ocd aka otto’s constant dream
Have you ever bought a wine because of the label? I think everyone can say at some point they definitely have. Well, now I didn’t technically buy this wine because of the label, in full disclosure it was in my portfolio when I was a wine sales rep, so I knew the wine already, but had I not, it would have been a wine I bought because of the label. I liked it so much after tasting it with buyers that I stocked up on some for myself.
The story behind this wine is that the name, OCD, was inspired by Melissa Monti Saunders’ obsessive way about wine. Apparently her friend whom is now a business partner created the wine in her honor. Now, I am not sure if this is totally accurate, but, if it is, I love it even more. Since writing this, Melissa actually confirmed this to me today, in her words, “This is all true!!! The label was designed as a joke and an ode to my 'detail oriented' nature. We could not call it OCD because it would not get through Federal Label Approval (no medical terms permitted!!). We decided to rename the acronym. It's really 'our' dream but it sounded too self reflexive so we called him Otto (cause it's a palindrome) and that was that”. I don’t know about anyone else, but when a wine has a great story like this, it makes the experience that much better.
image credit: Porto Protocol
Melissa not only runs Communal Brands, the importer behind OCD, she is quite the role model for women in the wine industry. Melissa has a background in law, which is highly beneficial as an importer of wine. The legal requirements to import wine into America are daunting and then distributing them are even more so, it is not for the faint of heart. And if I have learned anything about Melissa while researching her to write this post, I don’t think anything could stop her. She is a powerhouse that I look up to and I think most people in the wine industry do.
She is one of around 400 (this number may be different because there are pending candidates) Master of Wines in the world today, she received her MW in 2021 while running her business and being a mom during a global pandemic, insanely impressive. This is an extremely prestigious and involved process, requiring countless years dedicated to studying wine from soil all the way to selling laws.
Her career path seems to have all led her in the direction of starting her business. She began her career in law working for non-profits and eventually took a job practicing law at a beverage law firm where she learned all she could to work in the wine industry full time. She began importing her brother-in-laws wine from New Zealand while working at the firm and distributing the wine locally at restaurants and retailers. She gained significant experience over the next few years working for others, gaining all the insights into the industry she could, before starting Communal Brands in 2009. Communal Brands has a small but mighty portfolio, focusing on wineries that pay attention to their impact on the environment in the vineyards as well as in their wine making processes.
If you are lucky enough to live in a state where CB wines are distributed, I highly recommend checking them out. I may have a totally biased opinion because I have insane respect for her, but I never lie about wine I like. If I don’t like a wine, I typically won’t tell people about it, and if I do, you can read between the lines in comparison to other wines I write about.
Now for a little more details about the wine. The grapes are estate grown in a sustainable way on alluvial soils with high gravel and clay content. Fermentation takes place mainly in stainless steel with a small but in French Oak. Fermentation is for 3 weeks, the wine rests on lees for around 6 weeks. It is lightly fined and filtered. The wine is more in an old world style rather than what you usually find in Marlborough, which was a lovely surprise. I paired it today with egg drop soup, my version is full of cabbage and a light bright broth, the salt from the soy sauce I used really made the wine pop.