THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996 TAG: 9608080054
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM RAPER, SPECIAL TO FLAVOR
LENGTH: 204 lines
THE LETTERHEAD of Chapin Cellars, Ltd., has a line that reads, ``The Wine People.'' Indeed, one imagines dozens of employees on both sides of the Atlantic going about the company's business of importing wines from Germany into the United States.
Last year Chapin Cellars sold about 20,000 cases in 13 states. Robert Parker Jr., the preeminent American wine critic, declares in ``Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide'' that the company has become a ``major importer of German wines'' and that its ``reasonably priced portfolio includes numerous excellent wines.''
Results and reviews such as these would make any company proud. Top management would send down congratulatory memos. Workers might even get bonuses. But not at Chapin Cellars.
A celebration there would sound suspiciously like two hands clapping. When you look behind the letterhead and the sales statistics and the good reviews, all you find is one man, one computer and one little office in Virginia Beach.
The story of how Romaine Chapin ``Bob'' Rice came to be an international player in the wine business has the ironies and improbabilities of a Black Forest fable.
He was nearly 50 years old when he started the business in 1978.
His introduction to fine wine had come only a few years earlier. Before that he had preferred whisky. ``My whole generation didn't know much about wine, other than Mad Dog and labels like that. When we thought wine, we thought alcohol only. Crude drink.''
He didn't speak German and had almost no German in his bloodline. Nevertheless, he says, ``things German just seemed to fit me.'' (He still is not fluent, but he can ``speak wine and order food.'')
Rice did have a few things going for him.
Most important was a boatload of confidence. ``I had sold cars, lawn mowers, mini-bikes, artificial flowers, even those little ceramic horse and cart pieces with an arrangement of artificial flowers in the cart. I was ballsy and I could sell,'' he says.
He looks Germanic - stout, and with a Saint Nicholas twinkle in his eyes.
And he is a natural storyteller, which has endeared him to tradition-minded German producers. (Remember the Brothers Grimm?) A private tasting of a dozen of Rice's wines stretches past the allotted two hours, to three, to four, almost to five hours. Every bottle reminds him of a story.
``Charlemagne was camped there,'' he says, pointing to a map of the Rhineland. ``He was in the Rheinhessen and he could look across the river to the Rheingau, and, somewhere about there, Johannisberg, he noticed that the snow melted faster in this one spot than everywhere else. So, you guessed it, that's where Charlemagne decided to plant vines.''
Rice pours from another bottle and immediately holds up a full-color brochure touting the family business that produced the wine. On an inside page is a picture of the family's beautiful estate with its three-story brownstone mansion. ``Isn't that something. But I'm worried about them,'' he says. ``Do you know, they can afford to heat only five rooms of it. It's almost a crime how little they get for some of their wines.''
He moves on to another bottle, this one labeled with the name of the vineyard, Monchspfad, from which the riesling grapes came to make the wine. ``Monchspfad,'' he intones. ``Monks' path. There was a monastery here, and over there another compound for the nuns. In between was the vineyard. The monks had to walk back and forth across the vineyard to get to the nunnery.
Therefore. . . ''
The Monchspfad riesling is from the producer Schumann-Nagler in the Rheingau. No family turns up in more of Rice's stories than the Schumanns; Rice even carries pictures of Fred Schumann's two sons, Christopher, 15, and Philipp, 14, who will be expected to take the reins of the family business in a decade or two. Rice adds in a reverent whisper, ``and if one of them does, that will be 25 straight generations in the business.'' The Schumanns have been making wine since 1438.
Rice's import business was just getting started when he met the Schumanns. He was given exclusive rights to sell the family's wines in the U. S. Eventually, he invested in the Schumanns' company and they in his.
``I'm lucky to have hooked up with them,'' he says. ``They make nice wines.'' Critics agree, and so do Hampton Roads wine merchants who stock the Schumann-Nagler wines.
Rice grew up in Chicago and spent his early married years there. A sales job with DuPont brought him east to Delaware and in 1963 he was assigned to a sales district that allowed him to live in central or eastern Virginia. He and his first wife chose Virginia Beach.
A decade of ups and downs followed in his professional and personal lives. He tried supervising other salesmen, then returned to being a traveling salesman. ``There was a lot of strain,'' he says, and in the next breath he mentions the divorce.
He returned to sales management, this time with a Norfolk-based wholesaler, Broudy-Kantor, which, among other products, distributes wine. ``I didn't know wine, but I knew sales,'' he says. His introduction to fine wine, he remembers, was presided over by a crusty sales representative named Billy Freeman.
``He taught me a lot about wine, but damn if I could teach him anything about new sales techniques. He did things his way,'' Rice says.
Rice's personal life brightened with his second marriage. He and wife, Susie, who runs a learning disabilities program at Tidewater Community College, recently celebrated their 20th anniversary.
The longer he worked in sales management the more he knew it was not for him.
``I really, really don't like to have to get results through other people. I'm a terrible boss, demanding. I pout,'' he says. ``It's a pain to worry about somebody else, all their problems.''
So in 1978, at an age when most people are beginning to think about retirement, Rice came to know what he wanted in a career: a ``one-man shop.''
He decided to be a wine importer and settled upon Germany as his source. France crossed his mind, but the field there was more crowded.
``I told my wife we were going to be rich,'' he says, and he chuckles. ``It was seven years before I could get back to paying the mortgage. She supported us.''
Virginia is not a good market for German wines. ``I know Bob was slow getting it going around here,'' says George LeCuyer, owner of 22 Wine Street Gourmet in Hampton. ``He was something of a prophet without honor. . . .''
But other markets started to fall his way, particularly the Washington, D. C., area. Chapin Cellars was off and running.
Currency fluctuations and lean sales in the mid 1980s caused him to swing below Germany, into Alsace, to add the French producer Adam to his portfolio. ``I wanted to broaden my book. I was introduced to five or six Alsace producers and I picked this one.''
As in the case of the Schumanns, Rice has adopted the Jean-Baptiste Adam family, and vice versa. ``History and tradition,'' that's what impresses Rice. The Adam family has been making wines since 1614.
Rice spends a few weeks in Europe early each year tasting and selecting wines to import. Most of his effort goes into sales to wholesalers, such as The Country Vintner, which represents him in Virginia and parts of North Carolina.
Long past, he says, are the days when he would make shot-in-the-dark sales calls. ``I'm smarter. I know my market. I know what I can handle. I'm happy with my one-man shop.''
He also takes satisfaction from a life that follows ``my own plan.'' He remembers telling himself in 1978 that his next job should be his last one. ``And it was,'' he says, eyes twinkling. ``I'm never going to retire. I'll probably just back down.'' MEMO: Related article on page F2.
Serving German wines with food
``I'm always telling restaurateurs that they should have German wines
on their lists because German wines make their dishes taste better,''
says Romaine Chapin ``Bob'' Rice, a Virginia Beach man who imports wines
from about 30 German producers and promotes them throughout the eastern
United States.
Several qualities of German wines contribute to their compatibility
with meals.
They are relatively light in alcohol and high in fruit flavors, such
as apricots and tart apples.
They have a racy acidity that cleans the palate.
They come in a variety of styles, ranging from light to rich and bone
dry to sweet.
On the down side, almost all of the German wines that are shipped to
the United States are white wines.
A fruit sauce on chicken, pork loin or even game, can increase your
chances of making a successful match with a rich, but relatively dry,
example.
Cured country hams go well with a slightly sweet example.
Shellfish and finfish, particularly freshwater trout, can be
complemented by a dry example.
And many Oriental foods, such as a curry dishes, are enhanced by
medium-bodied examples with only slight sugar content.
``I was having a curry dish at a restaurant in Florida and they
wanted me to drink a chardonnay with it,'' Rice says. ``It was a
terrible match. I went out to my car and brought in a German spatlese.
Wow!''
TASTING NOTES ON WINES IMPORTED BY CHAPIN CELLARS
Schumann-Nagler 1994 Rheingau Riesling QbA Halbtrocken ($13) This is
not a top quality Qualitatswein mit Pradikat wine, but one from the next
highest quality level of Qualitatswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete (QbA), or
quality wine from a specific region. Halbtrocken, or half-sweet, refers
to the way the winemaker finishes (styles) the wine by adding sweet
reserve juice after the fermentation is complete. A Halbtrocken will be
finished to a higher sugar level than Trocken, and is considered to be a
dry wine. This example has a lovely floral nose and tastes of citrus and
wild grapes. It's not austerely dry or acidic, but still clean on the
finish. A nice food wine.
Kuhling Gillot 1994 Rheinhessen Oppenheimer Herrengarten Riesling QbA
($11) Another example of an inexpensive QbA with a rich taste. The aroma
and flavor reminds one of white peaches. There is a honeyed
concentration to it, but it is not sweet. A nice wine for sipping before
dinner.
H. Wagner 1994 Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Kabinett
($16) This has the charactistic racy acidity of its region, but with
notes of vanilla and apples to round it out. It would pair well with
broiled flounder.
Seebrich 1994 Rheinhessen Niersteiner Hipping Riesling Spatlese
($13.50) A good Spatlese for the money, this has a big, fruity nose and
tastes of raisins. It's somewhat thick, too, but there is enough acid to
give it a clean, not at all cloying, finish. Serve this with fowl or
pork mildly flavored with curry.
Schumann-Nagler 1989 Rheingau Geisenheimer Monchspfad Riesling
Spatlese ($13) Another good value Spatlese. This one from the ``Monks'
Path'' vineyard has a floral aroma and tastes of pears. Impressive body
leads to a nearly dry finish. A wide range of foods could be served with
this. Remember it for Thanksgiving dinner.
Johan Haart 1994 Mosel-Ruwer-Saar Piesporter Goldtropfchen Riesling
Auslese ($28) This is a lovely dessert wine from a well-known producer
using grapes from a highly rated vineyard. Thus the price.
Adam Cremant d'Alsace Brut nonvintage ($18) This sparkling wine is
from Chapin Cellar's sole Alsace producer, and is dry like most wines
from that French region. It has the yeasty nose of a Champagne, but
there the comparison ends. This is fruitier than anything remotely in
the same price range from Champagne. There are echoes even of red fruit,
although it is made from the white grapes pinot blanc and auxerrois. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by VICKI CRONIS, The Virginian-Pilot
When Romaine Chapin "Bob" Rice started his company 18 years ago, he
was a salesman who knew nothing about the wine business. Now, many
say he's an expert. by CNB