Get to Know the Pairings Staff!
You might have noticed some new faces at the shop! Meet our new Pairings staff, presented alphabetically!
David R.
Pronouns: he/him
In the shop: Saturdays, 4-9pm
1. First wine you fell in love with:
I think it may have been a bottle of Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino, a floral and vanilla-y treat of Sangiovese from Italy. I’m not sure the vintage, I was around 17 at the time and a dedicated Carlo Rossi drinker so this was definitely a step in the right direction to sway me away from jug wine.
2. Weirdest wine experience:
I always take a bottle of bubbly skiing with me, I throw it in my inner jacket pocket and hide it somewhere in the trees my first run to saber with a ski when needed (always making sure to pick up the cork). One time doing this I broke the bottle in my pocket before finding a spot to hide it. Had to ski down covered in champagne and with a pocket full of shattered glass. I switched to bringing cans after this.
3. Movie/TV flight that you’d like to push Jeff to pair to:
I grew up with the muppets, I drink with the muppets, and I will continue to drink with the muppets. If you want to join us you’re welcome to.
4. Pairings Portland first contact:
My first contact with Pairings was a few years back. Stumbled in just looking for a bottle and was pleasantly amused with the sprinklings of astrology and movies.
5. Something you love, or something about you that’s not about wine, that if someone knew they might want to know you better:
I like to forage on hikes. I’ll take all the leaves and sticks I find and make dinner or ferment them into natural (and slightly alcoholic) sodas.
6. Any weird random fact OR inspiring line that you repeat to yourself:
Ok, I got one, when you see the moon in the sky during the day while the sun’s out, it’s not actually the moon you’re looking at, it's a collection of water floating in space known as a Space Puddle. The moon you see is just a reflection of the actual moon in the puddle.
7. Favorite restaurant/food cart & why:
I eat out a lot. I live in SE and near MeKha grill, they have ridiculously good tofu banh mi and some of the best pho in town.
8. What music are you playing at the shop, or do you tend to gravitate to:
My music is all over the place. At the shop I often throw in some upbeat jams usually featuring Supertramp or the Cat Empire. Otherwise something a little more folk rock oriented like the Dead South or Dr. Dog.
Dillon G.
Pronouns: he/him
In the shop: Fridays, 4-9pm
1. First wine you fell in love with:
2010 Domaine de l'Ecu Orthogneiss Muscadet. It was only $13 and was an eye-opening mineral experience! Biodynamic, too!
2. Weirdest wine experience:
I've had wines as old as me that taste like they were born yesterday, and I've had relatively young wines taste totally over the hill. You never know til you pull the cork!
3. Movie/TV flight that you’d like to push Jeff to pair to:
Not a movie or TV show but how about literary greats? James Baldwin, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein... that would be a fun flight!
4. Pairings Portland first contact:
I stopped in and was treated to a 'Symptoms of Menopause' flight!
5. Something you love, or something about you that’s not about wine, that if someone knew they might want to know you better:
I love Chinese tea! It's just as fascinating as wine in many ways, except instead of drinking wine from 100 year old vines you can find tea from 400+ year old wild trees! Talk about history in a cup! I love getting together with people that I know from the wine biz or through playing music to drink wild puerh teas.
6. Any weird random fact OR inspiring line that you repeat to yourself:
'You're only as good as your last at bat'. Never rest on your laurels. Strive to learn more, do better and be kinder to others every day.
7. Favorite restaurant/food cart & why:
I have a serious love/hate relationship with the Salt and Pepper Peruvian cart on Belmont and 26th. His menu perpetually changes and a lot of it is super expensive, but damn! That guy makes a KILLER arroz con pollo.
8. What music are you playing at the shop, or do you tend to gravitate to:
Old school psychedelia, bluegrass, country. A lot of contemporary stuff, too! I like to check out Pitchfork's best new releases when I'm in the shop.
Jeff W.
Pronouns: he/him
In the shop: Wednesday - Saturdays, 12-4pm
1. First wine you fell in love with:
’70 Biondi Santi Brunello di Montalcino in the late 1980s. So smooth, round and seductive. Vanilla, spice and everything nice!
2. Weirdest wine experience:
The story of how I found the wine to pair to Gollum from Lord of the Rings. The Gollum description that I was pairing to: obsessive, conflicted, two-faced, complicated, jealous, transformed, misunderstood. I almost took the pairing out of the flight, but then I found a wine at a trade tasting that the wholesaler was giving away for cheap, because it was flat out weird to start AND it was going through a secondary fermentation in the bottle, so there was spritz on top of a wine that was both fruity & bitter, hard to understand, and from a high altitude area in Piedmonte that creates wines we don’t have a reference point for.
3. Movie/TV flight that you’d like to push Jeff to pair to:
Actually lets pair to the staff now that there’s 5 of us! Staff Flight with the adjectives provided by other staff members!!
4. Pairings Portland first contact:
I was originally gonna call it “Wonder Wines.” I think I’m glad I didn’t ;) … and my first time thinking about opening Pairings came the day I told my business partner of consciouswine.com I couldn’t do a business anymore that seemed to have a wall between it and an income stream. ConsciousWine was a 6 year project I started to vet US wineries for organic grape growing, no yeast added winemaking, biodiverse farming practices making wines that didn’t suck aka “vital choices for palate & planet”.
5. Something you love, or something about you that’s not about wine, that if someone knew they might want to know you better:
I’m from NY and have NY Sports addictions. My Dad dressed me in a Met uniform when I was about 8 and it’s still in my DNA. Mets, Jets, Knicks fan. Outside of that anomaly, really into the universe of metaphysics.
6. Any weird random fact OR inspiring line that you repeat to yourself:
Favorite lines I tell myself a lot: "The magic is in the mystery,” and “I am open to being surprised.”And, I love this line from the ancient poet and storyteller Rumi: “beyond the world of right and wrong there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”
7. Favorite restaurant/food cart & why:
Restaurant—Urdaneta. You can’t only go just once. Food Cart—Yoshi’s (Multnomah Village). He’s trained sushi chefs and it shows.
8. What music are you playing at the shop, or do you tend to gravitate to:
Disco. Yes I said it out loud. And lots of world beat with a South African lean. Random dancing ops abound.
Patrick W.
Pronouns: he/him
In the shop: Sundays, 12-7pm
1. First wine you fell in love with:
A Montepulciano D’Abruzzo. I don’t remember the winery, or the vintage. I remember it was $9, and I probably got it at Fred Meyer’s, because there was one right down the street from my house. I also remember drinking it by candlelight with my future wife and being struck by its warmth. There was something about it that paired well with the candlelight and a quiet house and conversation with someone I loved. I still don’t have the highfallutin’ wine vocabulary for it, but it was perfect.
2. Weirdest wine experience:
Several years later, after I was married, my wife and I went on a wine tasting trip to the Yamhil Valley, and we ended up on this dirt road that wound up the side of a hill, to get to this winery where we had to walk an even longer way to get to the tasting room. The estate was lush and clearly wealthy, but when we stepped inside the tasting room it was like entering a cellar during prohibition, minus the burly guy asking us for the password outside the doors. We walked in, and every in there – from the person working the tasting room to the other guests – gave us a look like we were not at all welcome. My wife and I looked at each other, turned right back around and hiked back to the car. I have no idea what was going on in that tasting room, but we wanted no part of it.
3. Movie/TV flight that you’d like to push Jeff to pair to:
Not a movie or TV show, but how about a flight around five modern artists? Impressionism to present day. Too hoity-toity? Fine. Five Star Trek series. Not characters; series. Take that, Jeff! (Throws down the gauntlet.)
4. Pairings Portland first contact:
My wife and I came in a few months after Pairings had opened and had a flight. Carol Ann was friends with Megan (Jeff’s partner) and it was Megan who encouraged us to come by. I am happy to say that now I can appreciate the diversity of expressions of wine character that comes out of no yeast added winemaking, but at the time... let’s just say I wasn’t ready for the funkiness of some of the bottles that Jeffrey was pouring that night. It was a challenging flight for us, and I’m so glad I came back years later to try it again, when I was more open to the experience.
5. Something you love, or something about you that’s not about wine, that if someone knew they might want to know you better:
I have made a hobby out of learning different modes of creative expression. At any point in my life I have been a drawer, painter, musician, actor, playwright, woodworker, bookmaker... On my recent vacation to the beach, I picked up a book on creating inks out of foraged materials, and I’m looking forward to many experiments that I can then use to make more art, or that just teach me a little more about how this stuff gets made.
6. Any weird random fact OR inspiring line that you repeat to yourself:
Random Fact: Ravens are believed to have the second largest vocabulary of vocal calls of any animal on Earth. They are only beaten out in this regard by human beings. They are also excellent mimics. Inspiring Lines: I have an uninspiring line that I find oddly inspiring. “Remember: every corpse on Everest was once a highly motivated person.” Our culture reveres people with ‘hustle,’ but it is, in fact, possible to hustle yourself to death. There comes a point where the more jobs you have, or the busier you are, the returns begin to diminish. Don’t work so hard that you forget what life is for.
7. Favorite restaurant/food cart & why:
Restaurant: Friendship Kitchen, just across the street from the wine shop. A small Vietnamese place. Just go. Do it. You’ll thank me.Food Cart: Burger Stevens, in the pod at Prost! on N. Mississippi. I always love a good burger, and sometimes I love a crappy burger. This is a very, very good burger, with a loose, tender patty and a great house special sauce. Plus, their shoestring fries are <chef’s kiss>.
8. What music are you playing at the shop, or do you tend to gravitate to:
My tastes vary from 80’s new wave to 90’s alternative, punk to bluegrass, house to jazz. I’m down to listen to just about anything except modern country. TV On The Radio is a favorite band; so is Concrete Blonde.
There you have it! If you liked someone’s interview, feel free to drop by during their hours and meet them in person!
