Omnivore - How Hop City uses your coffee tastes to pair you with the perfect wine

? Does the thought of ordering wine for the table, scouring a book-long list for anything remotely familiar, totally stress you out? Or maybe your wine-buying nightmare scenario consists of a well-intentioned salesperson quizzing you mid-aisle with questions like ‘Do you prefer notes of limestone minerality, dirty petrol, or fresh-cut grass on the nose?’ Regardless of the circumstances, picking and choosing the right wine, a wine that’s so your style, exactly what you were looking for, is tricky business. We heard through the grapevine that Hop City Craft Beer and Wine owner/Head Hop Head, Kraig Torres, has an uncanny ability to predict the type of wine a customer will like based on the way they order a cup of joe. Creative Loafing recently caught up with Torres to ask him about his process.
?
? When people come into Hop City looking for wine, you ask them about the way they take their coffee instead of asking questions about wines they like. Why? ?
? The point of asking questions outside of beer or wine is wine preferences usually have nothing to do with wine. The night you met someone you fell in love with, you drank a pinot noir, so, you love pinot noir. A customer will say ‘I love Red Stripe’ and I ask why. It usually goes something like this: ‘When I was in Jamaica…’ That’s why he likes it, because the vacation was good. It’s a skewed answer. If I ask a question having nothing to do with wine or beer I get a clearer picture of taste.
?
? How long have you been using this method?
? ?

? ??? ?
?
About six years. It was a former team member, Chris Reed, who implemented the technique, and it resonated. I took what he was teaching and I went with it. ?

? ?
? Cool. So, how does it work? ?

? ?
? The real magic of it starts with me asking if you prefer coffee or tea. Coffee tells me you are more tannicly inclined. Tannins are the astringent, what makes a wine taste dry. If you like coffee, you like the roastiness and are more predisposed to red wine.
?
? That makes sense. 
?
? From there I ask how you take your coffee. If you prefer black then you like big, burly wines. I would steer you toward Bordeaux, Barolo, or cabernet. Like coffee with cream? Then you like a softer finish on the wine — one with all the roastiness, but one where the finish lingers less, like a malbec or petit syrah. Like your coffee with sugar? Then I would steer toward something more fruit forward like a pinot noir or a Côtes du Rhône. ?

? ?
? And what if the customer drinks tea? ?

? ?
? Tea is even more interesting. Tea-drinkers are more predisposed to white wine. If you typically choose herbal or green tea, you’ll probably like a higher acid wine, sauvignon blancs with big grapefruit and citrusy notes. Same with lemon in tea, a high acid wine. For Earl Grey drinkers, go with something soft and gentle — a mellow, easy-drinking wine like a riesling or gewürztraminer. For a sweet tea-drinker, go with a moscato or riesling ... nothing is too sweet. ?

? ?
? Say I walk into the store and tell you I prefer tea: smoky lapsang souchong, no lemon, no sugar. How would you steer me? ?

? ?
? That’s a fun one to pair. I would go with a dry rosé, especially in the summer. Definitely something with a higher aromatic quality. In winter, probably a pinot noir. Probably Scotch over bourbon.
? ?

? ?
? Do people return and let you know whether they liked your suggestions? ?

? ?
? Definitely. I would say 98 percent accurate. I am almost never wrong. ?

? ?
? Hop City Craft Beer and Wine, 99 Krog St. N.E., 470-355-2634; 1000 Marietta St. N.W., 404-350-9998. www.hopcitybeer.com. ?

?