VW movie recommendation: Annie Hall

One of the best movies of all time features some wild rides in a Volkswagen Beetle. Remember Annie Hall? Not only was there a cool VW cameo, but also fun cameos by younger versions of Paul Simon, Christopher Walken and even Jeff Goldblum. We highly recommend taking a break from the summer heat and chilling out with this Woody Allen masterpiece!

Norman Music Fest folks in new Joaquin Phoenix movie?

We hear the documentary on Joaquin Phoenix becoming a hip hop star will finally be released in September. And we’re hoping the folks over at the Norman Music Festival (including our GM Jonathan Fowler) made the final cut. Anyone else remember this masterpiece?

Fowler V-Dub gets some luv

We love, love, love our customers! And they gave us some love back at a recent customer event. See what they had to say about their Fowler VW experience and then come by and check us out for yourself!

Get into the Independence Day spirit at The Spirit Shop

Beer: The Spirit Shop's top pick for Fourth of July celebrations.

I seriously love The Spirit Shop. Over the past eight years of being legal, I’ve never been let down by Spirit Shop Managing Partner Matt Sterr. All I have to say is “fruit forward” (the only wine lingo I know) and he whips around the shop presenting the most delicious cabs, syrahs and pinot noirs that my measly 15 bucks can buy. And believe it or not, $15 goes a long way in The Spirit Shop. Although the shop has top of the line wines priced in the hundreds, they have a darn good selection of everyday wines for every budget.

With Fourth of July celebrations right around the corner, we talked with Matt about the shop and a few of his recommendations.

When did The Spirit Shop get started?
My father started The Spirit Shop in September of 1976. I was born October 9 of the same year, so this year both the store and I turn 34.

You always have great wine recommendations – tell us about how you came to know so much about wine.
I basically grew up around the business. Though I wasn’t allowed in the store to work until I was 21, I was always around wine growing up. In addition to reading quite a bit (books, periodicals, winery and critics blogs), I meet with winemakers and owners frequently to talk about their wines. Most importantly, I taste new wines almost every day. In a busy day, I might try over a dozen new wines.

For those of us who’d like to learn more about wine, what do you recommend?
The single biggest recommendation I can make to learn more about wine is simply to drink more wine. Tasting new and different wines is by far the best way to educate your palate and your mind. Reading is great too, but like anything else, nothing beats first-hand experience when it comes to building a solid knowledge about wine.

What are some of the best wines in your shop right now in various price ranges?
There are so many good wines in store right now at all prices. For serious collectors we have the 2005 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon from Washington. This winery is currently Robert Parker’s favorite cab producer in the U.S, and he gave the ‘05 100 points, which is a very rare feat for any wine, no matter what the price. This one isn’t cheap, selling for around $200, but it is an heirloom wine and will cellar for 30-plus years. On the more everyday end, I am really excited about the new Louis M. Martini Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon. This one got 90 points from Robert Parker and is selling for $13. It’s a great example of a really well-made wine that you can have every day. These are examples of good quality at both ends of the price scale, but we stock thousands of different wines and have most anything at any price just depending on what someone is looking for.

What’s your favorite wine? beer? cocktail?
I would be hard pressed to ever pick a favorite wine, but the best wine I’ve tried this year was the Owen Roe Chapel Block Syrah from the Columbia Valley. There were only 359 cases made and we were lucky enough to get one, but you can’t find it now. For beer, I love things like Pilsner Urquell, Sam Smiths, Great Divide, Ayinger and I’m really into the Boulevard Smokestack Series right now. In the summer, I drink gin martinis or gin and tonic – I like Bombay Sapphire from England or Hendricks from Scotland. I also like Maker’s Mark Manhattans in the summer.

What are some of your recommendations for Fourth of July celebrations?
The Fourth of July is a big beer holiday. People like to be outdoors for a BBQ, or be out on the lake or in the park for fireworks. So this is a weekend we run some pretty deep specials on beer in cans. Tecate, Dos XX, Stroh’s and Pabst are all cans that will be on sale this weekend that you can take with you wherever you are going on the Fourth.

What do you love most about Norman?
Norman is a special place because it is a confluence of education, art and culture that you don’t get a lot of in this part of the country. Many here are either educators or students, so naturally these types of people are predisposed to try and learn about new things. This carries over to food and wine, so there is always a new person looking to expand his or her horizons when it comes to discovering new wines. I’d also like to encourage everyone to come out to some of the Summer Breeze shows this summer at Lion’s Park and Andrew’s Park – it’s a great music series that gets better every year and something we are proud to sponsor. Bring a cooler!