Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Total Experience

'I move wine around," says Mark Dubiel. "I've done everything in the wine business except make money. I ran the Big Bear market on Via de la Valle" -- one of the early outposts for serious wine in San Diego -- "for 12 years. I've done importation, restaurant consulting. Now, I'm part owner of the Del Mar Wine Company, and I have another partner -- we buy cellars together." And together with chef/wine broker (well, until recently) Sean Fisher, he is co-proprietor of Tastes: The Total Wine Experience, a new wine restaurant in Encinitas.

Dubiel met Fisher while working as the wine buyer for Harvest Ranch Markets. "Sean sold me some wine, and then he came back, and I bought five cases of Chardonnay, and then he came back again and he said, 'What is this I hear about you?'"

"'What do you mean?'

Sponsored
Sponsored

"'I hear you really know about wine.'

"'I've been doing it long enough. I should know something.'

"'If money wasn't an object, what would you drink?'

"'Simple,'" answered Dubiel -- Grand Cru white Burgundy and Grand Cru red Burgundy. "He almost kissed me."

Wine and food have that kind of significance to Fisher -- and to Dubiel. Over the years, as Dubiel continued his work and Fisher's brokerage began to grow, the two ate and drank their way around Burgundy and the rest of France. "There have been moments in our lives," recalls Dubiel, "when Sean and I and some of our friends will go to a restaurant like Arterra with three different Burgundies or something, and Carl will make something specifically for us -- three different dishes, one for each Burgundy. You taste, and you get the food and the wine just going together, and you wish that you could have the whole world be with you at that moment, to understand the feeling when it works, when it meshes."

But all too often, they had trouble getting their vision out there. Recalls Dubiel, "We would go to restaurants and show them really great stuff, and they would say, 'This is really great!' 'You want to buy it?' 'No, I can't sell French wine.' Or, 'I just changed my wine list nine months ago.' Once, we went to a guy who was buying $3 Chianti. We had one for $3.25 that was damn good -- night and day. He was getting $6.50 a glass, and he wouldn't give up the quarter on the bottle." And market concerns aside, says Fisher, "At so many places, they pick the wine list without thinking of the food and create the food without thinking about the wine. It's usually coming from two different ends -- the sommelier wants to get all the top-scoring wines, and the chef isn't very concerned." When Fisher was selling to restaurants, he says, "Very few chefs used to come and sit and taste the wines."

So when they heard the building that used to house Bistro Soleil was going vacant, Fisher and Dubiel saw their chance to open the sort of restaurant where they could "have the whole world be with you at that moment" when the wine and food mesh. It had the casual feel they needed to make serious wine approachable -- originally a steakhouse, the place was built in the shape of a Porterhouse -- and to match the unfussy character of food prepared with the wine in mind. "The plates come out looking like you're in the wine country of France -- Provence, maybe," says Fisher, who is putting his long experience as a high-end caterer to work in the kitchen. Also, it was small enough that one or both of them would be able to visit every table, explaining their notion of the Total Wine Experience.

"People ask, 'Do you have a tasting menu?'" says Fisher. "The whole thing is a tasting menu! All the plates are half- to three-quarter-size main courses. The idea is to taste around. Most people who come in have three to four items between two people; they share. You can order as you go -- I can put anything out of the kitchen in 12 minutes."

The two-page menu changes weekly -- tastes of wine on the left, tastes of food on the right, with multiple pairing recommendations for each dish. "Mark and I will sit and discuss," says Fisher. "We taste everything together. We use top-quality ingredients, but not too many ingredients" -- as he puts it, you won't have to choose between highlighting the mushroom (Pinot Noir?) or the citrus (Gewürztraminer?) in your dish. "We're trying to create things that are more simple, that blend and balance with the wine."

On the wine side, "We have about 40 wines by the glass. About 15 are boom, boom, boom." The rest, which may not turn over as quickly, are stored in what may be the largest cuvinee in town, which dominates (and nearly matches) the old oak bar. The cuvinee keeps all the wines under gas and dispenses pours through spigots. "Six, seven days, you still won't notice a difference. The air never touches the wine." Three-pour flights are available, as are exalted offerings such as a half-glass of '02 Chateau Lafite for $29. The list has a distinctly European flavor, but Dubiel is quick to note that "We have everything; we don't alienate anybody. We have a good inexpensive California Cabernet in the White Oak, and if people want something more expensive, we have the Arrowood Reserve. If you want to experiment, you can; but if you don't, that's fine, too."

Still, the two take obvious delight in selling Europe in a Cal-heavy market. Says Fisher, "People will walk in the first time and say, 'Can I have a glass of Merlot?' We'll explain to them that the St. Emilion and Pomerol regions of Bordeaux are mainly Merlot. Now, they'll walk in and say, 'What do you have in a Pomerol?'"

Racks of wines run down the center of the restaurant, where the Porterhouse's bone would be; the racks serve as the restaurant's by-the-bottle list. "Our policy is that when you buy any bottle retail, you pay $19 more to drink it in the restaurant," says Fisher. (The $19 table-service includes getting your red wine [and sometimes your white] decanted, and good-sized stemware.) "It gets to be more of a value when you start spending more on the bottles." Like, say, the older and/or reserve wines kept in the glass-front cooler along one wall -- Barolos, Burgundies, Bordeaux, and a healthy sampling of '90s California Cabs. (Dubiel still buys cellars.) Yes, you're spending $100+ on the bottle, but the $19 charge is well below standard markup for cellared wines. And on occasion, Dubiel will make a few such rarities available for tasting: "I'll take the '90, '94, and '95 Caymus Special Select, have a special flight of that."

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The White-crowned sparrow visits, Liquidambars show their colors

Bat populations migrate westward

'I move wine around," says Mark Dubiel. "I've done everything in the wine business except make money. I ran the Big Bear market on Via de la Valle" -- one of the early outposts for serious wine in San Diego -- "for 12 years. I've done importation, restaurant consulting. Now, I'm part owner of the Del Mar Wine Company, and I have another partner -- we buy cellars together." And together with chef/wine broker (well, until recently) Sean Fisher, he is co-proprietor of Tastes: The Total Wine Experience, a new wine restaurant in Encinitas.

Dubiel met Fisher while working as the wine buyer for Harvest Ranch Markets. "Sean sold me some wine, and then he came back, and I bought five cases of Chardonnay, and then he came back again and he said, 'What is this I hear about you?'"

"'What do you mean?'

Sponsored
Sponsored

"'I hear you really know about wine.'

"'I've been doing it long enough. I should know something.'

"'If money wasn't an object, what would you drink?'

"'Simple,'" answered Dubiel -- Grand Cru white Burgundy and Grand Cru red Burgundy. "He almost kissed me."

Wine and food have that kind of significance to Fisher -- and to Dubiel. Over the years, as Dubiel continued his work and Fisher's brokerage began to grow, the two ate and drank their way around Burgundy and the rest of France. "There have been moments in our lives," recalls Dubiel, "when Sean and I and some of our friends will go to a restaurant like Arterra with three different Burgundies or something, and Carl will make something specifically for us -- three different dishes, one for each Burgundy. You taste, and you get the food and the wine just going together, and you wish that you could have the whole world be with you at that moment, to understand the feeling when it works, when it meshes."

But all too often, they had trouble getting their vision out there. Recalls Dubiel, "We would go to restaurants and show them really great stuff, and they would say, 'This is really great!' 'You want to buy it?' 'No, I can't sell French wine.' Or, 'I just changed my wine list nine months ago.' Once, we went to a guy who was buying $3 Chianti. We had one for $3.25 that was damn good -- night and day. He was getting $6.50 a glass, and he wouldn't give up the quarter on the bottle." And market concerns aside, says Fisher, "At so many places, they pick the wine list without thinking of the food and create the food without thinking about the wine. It's usually coming from two different ends -- the sommelier wants to get all the top-scoring wines, and the chef isn't very concerned." When Fisher was selling to restaurants, he says, "Very few chefs used to come and sit and taste the wines."

So when they heard the building that used to house Bistro Soleil was going vacant, Fisher and Dubiel saw their chance to open the sort of restaurant where they could "have the whole world be with you at that moment" when the wine and food mesh. It had the casual feel they needed to make serious wine approachable -- originally a steakhouse, the place was built in the shape of a Porterhouse -- and to match the unfussy character of food prepared with the wine in mind. "The plates come out looking like you're in the wine country of France -- Provence, maybe," says Fisher, who is putting his long experience as a high-end caterer to work in the kitchen. Also, it was small enough that one or both of them would be able to visit every table, explaining their notion of the Total Wine Experience.

"People ask, 'Do you have a tasting menu?'" says Fisher. "The whole thing is a tasting menu! All the plates are half- to three-quarter-size main courses. The idea is to taste around. Most people who come in have three to four items between two people; they share. You can order as you go -- I can put anything out of the kitchen in 12 minutes."

The two-page menu changes weekly -- tastes of wine on the left, tastes of food on the right, with multiple pairing recommendations for each dish. "Mark and I will sit and discuss," says Fisher. "We taste everything together. We use top-quality ingredients, but not too many ingredients" -- as he puts it, you won't have to choose between highlighting the mushroom (Pinot Noir?) or the citrus (Gewürztraminer?) in your dish. "We're trying to create things that are more simple, that blend and balance with the wine."

On the wine side, "We have about 40 wines by the glass. About 15 are boom, boom, boom." The rest, which may not turn over as quickly, are stored in what may be the largest cuvinee in town, which dominates (and nearly matches) the old oak bar. The cuvinee keeps all the wines under gas and dispenses pours through spigots. "Six, seven days, you still won't notice a difference. The air never touches the wine." Three-pour flights are available, as are exalted offerings such as a half-glass of '02 Chateau Lafite for $29. The list has a distinctly European flavor, but Dubiel is quick to note that "We have everything; we don't alienate anybody. We have a good inexpensive California Cabernet in the White Oak, and if people want something more expensive, we have the Arrowood Reserve. If you want to experiment, you can; but if you don't, that's fine, too."

Still, the two take obvious delight in selling Europe in a Cal-heavy market. Says Fisher, "People will walk in the first time and say, 'Can I have a glass of Merlot?' We'll explain to them that the St. Emilion and Pomerol regions of Bordeaux are mainly Merlot. Now, they'll walk in and say, 'What do you have in a Pomerol?'"

Racks of wines run down the center of the restaurant, where the Porterhouse's bone would be; the racks serve as the restaurant's by-the-bottle list. "Our policy is that when you buy any bottle retail, you pay $19 more to drink it in the restaurant," says Fisher. (The $19 table-service includes getting your red wine [and sometimes your white] decanted, and good-sized stemware.) "It gets to be more of a value when you start spending more on the bottles." Like, say, the older and/or reserve wines kept in the glass-front cooler along one wall -- Barolos, Burgundies, Bordeaux, and a healthy sampling of '90s California Cabs. (Dubiel still buys cellars.) Yes, you're spending $100+ on the bottle, but the $19 charge is well below standard markup for cellared wines. And on occasion, Dubiel will make a few such rarities available for tasting: "I'll take the '90, '94, and '95 Caymus Special Select, have a special flight of that."

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Made Holiday Market, Veterans Day Parade & VetFest

Events November 10-November 11, 2024
Next Article

At 4pm, this Farmer's Table restaurant in Chula Vista becomes Acqua e Farina

Brunch restaurant by day, Roman style trattoria by night
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader