I recently returned from a weeklong business trip, and the first night home as I was cooking dinner, I walked through our home and sighed, “Ahh,” thinking it is always good to get back home. There are wines for all wine consumers that elicit the same reaction, that feeling of comfort and familiarity, but something more too. Those aromas and flavors that take us back to our very favorite things about wine, and no doubt our favorite bottles, producers and varietals.

Sometimes these are new wines, new producers, or, heaven forbid, new varietals that we are trying for the first time and they are as rewarding and comfortable as our old favorites. For us here at the dinner party, these are the wines we save for our wine club, and for our Friday Night Flights program. As regular readers know we taste a lot of wine, from just about every distributor in the state, and every winemaker or importer that come calling. That is the most necessary part of our job. I can hear the collective refrain right now, “Wow tough job”.

While it is not hard to get excited about this part of our work, we love it and we get to try many great wines, but it remains a vital part of what we do. No wine ever goes into our wine club, gets featured in the Friday Night Flights or ends up on our shelves and in our racks unless we first try it. We are looking for not only what we like, but what we think you will enjoy. We get some wrong, but in general, we hope we get most right.

Our quarterly wine club features three bottles around $20 retail, and are our first priority as we taste, trying to find those truly extraordinary wines that our members will enjoy, that will give them the “ahh” factor. We are also looking for wines to include in the club that will stretch their wine consuming experience. Wines that will introduce all of us to new and different things. As we have said so many times, that is the beauty of wine there are so many great new things to try, and we like so many of them all for different reasons.

Our next priority is to find wines we will feature in our weekly wine special, the Friday Night Flights. When we started the “Flights” five years ago it was to accommodate some of the great wines we were trying, but due to shelf space,just could not fit in the shop. It is offered via email each Wednesday. Customers have until Thursday afternoon to order, and then they pick it up on Friday. This allows us to offer the wines in the flights at compelling prices. It also gives us the opportunity to again stretch the wine experience by highlighting things that are new and different. With no minimum orders, it is the chance to try new things one bottle at a time, and then order more if you like them.

This method pays off for many wine consumers, one of our now regular participants in the Friday Night Flights started out saying he knew little about French wines, and had not found many he liked. The current pricing environment has brought many great French bottlings to us at very compelling prices, the prices we like to feature in our weekly special. Since ordering several of the French offerings, this customer has found many new favorites. He looks forward now to the French features and it appears we have found his “ahh” moment with these wines.

The North Idaho wine market has a depth and richness to it that spans winemaking styles and varietal and appellation selections that give all wine consumers the chance to find those that make us go “ahh.” It is not limited by red, white or pink, by still or sparkling, by sweet or dry, by full body or light body the trick is to try enough wine to find your own favorites. Let us know if you would like to receive our weekly wine special the Friday Night Flights, or if you would like more information on our wine club by contacting us at info@thedinnerpartyshop.com.

If there is a topic you would like to read about, or if you have questions on wine, you can email George@thedinnerpartyshop.com, or make suggestions by contacting the Healthy Community section at the Coeur d’Alene Press.

George Balling is co-owner (with his wife Mary Lancaster) of the dinner party, a wine and tabletop décor shop by Costco in Coeur d’Alene. George has also worked as a judge in many wine competitions, and his articles are published around the country. You can learn more about the dinner party at www.thedinnerpartyshop.com. You can get all of these articles and other great wine tips by friending us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/dinnerpartyshop.