Another Breed: “Country Boy” Manages Fine Wine at Glover Street Market

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Colbey Breed grew up on a 300 acre ranch in Carlton riding horses and moving 150 head of cattle, but that’s not what you’d expect seeing him today.

A self-described “country boy,” Breed shook the dust from his boots to share his love of wine.

For the past seven years, Breed has managed the wine cellar and weekly wine tastings at Glover Street Market, where he shares his knowledge of wine to show others the intricacies of one of man’s oldest beverages.

He began his career in fine dining when a wine director inspired him to become a sommelier.

Breed became the wine director at the Freestone Inn in Mazama, which was moving away from fine dining when a friend told him about a wine tasting program at Glover Street Market. Breed took over hosting wine tastings on Saturdays when he realized its potential.

He told owner Molly Patterson he could triple her sales if she matched his pay at Freestone Inn.

“She said no, and then she called me back a week and a half later. She’s like, do you really think you can triple the sales? And I said, absolutely.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

Growing Palates “Together”

Breed launched a marketing campaign to “grow our palates together” by taking out the notion that you have to be a professional to taste wine.

“It was lightearted, really focused on locals, and I think that kind of gave a base to what happens in here to create sustainability,” said Breed. “I’m passionate about it. I love it. I’m excited and I’m talking about it. They’re excited. Of course, we all want to try stuff that we’ve never tried. Wine is fascinating and endless.”

“I think it’s just a fun way for people who live here to also feel like they’re getting a little bit of culture,” said Breed. “Living so rurally, I think we can feel left out of certain things, sometimes art, sometimes theater. We have little glimpses of that…. I feel like [wine tasting] is as popular as it is for the same reasons.”

“It’s a great place to also kind of show off your community when you have your friends in town. I think people like to do that because I’m always meeting my regular friends or customers and then their friends or family.”

Breed has selected and tasted every bottle of wine in the store. Currently, the selection includes wines from the U.S., Italy, France, Chile, Argentina, and South Africa.

When Breed talks about wine, he can be transported to another place. While describing a serrat from Italy, he recalled “this beautiful fresh violet, but it sort of fades into this potpourri violet, and there’s like cigar box or somebody smoking a cigar, like wafting from down the street.”

An environment’s affect on wine, down to a smoking cigar, is known as terroir.

“The grapes really pull their enviornment into the flavor of the wine so you can taste if there were cottonwood trees growing nearby or if there were birds in the area or if it was surrounded by a bunch of blackberry bushes or, you know, if it was next to a dusty, dusty road. All these things, like a lot of that’s like the minerals that are in the dust. You taste it all. You can taste if it was a sunny year. You can taste if it was a rainy year.”

Ninety-six percent of wines sold at Glover Street Market are organic. The rest are sustainable. Breed aims for sulfur at 40 parts per million, which is low.

During weekly wine tastings, Breed opens four bottles and invites attendees to assess the wines for themselves, offering a guide to help them compare.

What distinguishes a $20 bottle of wine from a $149 bottle?

Breed says it comes down to materials used, cost of production, equipment, types of barrels, the type of oak and even the side of the tree. North facing side of a tree is more expensive than the south facing side when making barrels. Cost of fruit and taxes in a region also affect cost.

“It’s less about prestige. It’s more actually about production,” said Breed.

Expanded Offerings

Two years ago, by sheer luck, the market added spirits to its liquor license (which is different from the market’s wine and beer license).

A 2011 state law that closed state-run liquor stores and transferred sales to privately-owned grocery stores limited the sale of liquor to stores larger than 10,000 square feet, or about the size of Rosauer’s or Winthrop’s Thriftway. (Costco spent  $22.7 million on the initiative.)

But Alex Lopez, who owns La Fonda Lopez, kept his license from a liquor store he owned at that location. Two years ago, he sold his liquor license to Glover Street Market, which now allows them to also sell spirits.

“It was insane that that worked,” said Breed.

“This isn’t our store.”

Glover Street Market opened July 10, 1991 and is owned by Molly and Jeff Patterson, who purchased the market in 2010. (They also own The Patterson Company, a local residential building and design company.)

The Pattersons built a wine cellar and added a breakfast and lunch counter. They retained the offerings of a natural food store but also added higher-end products.

“We always say this isn’t our store. It’s your store,” said Breed. “I think people, kind of like a co-op, would own a part of it. I think emotionally, our customers feel like this is their store, that they own a part of it. So, they’re proud to come through and share that story. Having a wine tasting is really a place where they can engage with the store more than some areas.”

The market also has an oil and vinegar tasting room and customers can sample nut butters, creating an “interactive” feel that separates them from other grocers in the county, said Breed.

Methow Valley’s affluence means people are looking for amenities, and the choice of wine tasting options locally- Lost River, Brix Wine Bar, Glover Street Market, and Ryzo, means people won’t necessarily think of travelling to experience it.

“We’ve been taught, what does wine tasting look like? It means that you go to Napa or Chelan and you choose three or four of your favorite wineries and you go visit them,” said Breed. “So, I think [the competition] is excellent. I wish we had another little wine bar in Twisp to really lift that up.”

Wine tasting at Glover Street Market is held every Saturday from noon to 4 pm. For more information, email Colbey Breed at [email protected].