“We don’t recognize any of this. Do you have something that goes with gelato?”
The question came the other evening from a foursome spooning up gelato as they scanned the wine list after strolling into Archive Wine & Beer, in downtown Reno’s West Street Market.
Huh. The pairing request was unusual — and challenging. Wine and frozen dairy are typically restive bedfellows, but Archive owner Steve Boyer created a successful coupling, mating gelato with a red from the South of France fermented in stainless steel, not barrels (so no disruptive oakiness.)
The group liked the wine so much, they bought a bottle to take home, Boyer said. “We are here to give people choices.”
Archive’s skillfully and confidently edited wine list, among the most distinctive this side of San Francisco, ranges domestically and internationally, largely featuring smaller family producers, with wines that will be unfamiliar to many local wine drinkers.
Love and passion for wine are not enough. You need the hospitality side, too
But like the gelato crew, that unfamiliarity also presents an opportunity to explore, guided by Boyer or by Erik Phillips, his second in command.
“There is so much great wine available in Reno; I want offer wines you might not get at other places,” Boyer said.
“A lot of my job is to find wines and translate that to how people like to drink. You love Napa cab? Let’s find other wines that fit that profile — so you can have options. Let’s introduce those wines in a knowledgeable and friendly and unpretentious way.”
Archive debuted in September 2019 in the snug storefront that originally housed West Street Wine Bar. Six months after opening, pandemic shutdowns began, and it wasn’t until this past June that Archive could finally operate again without restrictions.
“A lot of people still don’t know we’re here,” Boyer said. But those who have discovered Archive have found one of the city’s best drinking experiences.
If you like pinot grigio, you’ll love alvarinho
At any given time, Archive presents about 60 red wines and 30 whites (including bubbles) on its list, plus at least that many wines for retail sale. The wine list also includes rosés, orange wines and a clutch of beer, ciders and seltzers. Change is fermented into the list.
“Some of our wines are not available all year long,” Boyer said. “Because I’m buying wines like that, we pour them until they’re gone. The list is continually developing.”
Another recent evening, a woman visiting Reno for business took at seat at the bar. She asked Boyer to recommend a white wine. What did she typically like to drink, he asked? Pinot grigio or sparkling wine, she replied. Boyer turned toward the cooler, pausing while he decided on a wine that would feel at once recognizable and novel.
“This is an alvarinho, but it drinks like a pinot grigio,” Boyer said as he poured a Nortico alvarinho, a bright citrusy wine made in Portugal from the alvarinho grape. “What do you think? Do you like it?”
She liked. Three glasses’ worth. Before walking back to her hotel.
Pinot from Germany. Yes, Germany
Across the Archive wine list, it’s all about this expanding of preference.
What if the woman had been a sparkling wine drinker? Boyer might have poured her an organic Cava rosé from the Naveran estate in Spain: “body without sweetness,” he said. For folks who like pinot? Maybe a look-see in Germany, a country not generally associated in the public mind with pinot.
“The Germans have actually loved pinot noir for centuries,” Boyer said.
“As climate change has accelerated, the pinot noirs have begun to get riper and riper, and now they rival Burgundy in quality. The German wineries have very technical and precise winemakers, so they can work well with the delicate flavors of pinot noir.”
A Napa valley cab — or something like it
And what about that fruitful flock, lovers of classic cabernets from the Napa Valley, who abound in Reno?
“I say, ‘OK, I’ve got a great Napa cab. Do you want to stick with that or try something a little bit similar but not cabernet sauvignon?’ “ Boyer said.
For customers sticking with the valley, there’s a bold bicep-y La Grande Roche cab sauv from Ric Forman, the famed winemaker who once led the wine program at Sterling Vineyards. For those tasting beyond Napa, there’s Perinet Merit, a cab sauv blend from Spain that’s lush, with approachable tannins.
Beaujolais, the French wine made from gamay grapes, has been a particular success at Archive, in part because it pairs nicely with Indian food from Thali and pies from The Pizza Collective, neighbors of the wine bar in West Street Market.
“Within four months of us opening,” Boyer said, “I sold more Beaujolais than I did Napa cab, and I sell a decent amount of Napa cab.”
From bouncer to bartender to fine wine guy
Boyer, who is a solid fellow, once worked as a bouncer in bars and clubs in Nashville.
“I realized I was getting paid minimum wage to break up fights when I could be paid ten times as much being the bartender, so I started working as a bartender in a fine dining restaurant,” he said.
Bartending led to exposure to wine led to jobs as a beverage director, a service director and the manager of one of the top wine stores in Nashville. When Boyer and his wife Amy, a wine broker and co-owner of Archive, moved to Reno in 2007, Boyer first landed at the old Sezmu, one of the best restaurants ever in Northern Nevada.
He also launched a biscuit store (long before the biscuit pandemonium) and a wine lounge that were open at Lake Tahoe for about a year before the Great Recession began. Boyer next deployed his wine chops as a sommelier for Charlie Palmer Steak Reno, followed by a big gig at Whole Foods Market, which recruited him to buy wine, create its tap room and help lead its specialty beverage team.
Not just Italy, not just Napa
In 2019, when Boyer decided to set up a wine bar, he said he chose the name Archive because “it has the sense of history, which I think is really important to wine, but also can include new things.
“I wanted to make sure I didn’t pigeonhole myself with a name. I wanted to make sure the name didn’t sound like we were an Italian wine shop only or a Napa wine shop only.”
Boyer said he also wanted to set Archive apart from its predecessor, where some employees combined extensive wine knowledge with a prickly exclusivity: What? You really aren’t familiar with Bulgarian viogniers?
“Love and passion for wine are not enough,” Boyer said. “You need the hospitality and service side, too. I didn’t want people to think this was the old West Street Wine Bar. I wanted to create a different feel.”
You’ve got the talk, the talk of wine
One especially lively evening at Archive, that feel is in full swing. Phillips, Boyer’s expert adjutant, is on pour for a mix of visitors, downtown Reno residents, folks from the university, diners bringing food from Thali for pairings, some local wine professionals and a couple of tables of younger wine enthusiasts.
“I think one reason we’ve attracted more young people is because we’re not brand specific,” Boyer said. “Younger drinkers like to explore.”
After a tough 2020, Boyer said, when “there actually wasn’t money to keep the doors open but we found a way, we’re now back to growing business.” And back to talk of the grape.
“The joy of this space, this small space, is we make wine a conversation,” Boyer said, “not just a transaction.”
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Johnathan L. Wright is the food and drink editor for Reno News & Review. Follow him on Twitter at @ItsJLW or on Facebook personally or at @FoodNevada. Sign up here for the Reno News & Review free weekly newsletter highlighting our most recent stories.