By Charly SHELTON

On Saturday, the Montrose Shopping Park Association held its First Annual Wine Walk to much acclaim. The idea for the event was born when members of the MSPA, spearheaded by event organizer Dale Dawson, noticed that other small town shopping parks hold similar events and it was high time Montrose got in on the action. It took just over a year in planning and then the Wine Walk was on.

All along Honolulu Avenue and Ocean View Boulevard, 31 merchants opened their doors for the after-hours event, inviting ticketholders into their stores for shopping, conversation, appetizers and, of course, wine.

Business owners chose their wines to serve and dispensed one-ounce pours to ticketholders who travelled store-to-store. Some businesses bought several different bottles to switch out the offering throughout the event and to keep guests coming back to see what was new. Other merchants served only one or two wines all evening but were knowledgeable and passionate about their selection, giving tasting notes and discussing the wine at length.

Perhaps the most unique wine came from those at Executive Jewelers who served Ijevan Grenade, an Armenian sweet wine from the Tavoush region, made from pomegranate juice. From the smell of it, one might have expected a harsher wine with higher alcohol content. But it was surprisingly sweet and easy drinking, with fruity notes on the nose and a long finish, and sits at only 16% alcohol by volume. Honorable mention goes to J’Adore Boutique, with its Gerard Bertrand Cote des Roses, a French rosé of Grenache, Cinsault and Syrah. It was light and delicate without being too sweet as rosés usually are, which some attendees in the shop praised vehemently.

The restaurants got in on the fun as well. While merchants dispensed wine and small bites of cheese, crackers, charcuterie and the like, some restaurants took the opportunity to show off their fare in bite-sized portions. For example, Etc. Gourmet Kitchen offered samples of blueberry cheese blintzes, chicken salad sandwiches on squaw bread, orzo pasta salad, chicken pot pie and an assortment of pastries and cookies for passing guests.

But the goal of the evening was not only to introduce tasters to new wines, though that was a welcome side note. According to Dawson, the main goal was getting these tasters across the thresholds of stores they may never have known were there.

“Thirty merchants participated and we got people into their stores,” said Dawson who added that he heard – repeatedly – of folks who said they lived in the area for years and were unfamiliar with the variety of shops in Montrose.

That was what members of the Lestina family said.

“I was skeptical at first of the Wine Walk,” said Fred Hartmann who was sipping and strolling with the Lestinas, “but I saw a lot of stores I have never seen before.”

Local resident Emma Lestina echoed his sentiments.

“I’ve been in places tonight that I have never been into before – and I have lived up here 20 years!” she said.

Having the opportunity to visit the shops while learning about new wines was also a nice change.

This was a unique experience,” said Duncan Lestina. “I think it’s better than going to a winery.”

The popularity of the event was not evident early on.

“When we first started planning, response was not very strong,” said Dawson. “But we found that as the date approached, ticket sales rapidly increased.”

He said that the MSPA had hoped to sell around 300 tickets – “We thought that was a reasonable expectation,” he said – and ended up selling around 500.

“We were caught a little short with personnel, but ticket buyers were overall pretty understanding,” he said.

Helping at the ticket booth at the corner of Honolulu Avenue and Ocean View Boulevard were members of the La Crescenta Woman’s Club. For their hard work, they earned 15% of the ticket sales, Dawson said.

Reflecting on the success of the event, Dawson said that plans are being made for a Holiday Wine Walk later this year – probably in early November.

“It is the only event I’ve work at in 17 years that we didn’t have to close the streets,” he said. “It was a learning curve, but a great experience. Everyone is looking forward to the next one.”

  Charly Shelton, robin goldsworthy