Profile: Big Mood Natural Wines
Natural wine has made its way to the heartland– and you’re going to love it.
All photos by Pilsen Photo
Natural wine has been all the rage, lately, and for good reason: not only is it delicious, it takes into account both winemakers’ and consumers’ growing desire to make sure what they’re creating and ingesting is better for themselves and the planet. Read on to learn more from our one-on-one with part-owner Richard Garcia.
Natural wines are somewhat new to many Kansas Citians– can you introduce us to that style of wine, how it's made, and why you love it?
Natural wine is a category of wine that isn’t regulated by a strict definition or agency. Honestly, it is more of a philosophy / movement motivated by the changing climate, a demand for transparency, and a desire to make delicious wine without the reliance on agro chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides. Farming is only half the battle, though. Once the grapes are harvested (typically by hand), the winemaking process begins! An overarching tenant of wines that are made naturally is that nothing is added to the wines aside from a small addition of sulphur. Conventional winemakers are allowed to include up to 60+ additives to their wines in order to “correct” for color, mouth feel, oakiness, sweetness, acidity, clarity, etc. Natural winemakers tend to hold onto the belief that wines are made in the field rather than in the cellar. We love these wines for their freshness, liveliness, and because they don’t fatigue your palate (meaning you can keep the party rolling).
When did you know you wanted to open a natural wine bar in KC?
Personally, I’ve wanted to open a natural wine shop/bar in KC since working at Novel on the Westside back in 2013! Since then, a few of my fellow sommeliers and myself have been sneaking natural wines onto restaurant and bar menus throughout the city. Fast forward to last year, after successfully launching a wine list that was made up of 100% natural wines at Fox and Pearl, I knew this was a sustainable category for KC. My friends Jamie and Liz Zoeller and I kicked the idea around about opening a wine store dedicated to natural wine back in the fall of 2019, and after Jamie and I were out of work (both of us being GMs at restaurants) due to the global pandemic, we decided to use our time off to just go for it and formed our LLC in April of this year. We opened our doors in early August, and we have no plans for stopping. The natural wine bar aspect of our business plan is on hold for the moment until we feel like we can move forward in a safe and responsible fashion.
You're one of many brave local business owners in our city who opened their doors during the pandemic. What challenges have you faced?
Jamie, Liz and I have had pretty smooth sailing opening our doors during a pandemic, actually (knock on wood)! This whole ordeal (pandemic) has done nothing but motivate us. The opportunity was right there in front of us having left our jobs, so it made total sense to just do the damn thing. I would argue that the bureaucracy of the process has even been streamlined, since not many other businesses were applying for the same licensing we were.
The space you've built is amazing. What was the design process like?
Well, we all knew that we wanted an open, sunlit, and plant filled space, so that was step one. We collaborated with our good friend Brad Keirns out of Lawrence, Kansas who happens to be a very inspired carpenter/designer, on the creation of our shelving, cash wrap, and eventual wine bar. He’s using 100% recycled/upcycled wood in the construction as well! Additionally, we have been working with the extremely talented Lindsay Laricks (shout out to Little Freshie!) on all of our branding, and could not be happier with the results! Most every aspect of the design process has been via Skype, email and text, which honestly worked out just fine.
How do you decide what bottles/wineries to stock? Any favorites that customers should keep an eye out for?
Too many gems out there honestly, which can be a little sad knowing that fitting everything we want in the shop would not be physically possible, nor would it be financially viable! The bottles that we do carry are a mixture of old favorites, and new favorites that Jamie and myself have tasted through and researched on our own. In a strange twist of fate, due to the pandemic, the coastal cities that typically gobble up all of the highly sought after wines are not in a position to sell everything, so a bunch of cool wines that are typically not offered to our market are all of a sudden up for grabs– and we plan on stocking as much of it as possible. Keep an eye out for our ever growing section of orange wines and delicious light red wines (join our wine club too for even more info on natural producers that we admire!).
What can we expect at Big Mood in the future? Wine tastings? Parties? Give us something to look forward to!
Every Thursday from 5-7pm we host a free wine tasting to the (legal) public! I am working on putting together classes for the public as well focused on the basics. Also, we will eventually have a wine by the glass program for all to enjoy.
