Doug and Linda Pendleton

I’m Doug Pendleton, a/k/a The Wine Guy, a self-proclaimed title. Actually, I’m just a guy who has enjoyed wine most of his adult life. And having to make a career change at 50 gave me the rare opportunity to choose to work with something I enjoyed. That’s when I decided to open the kind of wine shop I always wanted to shop in. 

You can Click Here to see a video about the origin of the store in 1999.

What did you do in the real world? In my previous life from 1979 through 1998, I co-owned Great Western Boot Company, a multi-state chain of retail western wear stores (and horses don't like me and the feeling is mutual). Before that, from 1972 through 1984, I owned a chain of mall-based imprinted sportswear stores... The Shirt Shack. That was fun...in 1978 I had five stores, 40 employees, and at age 30, I was the oldest staff member. But trust me, this is a lot more fun than any of the rest... and no, there will never be a second store. I've been there, done that, and I still have some of the tee shirts in the attic! (Webmaster’s note: Never say never!)

When and how did your love of wine begin? It began with a trip to Sonoma in 1974, but the real epiphany occurred in 1981 over a bottle of 1977 Sterling Reserve Cabernet someone ordered at a business dinner. I came home from the trip and scoured the town until I could put together a full case. Of course then I had to have somewhere to keep it... then you just can't have just one case...you get the drift....

How would you classify your tastes in wine... old world or new world? I have been accused of liking everything, and for the most part I do. Part of the fun here is that Linda and I get to try such a wide variety of wines. Having to review wines means we never get in a rut of going back to the same style or brand every time. The truth is, I try to appreciate both old and new world styles, but my first love will always be California reds.

All of us have our favorites...what varietals or regions do you feel are your strongest areas of expertise? New World wines are what I know best. I really only began to focus on old world wines fifteen years ago, so I am way behind many of my customers. Linda and I have discoverd that we love Rhône reds, they are the most amazingly versitle food wines.  Anymore when I go to pick a wine for dinner it seems that half the time I come back with some blend of Rhône grapes like Syrah, Grenache or Carignan.  I have loved drinking and learning more about Italian and Spanish wines. However, experiencing Bordeaux and Burgundy is almost a lifelong undertaking, and at today’s prices I don’t think I’m going to catch up.

What is your favorite food and wine pairing? A blue cheese topped filet grilled medium rare with a bottle of Cabernet is still number one, but Osso Bucco with a bottle of Allegrini Palazzo Della Torre is a close second.

What was your most memorable bottle? The six liter bottle of 1982 Kenwood Artist Series that my friend Danny Lipco brought from California for Linda's and my wedding...she'll fill in the details.

Your favorite restaurant? That would be at home... the menu changes every night and we love the wine list. Oakley's does a great job and we really enjoyed the new HC Tavern and Kitchen in Fishers District.  Actually, we eat more lunches out than dinners and there's nothing like a burger in the courtyard at Cobblestone Grill or small plates at Louvino in downtown Fishers.

Your favorite guilty pleasure? Seeing Linda (the world's best wife who was actually supportive of this investment) with our black 2005 Aston Martin DB-9  coupe, you don't really buy them you adopt them ... hey, this investment can't do any worse than my IRA....

Funniest moment working here? There have been so many of them...the classics are tasting wine with the winemaker and he asks you to be honest. It happened once with a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc... the wine smelled like cat pee from two feet away but the winemaker really, really, really wanted to know what we thought. We told him...he has not been back....

The most recent was when the lady who had just selected a $300 mixed case of some of the biggest Cabernets and Shiraz in the store turned to Tom Landshof and asked which one would go best with Tilapia. At least he was honest when he told her she should "go buy some steaks."

Best and worst things about working here? The best would be actually getting to know my customers. I spent most of my 40 years in retail behind the scenes, which is why my office now is behind the counter. The worst, fighting to keep from gaining weight around all this great food and wine.

Linda's real career is leasing and managing medical office buildings. Developing new buildings and the general "care taking" of much of Community Health Network's real estate needs. It keeps her way too busy to spend much time in the store anymore. But, she spent every Saturday with me for the first 3 years we opened. Although she's not here often, she is still my secret weapon behind the scenes.

Linda Pendleton: All those "What We Thought" reviews in the newsletter have a lot more to do with Linda's nose and palate than mine. Fifteen years ago we held a ten bottle blind tasting that we invited people to test their palates by identifying the wines grape varietal and matching it to its magazine review. 150 people tasted and tried the wines, and only two people got all ten right... both were women, and one was Linda.

What is your current job in the real world? My real job is as a Vice President over Real Estate and Retail Services with VEI, the for-profit division of Community Health Network.

How long have you been with The Grapevine Cottage? From the very first moment Doug thought about the idea.

When and how did your love of wine begin? I'm not sure if this made me love it immediately, but my introduction was in about 1983, when my mentor at my first job in commercial real estate, George Charbonneau, gave me a bottle of Chablis and Bordeaux as a gift. Unfortunately, I do remember thinking that the Bordeaux would be better chilled!

How would you classify your tastes in wine... old world or new world? Well, I'm still more partial to New World, but my tastes are New World with a throwback to Old World. I don't think I would have known what a Rhône was 15 years ago, and now it is my "go to" Red...but that is also because the French ones have changed their style to be a bit more "New World." I love the crisp, unoaked Hendry Chardonnay (yes, I really do like white wine), but realistically, it isn't as true of an "Old World" style white as I think it is.

What is your favorite food and wine pairing? I really do think my favorite food is pizza...usually something involving a very thin crust, and interesting ingredients like artichoke hearts, black olives and maybe goat cheese...pair that with super Tuscan like the Monte Antico Sangiovese Cabernet-Merlot blend and I'm in heaven.

What was your most memorable bottle? A 6 liter of 1982 Kenwood Sonoma Valley Artists Series Cabernet that we served at our wedding reception — it was the very generous gift of our friend, Danny Lipco (who brought it with him from Bakersfield, CA — I think he even had to buy it a seat). He sent us a label in advance, and we matted it and used the matting as our guest register. The matted print and the empty bottle still sit in the kitchen as a reminder of an unforgettable day (where we sat up the camera on timer for our photo). And we still have a couple of bottles left that we plan to open on a few more wedding anniversaries.

Your favorite restaurant? Home, preferably on the deck! And we really don't go to eat out that much...except on vacation, so I'd have to say Grandma Dot's and Trader's on Sanibel.

Your favorite guilty pleasure? A couple of good French subtitled movies and a very lazy Sunday afternoon with rain (or just pull the blinds and pretend it is raining outside).

Funniest moment working here? This is more of an amazing moment...a number of years back, Doug had a Zionsville customer approach him because her brother was making wine in Oregon and she hoped he would try it. We’d had several “homemade” wines brought by before, so we were a little dubious, especially when her brother finally did come in on a Saturday morning carrying his wines in a cardboard box.

So the first amazing thing is that we had the time to taste wine on a Saturday morning (probably wouldn’t happen today, would it?) and still wait on customers, but the more amazing thing was that every single wine we tasted seemed better than the one before. Doug, our co-worker at the time, Jim Mathias, and I kept tasting, and then looking at each other saying “this is amazing...who is this guy and how do we get his wines distributed in Indiana"? Well, in case you haven’t figured it out, the wines were Sineann and the winemaker was Peter Rosback, and the rest is pretty much history for us!

Best and worst things about working here? I can't really claim to work here much anymore, but it is still the interaction with the greatest customers around — as well as the very competent and enthusiastic staff.