People passing through will now find Soul Red Wine, a wine named after the popular MisSOULa brand, along with Missoula Winery's other red wines, a chardonnay and sauvignon blanc for sale.
Travelers who stop for a drink at Missoula International Airport's new restaurant might have traveled hundreds of miles to get there, but the wines they'll find on the menu traveled less than a mile from barrel to glass.
Thanks to a new partnership with the Missoula Winery, Jedediah's at the airport is now offering local wines along with a solid selection of Missoula-brewed beers.
People passing through will now find Soul Red Wine, a wine named after the popular MisSOULa brand, along with Missoula Winery's other red wines, a chardonnay and sauvignon blanc for sale.
Winery vice president and co-owner Philippe Leiritz had been searching for a way to expand his young winery's presence and is excited his wine is now offered at a place where the market for local flavor is high.
"Missoula is known for flyfishing, horseback riding ... but by the evening, people like to know where they can find a good glass of wine," he said.
Jedediah's manager Anne Brown had a similar thought. The restaurant already offers a host of popular beers from three local breweries.
The only (beer) we have on tap is Bud Light and we hardly pull that one," said Brown, who was on the hunt to find local wine to sell when she met with Missoula Chamber of Commerce President Kim Latrielle.
The Missoula Winery opened in May 2010 and recently became a Missoula Chamber of Commerce member. Leiritz was looking for ways the chamber could help his winery gain a presence at the airport. He first suggested an entire chamber kiosk where members could do things like display flyers for travelers to take.
Instead, their conversations led Latrielle to a meeting with airport administrators, then Brown, who tasted Missoula Winery's selections and chose several to serve.
Jedediah's opened July 1 and has been serving Missoula Winery selections for three weeks.
"They've been selling really, really well," Brown said. "We've already sold four cases of wine since we buddied up with them and it's been less than a month."
Leiritz said the warmer summer weather has made the chardonnay the most popular at Jedediah's so far.
Along with glasses for sale, Brown uses the Missoula Winery red wine in her secret prime rib recipe and plans to make seasonal wine selections available.
The winery-to-restaurant connection created through the Chamber made for a win-win situation, Latrielle said.
"I think it's a wonderful opportunity for our local businesses to catch that (airport) market coming in and share what they have," she said. Our next step is make sure the other breweries and wineries know that this may be an opportunity for them.
"We're starting with this one thing (at the airport), but I think it's going to lead to bigger things to promote our local business when people arrive to town."
