Mike Chariton of Planet Wines
“I’ve seen the sophistication level change over the past few years and I really think there’s a place for my store,” said Chariton recently. He said he purposely put his store downtown because of the atmosphere of the downtown and its continuing development.
“I wanted a real neighborhood for the store and I think downtown is about the only real neighborhood we have,” Chariton said. “And with the new construction being planned, we’ll have more restaurants and shops and hopefully that will bring more people downtown.”
Planet Wines (Chariton said the name came to him while he on one of his frequent long-distance runs through the desert) features more than 1,000 selections and each week Chariton offers a special on a country or wine.
“Also, wine is a worldwide phenomena and I want bring some of those great wines to Grand Junction,” Chariton said. The store’s specialty is personalized service, Chariton said.
“I want people to tell me what they want us to carry,” Chariton said. “I think it’s great to explore new wines and try something adventurous.”
Planet Wine hours are 10 a.m.-8 p.m Monday through Wednesday and 10a.m-9 p.m Thursday through Saturday.
Comments
By dave
August 2, 2008 8:48 PM | Link to this
Trix: Thanks for the nice words about Rick. One of the best things about him is he doesn’t inflict his wine knowledge on you but rather is eager to share the good stuff and makes learning about wine fun for everyone.
Ingrid: I’m facinated to meet someone named Magre because the place is very special in the Italian wine world. As small as Magre is, I doubt there is any place to stay in the village, although there might be a B&B or something similar. I’ll do some checking and see if I can find anything. There are some great small restaurants/lodges in the area, although I’m a bit of novice at finding them. My friend and fellow blogger Jeremy Parzen at Do Bianchi stays at some great places when he’s in northern Italy and maybe he can be of some assistance. Good luck.
By Bob
August 4, 2008 6:02 PM | Link to this
In case you don’t realize it, Wine Spectator awards are a lot like the “Who’s Who” books. You send in a list, the money and you have won!!!!!!!!!!
No money, no mention.
Just let that guide you when you are looking for award winning wine lists, there are some great ones in this town now, but wine spectator does not list them, cause they did not pay.
By dave
August 11, 2008 9:12 PM | Link to this
Bob: While I appreciate your advice, there’s a bit more to the Wine Spectator award than “send in the money, you win.” According to the magazine, it rejected nearly 1/3 (319 of 982) of this year’s applicants, so it can’t only be a matter of money. and while a WS award shouldn’t be the sole judge of a restaurant’s wines, it’s a good place to start when you know nothing about the restaurant and/or are looking for someplace new to try. I agree there are some fine wine lists in this town, it just that Rick Crippen at Dolce Vita is willing to take the extra step to get noticed. Cheers..