Jackson Uncorked

BY Joohee Muromcew
photography by Ashley wilkerson

LUNCH IS AN oversized BLT, potato chips, and six or seven different bottles of Italian and South African red wines. The company is even better. Dennis Johnson, manager of Dornan’s Wine Shoppe, has invited me to join a tasting lunch with him, Mr. Dornan (“that’s Bob to you!”), two reps from a wine importer, and, for good measure, renowned geologist Dr. Bob Smith. They’ve already tasted the whites and rosés offered by Kate McGuire from Dreyfus, Ashby & Co., an importer of strictly family wineries from around the world. I arrive at the Chuckwagon in time for a South African shiraz from the Stellenbosch wine region. “Nice fruit, but too damn young,” Bob Dornan states. That sums up the culture at Dornan’s—sophisticated, knowledgeable, and at all times unpretentious.

Dornan’s in Moose, a family owned enterprise since 1916 when the first generation homesteaded, is an unlikely spot to find a world-class wine store. With a heaven-sent view of the Tetons, guests traverse the compound—cabin rentals, adventure sports guides, Pizza Pasta Company, the Chuckwagon restaurant, and the Spur Bar—in the usual Jackson Hole footwear of cowboy boots and river shoes. The Wine Shoppe, however, is so unexpected, first-time visitors are shocked to find such a large and deep inventory, presided over by such a knowledgeable wine staff. With its 1,500-plus bottle list, it has earned a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence for Dornan’s restaurants every year for twenty-eight years.

After lunch Dornan gives me a tour of the cellar, including the very special rooms where rare vintages are stored. Empty bottles from memorable dinners are also kept here, and, for him, each one sparks a fond memory of who was there and what they were celebrating. Upstairs in the store, a young man asks for Johnson. He’s heading to a dinner party and wants to bring the hosts, longtime customers of the shop, a bottle of wine. “They said you’ll know exactly what they like,” the man says. Johnson pulls a bottle out: “Oh, they will like this. In fact, you might want to bring two.”

THESE INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS between Johnson, the shop, wineries, and their customers go back decades for some. Evelyn Dornan first started visiting Napa wineries in the 1930s and ’40s, long before Wyoming showed up on any distributor or importer’s call sheet.

“Back in the sixties, people from the East Coast would come here for the dude ranches, and they were all big French wine drinkers. People wanted good wine here, and we brought it to them,” explains Dornan, who eschews the pretense and exclusivity usually associated with wine culture.

While the true significance of a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence is always up for debate, it does show an effort by restaurants to highlight their wine lists. Dornan’s Best of Award of Excellence is one distinction above the “Award of Excellence” title earned last year by valley restaurants Local, Nikai, Snake River Grill, The Silver Dollar Grill, Trio, and Wild Sage. In Grand Teton National Park, both the Jenny Lake Lodge Dining Room and Jackson Lake Lodge’s Mural Room also earned the Excellence award. Unlike the Michelin guide or Zagat’s, Wine Spectator Awards are completely voluntary, and many restaurants choose not to apply.

FOR DAVE HEMPHILL, wine and beverage director at Snake River Grill, the goal is always for “a well-balanced list. I try not to let my personal tastes interfere. We’re trying to represent as much as we can to our diners,” Hemphill says. The restaurant’s eight-page wine list varies from a fifteen-dollar glass of 2012 Les Boursicottes Sancerre to a magnum of 2008 Alban Vineyards Reva Estate Syrah for over six hundred dollars. If you are lucky enough to dine at SRG when chef Jeff Drew offers his grilled lamb ribs, Hemphill suggests, if it is a special occasion, that you enjoy it with the 2008 Clos Marie Pic Saint-Loup Les Glorieuses.

In downtown Jackson, the newest wine destination is Bin22, part of Gavin Fine’s Fine Dining Restaurant Group. In conversation it becomes clear that this nexus of good food and wine is close to Fine’s heart. An early supporter of the Jackson Hole Wine Auction, an annual benefit for the Grand Teton Music Festival, Fine has seen the wine culture bloom and expand across all markets. He credits Gerard Yvernault, a Jackson resident and former executive vice president of powerhouse wine importer Kobrand Corporation, for bringing the potential of the valley wine market personally to the attention of important wineries. At Bin22, Fine hopes to “make wine approachable and fun. People who live or vacation here are very cosmopolitan, and it used to be hard to get wine. Now it’s easier, and I saw the missing piece that Bin22 fulfills.”

Neil Loomis, wine and beverage director for the entire Fine Dining Group, approaches each restaurant’s wine list with a different client in mind. The list at Il Villaggio Osteria, located in Hotel Terra in Teton Village, is, as one would expect, mostly Italian and slightly more high-end.

Rendezvous Bistro’s list skews French with lots of Rhône wines. At Bin22, however, with its wine store/restaurant format, Loomis can offer a changing list of by-the-glass wines and also waives the corkage fee for bottles purchased in the store. “These are really great products, many off the beaten path. We special-order most of the inventory. It’s really an extension of what we do. We really try to exceed the expectations of the price point,” he says. Loomis focuses on small producers and is seeing the market expand its range in white wines with Portuguese Vinho Verde coming into favor and Greek whites gaining some momentum.

Anthony Puccia, the wine and beverage director for Four Seasons Resort Jackson Hole, has perhaps the greatest burden of expectation with his wine program, given the reputation of the globally recognized luxury brand. Many of his clients at the Westbank Grill are not only Four Seasons loyalists, but repeat diners over their stays.

“We have the luxury of guests getting to know the list. They interact with staff, and we want to make people feel at home,” says Puccia, who prides himself on his diligent continuing education in winemaking. He spends three months every fall in Napa and tries to make a personal connection with every winemaker and winery on his list. “I really try to focus on the winemaker and make it a dynamic, exciting list,” he says.

Unique to the Westbank Grill is their wine-by-the-glass program, which makes nearly every bottle available by the glass using the Coravin wine preservation system. “It allows us to focus on varietals and winemakers rather than the price point,” Puccia says. He also encourages guests to try varietals with seasonally appropriate promotions and wine dinners. “I want guests to step outside their usual picks. I spent some time in the Alsace region in fall of 2013 and came back wanting guests to explore rieslings.” Look for more by-the-glass promotions, tastings, and wine dinners as Puccia brings back inspiration from his off-season travels.

WINE DINNERS ARE becoming increasingly popular in the valley, pairing skillfully crafted food with wines. Thematic variations abound. The Aspens Market in Wilson has hosted Market Table Dinners around Chilean whites or even sake. Expect more tasting events at Bin22, as their Wine Club increases in membership. The prim and proper Teton Pines Country Club also offers themed wine tastings and dinners open to the public. Recent events included a cozy fireside Austrian wines dinner and a wine-tasting event featuring Niner Wine Estates from Paso Robles, California.

The holy grail of wine gatherings in the valley still remains “Communion.” Every Sunday evening at Dornan’s, Bob Dornan brings out some glasses to the picnic tables, and a motley crew of family, friends, and random characters are invited to bring a bottle to share. If you go, bring something good, because as Dornan reminds me while we drink a final bottle of pinot noir under the cathedral of the Tetons, “We worship Bacchus around here.”