Drinks With: Indy's wine boss
“Drinks With” is a monthly series where beverage reporter Amy Haneline has drinks — be it a cocktail or a cup of coffee — with an interesting Hoosier and documents the conversation. Do you know of someone she should talk to? Email her at amy.haneline@indystar.com.
She’s been asking for wine since she was 8 years old. Don’t worry, she wasn’t drinking it back then, but that’s where her love for fermented grapes begins.
A little foodie, Colleen Fanning taught herself to cook from television’s Julia Child, Graham Kerr and Pasquale Carpino. She became her family’s chef, but because her father was a recovering alcoholic, there was no wine in the house for reductions.
Fast forward to 2005 when Fanning bought her first business, The Brick Street Inn, in Zionsville. There she opened a wine bar called The Lobby Lounge. While the business was only open for a year, she developed a talent for serving wine, educating patrons and helping them understand their palates. She officially “had the fever.”
Now 34, Fanning still has it, and runs a custom wine company called Grey Market Wine where she is known as THE BOSS.
Oh, and if her name sounds familiar, she also just won a spot on City-County Council.
Let’s just say there was plenty to talk about at the Mass Ave Wine Shop where we shared a glass of Santa Julia Cabernet Sauvignon and Tiamo Prosecco.
We probably could have gushed all day about wine, business, and yes, even politics. But here are the highlights.
Q: Tell me about Grey Market Wine.
A: For the most part, this is how it works. You’ll email me and say, “I’m having a party. I need a case or two of wine. Help!” So, I’ll send you back a little questionnaire that takes about 30 seconds to fill out. This gives me the basics, like how much wine you need, and how much you want to spend per bottle. There are boxes to check: Reds, whites, bubblies, rosés, ports, dessert wines, etc. Then I arrange everything. It takes about one to three days and your custom wine selection is delivered to your home or business.
Q: But the company didn’t always start this way, right? How has it changed?
A: Yes. Well, it started because I saw a genuine need in the Indianapolis area to have a more customized education and experiential-based way to buy wine that were smaller production and boutique-oriented. Everything we’ve done since has answered what the market told us. We began as a membership-only club that involved tastings, private events and wine ordering. That gave us our initial customer base. From there it grew, and we didn’t feel the need to be exclusive anymore. … Recently we’ve decided to focus on the one thing we’ve been doing the most, which is custom and virtual everything. We’ve grown big enough that we can just curate custom orders of wine, host private events, wine pairing, cellar consulting, wine travel and more. Nothing has changed from customers’ prospective. The bulk of my clients want a wine curator. And that’s what I happen to love doing. And it’s what I’m best at doing. So why would I shy away from it? It’s what I’m good at, it’s what I love, and it’s highly profitable. So it just makes sense.
Q: Is that how you got the nickname, “THE BOSS?” What’s up with that?
A: It really all started because I was printing my business cards. I had no idea what title to give myself. I can’t be CEO, it sounds really stuffy. President? We are a tiny company, that didn’t make sense. I didn’t like Chief Wine Officer. I didn’t want anything super cheesy like that. So I thought, I’m just the boss. I’m just the person in charge. It took off from there, and with the name Grey Market Wine, the company was an homage to this prohibition, Mafioso era. That whole theme is homage to my late father because he was obsessed with all of the old gangster movies, and the Humphrey Bogart era. He read all the biographies on Al Capone. He grew up in inner city Chicago during the Depression so he had all these crazy stories. So I just thought, this is cracking him up, up there. That his daughter created this crazy hyper-masculine business model that revolves around a boss and mafia names. So that’s how that started.
Drinks With: The guy who made that cocktail menu
Q: So how does one go from “wine boss” to politician?
A: I’m kind of an entrepreneur before I’m a wine person. I view myself as a problem-solver. I like to think outside the box and help people. And certainly solving wine problems is not going to save the city of Indianapolis. Laughs. But, I’ve always been a really active neighbor. I’ve always loved Broad Ripple and my neighborhood. I think I’m a really representative person in my district and I can see things from both the business owner side and the resident side. So having both of those perspectives, I thought it is probably the right time for me. It’s certainly not the most natural assumption that I would do this. But the bottom line is, if you love helping people and you like solving problems, you’re always going to fall into those roles, whether it’s public service, or starting a company, or volunteering on a board.
Q: Back to wine. Christmas is coming. What are your go-to wines?
A: My favorite red wine right now is … oh, there’s a lot of good ones. For a red wine under $50, I like Venge Scout’s Honor Proprietary Red Blend. It’s the same blend of grapes that The Prisoner uses, but so much better. It’s $43 retail, which is on the high end, but it’s really food-friendly. It’s a zinfandel-based blend with lots of other grapes in there. It’s just awesome, and tiny, tiny production. My favorite white wine, there’s a few, but a good higher-end white wine is called Saint Cosme Cotes du Rhone and it’s a 100 percent Grenache Blanc. It’s under $30, and perfect for the holidays.
Q: What do you think about Indiana wines?
A: I think Indiana wines are continuing to come a long way. Right now, I don’t think as a whole, that Indiana wines are comparable in quality for their value. That’s my problem. But there are four or five bottles in this state that I really love drinking. But not for the price. … It’s just…do I want to pay $30 for that really yummy dry chambourcin rosé from Mallow Run Winery that I love, when I can get a $12 rosé from France that is better or the same? I just don’t think they are there yet. But there is strong potential for Indiana have great wine in the future.
Q: What are people doing wrong when it comes to choosing or drinking wine?
A: I think people are be too afraid to make a mistake. And the reality is that if you enjoy it, it’s good. That’s all that matters. If you’re having fun and you like it, forget what convention says. Just drink what you like and forget the rules. You don’t have to worry about it. Create your own rules. There are way too many rules in wine. Rules aren’t fun. Rules kind of take the fun out of it.
Follow Amy Haneline on Twitter and Instagram @amybhaneline, and Facebook. Call her at (317) 444-6281.