Our goal is to talk to the interesting people who work, influence and fuel the wine and spirits industry... and will likely have a hand in determining what it will look like in the future.
"I don’t like chocolate" – I should have stopped the interview right then. Who doesn’t like chocolate? Fortunately for Mike, he has a lot of interesting things going on, we can overlook this, for now.
Mike O’Connell is the 3rd generation of a family business that started as a local grocery store in Auburndale, MA. He's the wine buyer for Upper Falls Liquors, a four store chain in Massachusetts, and a also trained chef.
Like most people in the business he did not get to this point along a straight line. Graduating with a degree in political science (like most folks in the wine business). He did not know if he wanted to jump into the family business right away. He has a passion for food and went to culinary school in Cambridge while simultaneously working in a restaurant in Boston, Via Matta (2007). His introduction to Via Matta was by chance – he met restaurateur and Chef Michael Schlow at a charity event and told him he was just finishing culinary school and looking for a job. The response: show up tomorrow morning with your knives. Mike admits he only had one knife, but he was ready.
His restaurant days are behind him now, but these experiences helped shape his approach to wine, spirits and beer. He is also known by his twitter handle the Rooftop Gourmet as well as his web site by the same name. The creativity he brings to his cooking can be seen in the store’s special projects, like their Cask Force bottlings and this recipe he gave us.
“I train my palate just by diving in and trying everything “
When it comes to their four locations it is definitely a family affair. What got the whole business started?
My great grandparents started as butchers in Parma, Italy. Once here, they opened Recco’s Market in Auburndale (Newton), MA on 2102 Commonwealth Avenue, where their Auburndale location is now, it was an Italian specialty market. My grandfather graduated high school and turned it into a liquor store with their first liquor license. That was their first shop. Shortly after, he bought their second location on Post Road in Wayland around 1974. At that time, the Wayland-Weston line was kind of a ghost with a restaurant across the street and a lot of wealthy people moving in. My grandfather did not know much about wine, but he knew he wanted to bring varietal wine to Massachusetts. At the time wine meant just jugs of Mateus.
“He hired a consultant named Bill McDermott, who is a visionary and has one of the best palates, and just let him run with whatever he wanted to buy.”
He hired a consultant named Bill McDermott, who is a visionary and has one of the best palates, and just let him run with whatever he wanted to buy. Bill transformed the shop in the middle of nowhere into a fine wine destination shop. They saw how quickly business grew and bought their 3rd location in 1979 (Upper Falls Liquors). The Needham location was most recently opened in 2014.
What is your favorite crowd pleaser (wine or spirit) when personally entertaining? What gets the most reaction? Secret weapon if you will?
I have one in every category. But start off with Lambrusco , I was in Modena last year, slightly fizzy – people’s jaws drop – they think of sweet sticky stuff . I like Cleto Chiarli – they make a range from light pink all the way to inky black - nothing goes better with charcuterie - good mortadella and Lambrusco is my favorite thing in the world.
I try to get people to drink more dessert wine. I rarely open a bottle by myself, but at the end of the night with friends, blows people away – Sauterne, a really nice Moscato d’Asti, Banyuls by Chapoutier- a more complex characterful ruby port – great with chocolate , and I don’t even like chocolate. [FOR THE RECORD – Mike O’Connell does not like chocolate]
Favorite wine bottle in the store no one else seems to like?
Movia Lunar – an orange wine from Slovenia. It’s funky, sour, and unique; you have to think on each sip. It can be hard to describe sometimes- like a fresh new Band-Aid another time fresh nectarine, then petrol. Some people can’t stand it, but I love its complexity.
Have your customer’s tastes or preferences changed?
In the past nine years alone there have been crazy changes. We’ve have always been a California driven store (Upper Falls location at least). When I first started we had about 70 merlots, then Sideways happened, and now we have 120 Pinot’s and 14 Merlot's. Different regions go through crazy trends, Australian Shiraz, Malbec used to be the hottest thing and now people are moving away from them. Pinot is here to stay; I hope Merlot makes a comeback.
Early in my wine career everybody would come in and ask “where is your chardonnay?” – Chardonnay was the buzzword, you are at a cocktail party, I’ll have a chardonnay. Now I see the American palate looking for Sauvignon Blanc , Willamette Valley Pinot Gris, Cortese from Piedmont, unoaked Chardonnay. New Zealand changed much of that, everybody who was into Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay before is drinking New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc now.
California chardonnay’s now are not what they were 5-6 years ago either. Younger winemakers are not spending on oak, toning it back, gearing towards the current American palate, less malo, not that huge creamy rich style. For some, things have also come full circle, customers that are former chardonnay drinkers are now looking for more intriguing whites that have more weight –back to Chardonnay maybe Rousanne , something creamy and rich. I enjoy seeing people evolve in their wine tastes.
Has your customer profile changed?
There are different types of customers.
A lot of young wine drinkers are not influenced by some young guy from the Languedoc promoting his brand, they see things like “Yellow Tail” which are more fun and they get sucked into that style of wine. Once they start to get into wine, they realize they cannot taste much of what they are eating with Barossa Valley Shiraz.
Millennials, call it a barbell approach to beer, will load up a cart with 30 packs of Bush light, and a case of 22oz bombers of craft beer. They are into smoked porters, bourbon barrel aged, farmhouse saisons.
Sometimes it’s Suburbs v City. In the city you go to a restaurant and get used to seeing different things, different ingredients in cocktails, but in the suburbs things take longer to catch on out here. I would go to a restaurant in Boston, try a new Amaro and say “I have to bring it in to the store” and it would sit on the shelf once I did. It can be the hottest thing in the city, but takes a while to filter through to the suburbs.
I go to Cambridge or Somerville to some of these hot restaurants, I don’t know what some of this stuff is. I was hosting a wine tasting at Puritan and Co. in Somerville, looking at the list to decide what to pour and some of the stuff is so obscure. That’s what a lot of these young Somm's are building their list around, trying to be as obscure, funky, and weird as possible. It throws off a lot of established wine enthusiasts, but I love restaurants that have adventurous lists because I love trying new things.
Whisky seems to be the hot topic as of late? What is a close second?
ROSE’ – every year volume is doubling. The negative white zinfandel image has been shaken off, sometimes it will get the “it’s too sweet “response. It’s just mental. It’s not a sweet wine they are just not used to that flavor profile, strawberry, raspberry, pomegranate.
I have customers that are not drinking white wine anymore. It's Rose' in the winter, and the trend is here to stay. There is definitely a younger generation of wine drinker that it has captured.
What are the hot trends in the spirits world?
Interest is very seasonal. Gin is very hot right now- people coming in looking for boutique gins, tequila is big but seasonal.
“thank G-d that people have started to tone back flavored vodka – I think they have maxed out on every flavor possible”
The bourbon whiskey craze is here to stay – it’s not a fluke. People will eventually realize they cannot get all this allocated stuff; there is just not enough to go around, which is the most frustrating part of his job. Two bottles of allocated product for 2000 calls looking for it is tricky. We’ll do our best to help them out with something special that we do have.
We have a lot of interest in our Cask Force bottlings.
What is Cask Force?
Our private or exclusive barrel program. The name come up one night when me and my brother were brainstorming, drinking way too much, and “Cask Force” just came up.
So far we have done three single barrels from Hillrock and three single barrels from Whistle Pig – we have a good track record with those producers and continue to work with them.
We have also done a single Hine Cognac Cask, which is a single barrel, single vintage and single village Grande Champagne Cognac. It’s unique. I had one collector buy four cases - that cognac barrel is now at Privateer in Ipswich, MA– filled with amber rum. You can still buy a bottle or try The Hine Cask Force single cask by the glass at Alta Strada.
What differentiates these products?
A lot of stores are doing single barrels but we want to take it to the next level, not just buying a single barrel of something and putting a sticker on it. We are re-using our barrels for different finishes and projects.
It sets us apart in a crowded market place – we have a lot of great connections around the world – getting Old Goslings rum barrels, sauterne casks from Bordeaux, all to do unique stuff to get people interested. Bourbon barrel aged beers, cider aged in rye cask. We have a barrel aged Vermont maple syrup that is shared with bars in Boston – like the Hawthorn - at least three bars that are using their maple syrup this fall in signature cocktails.
Lately we’ve been doing a lot of our own labels. We know an artist if Fort Point, Boston, designing cool modern labels that people will walk by and ask what it is. New projects include an eight year bourbon (probably sourced) from Litchfield Distillery in Litchfield CT, a lot of hype around the distillery, where we are experimenting with a Silver Oak cabernet finish and designing a label for this one also.
Click on image for full size cocktail recipe
Also, recently we met a local distiller making eau de vie’s and grappas in Woburn –they were really good –and asked him if he could make a custom eau de vie for Cask Force – a Pineapple eau de vie –it came out unbelievable – the original concept was to age it in one of our barrels, but it was too good fresh so we are bottling as is.
How has the competition changed?
Not a lot of changes until recently, we’re probably going through the most changes the industry has ever seen now. With all the new licenses that are opening, big box stores, supermarkets, and gas stations, we used to be the only game in town. All the surrounding towns were dry, now they had 20 licenses open up within 15 miles. Big box stores with different business models are really challenging. We are competing by delivering good customer service but then there is the issue with brands. Private label is being offered cheaper but for a higher markup for the retailer. I cannot give away product, but I do not want the customer to get tricked into buying an inferior product from a big box private label.
The focus is on finding good value wines that are not everywhere. Not private label, but something where people are very happy with what they get.
Tell us about your unique approach to the Pappy Van Winkle craze?
We recently hosted a Pappy Van Winkle dinner – with a tasting of the full Van Winkle range. The restaurant was Moo, we love their private dining room space. Interest was very strong, I think people would have flown to NY for it.
What is your take on the “craft” wine, beer, spirits, food you are seeing coming into your store?
It is getting hard to navigate the craft beer world. We have two guys who are dedicated to craft beer. It is mindblowing where craft beer is going, farmhouse, double dry hopped. A lot of it is craft, at least what they try to buy, but a lot of it is from larger breweries under pressure to produce something that resembles craft but is massed produced. The trend will continue, new beer drinkers are very loyal to breweries that are popping up everywhere, some of it is following the whole whisky thing, there are very allocated where we’ll get 6 bottles a year. Lately I’m getting into sours, we used to have one sour, now closer to 30. Lagunitas Aunt Sally – one of the most refreshing beers.
Cider is popular now – there’s a Swiss cider with pears, apple and quince that’s like a good champagne. The younger millennials are drinking these craft beers and ciders that are going to eventually merge them into the wine world. The Swiss ciders are purely a hand sell; if I sends out an email blast with that product, customers will be like who this is this guy - $30 Cider?
Editor’s Note: Discoverybottles thanks Mike for his time and insights.