April, 2008 - This year Salut! Wine Co. will make a dramatic push toward going green, with efforts to reduce waste, offer eco-friendly products, wines and services, and make our customers aware of the benefits of taking care of our environment and surrounding community.  We've already taken many steps to improve our "carbon footprint":

• We now recycle all of our glass, plastic and paper refuse, reducing our waste by nearly 80%.

• We ask customers to bring us their wine shipping containers to re-use again and again

• We use our shredded documents as packing materials in baskets and to cushion products during shipping

• We're creating an Organics wine section and identifiers for organic products on our shelves

• We're lit with low-energy lighting throughout the store

• We focus on local Northwest wines which support our economy while reducing shipping distance & time.

We care about our community and environment.  Help us in our efforts!  Use this link to print a flyer about

10 Simple Steps you can take to GO GREEN!

February, 2008 - Small Vineyards Distributing has been a favorite purveyor of Italian wines to local restaurants and retailers for years.  Now you can visit the small vineyards of Tuscany where the wines originate!  Claudia Buracchini is the Travel Coordinator for Small Vineyard Tours and she can be reached at claudia@terrae-caldae.com.  She can assist you with tailor-made half or full-day tours or more!  Don't hesitate to email her if you plan to be in Tuscany.  You'll have a custom-scheduled personalized visit at some of the most beautiful and scenic wineries in the world.

January, 2008 - Kelly has taken over as sole owner of the Camas Bistro and David took full ownership of the Vancouver wine shop.  The Camas Bistro has taken on a new personality as Kelly renamed the location "K Syrah - Bistro & Catering"  We're restructuring to take advantage of the huge differences in the two locations which were too hard to coordinate as one business. 

After the shop closed on Sunday, October 24th 2004, at about 6pm, a young woman decided to give her teen brother a driving lesson outside our shop.  He hit the gas instead of the brake, and the photos below show the results.  Of course, they did not have insurance (or a valid driver's license among them), and the woman probably wasn't concerned for her baby in the car with them.  But thankfully nobody was in the shop at the time, and nobody in the car was hurt, either.  Our insurance covered the losses, and we have put the incident in our scrapbook and chalk it up to our many experiences as small business owners.

We were closed Monday but back open on Tuesday (with a few remaining fix-ups to finish). 

Hello David,

My name is Gary S. I'm a rep for a distributor of fine wines in Ohio. I was doing a search for info for a new Italian restaurant here in Columbus and came upon your site. It's extremely informative and helpful. Just wanted to let u know how much I and the people I have forwarded links too will use and enjoy the site.  Thanks again for your hard work.

Yours in wine, Gary

   I realize your e-mail doesn't require a response, but I just wanted to let you know what a pleasant experience I had coming into your store for the first time. I am an inexperienced wine drinker and I came into your store looking for some wine and some guidance. You were friendly and helpful and didn't turn your nose up at my request for assistance. I left the store with a variety of wine that my wife and I have truly enjoyed. Thank you again.                    JM 

David:  great article and great points for your customers.  Thanks for what you are doing for Vancouver!  My wife Shawna and I, along with others from Columbia CU where I work, have enjoyed watching your business grow and we love supporting local business like yours, especially when it is a business that markets one of our favorite pastimes!  Thanks again.   

DV

Because I don't go out that way too often, I did not know until this past weekend about a great new (opened over a year ago, actually) place to buy wine.  It is called Salut! Wine Co. and it is at 16020 SE Mill Plain Blvd., Suite 105, Vancouver 98684.  The telephone is 891-5505.  The store is in the same little shopping center as Old Spaghetti Factory. 

The reason I went there is that there was an item that Nature's (Wild Oats) quit carrying and I learned from the manufacturer of that product that Salut! carries it.  The really nice thing is that Salut!'s price is more than 20% less than what I used to pay at Nature's.  The selection of wines is superb at Salut!, the wine prices are wonderful, and they offer wine tastings on Fridays.  Nice place! 

-Martha

Hi David... I was in your shop on Sunday (or was it Saturday?) and asked your recommendation on modestly priced Merlots... you mentioned six and I bought them all.

the little Penguin Merlot

Rex Goliath Cabernet

Barnard & Griffin Cabernet-Merlot

Bogle Merlot

Desert Wind Merlot

Bogle Petite Syrah

First up for me was the Little Penguin and that's the only one I've tried so far, but I want to let you know that I LOVE the wine! Rich, smooth, velvety flavors for a very modest price. Surprisingly rich flavors and fruit, really, considering the price. Thanks very much for the recommendation!

I will most certainly return to your shop to keep my daily red wine inspirations going! ;-)~

Don

Thank you so much for the wine 101 class last night.  It was fun, informative, interesting and also gave us insight into using a wine store, yours of course.  Wine stores tend to be intimidating and now we feel more secure asking you questions.

Salute,

JM & TS

Wow !!!!
...I am also impressed with David. Bill N., a rep for TGIC Imports, the distributor of Pascual Toso in the States, suggested that I contact T___, the wine steward at ________ and supposedly one of the best in town, to order my case of the godly juice, so I stopped there yesterday after work. T____ said: "Pascual who?" She had never heard of this winery, which is one of the oldest and best known in Argentina, yet David knows all about it, has followed their releases for years and what's even more  rare, it's probably the only wine shop in the area to carry it in their stock. Bravo for David !!!!!!!   (Bravo it's a Spanish word often used in bullfight lingo).  Any way, I am with you. I'll stop at Salut's tomorrow after work and get a couple of bottles of the regular Malbec, see how I fancy it and take it from there.

ST

Just wanted to tell you how much fun the wine tasting theme was for our group. They had to guess the second label from 3 cabernets. The Andrake was easy but the other 2 were more challenging. One funny aspect of the evening was when I sent my husband to get the 6 bottles from the cellar he mistakenly grabbed the wrong Woodward Canyon. So one of the guests remarked " wow, the wine shop must have grabbed the wrong bottle, this is a "96 Artist Series!" So we retrieved the Old Vines WC from the cellar and enjoyed them both! So thanks for helping with the fun theme. Everyone enjoyed the wines. I especially liked the Hurricane Ridge. Do you have any more in stock? I may come by and get some more.

Thanks again,  R.M.

You helped me make a great selection of wine for our Rotary wine tasting.

The cab and chardonnay are long gone. We have left only 1 glass of Bernard Griffin and most of a bottle of pinot gris. Everyone was glad to have info on the wines. One couple is heading for Walla Walla soon. Red wine is obviously the favorite. I probably could have sold some if I'd gotten more. Grocery stores do not carry most of those wines - at least those I checked.

Thank you for helping us out.  K.G.