Kroger Aquatic Center opens
Badin vs. Fredericktown
Miamisburg graduation 2012
Home > Blogs > Uncorked > Archives > 2007 > May > 30 > Entry
In memoriam: Karen Davis, wine-tasting pioneer
Sad news for all Dayton-area wine enthusiasts: Karen Davis passed away early Wednesday in Simpsonville, S.C., according to Karen’s brother, Gary Ware.
Feel free to post a comment if you have a condolence or a memory to share. Here’s a copy of a story that I’ve submitted for publication in Thursday’s Dayton Daily News:
“Karen Davis, who helped to pioneer drop-in wine tastings in the Dayton area during 23 years at Arrow Wine & Spirits in Kettering, died Wednesday in South Carolina after a lengthy illness. She was 64.
For many local wine enthusiasts, Mrs. Davis became the public face of wine as the designated pourer during Arrow’s wine tastings, which began in 1975, before any other Miami Valley wine shop. Her welcoming, down-to-earth style helped teach a generation of local residents how to appreciate wine. And the tastings she oversaw paved the way for a wine-tasting culture unique to the Dayton area, which now has multiple drop-in tastings at wine shops, grocery-store wine departments and restaurants several nights a week.
“She was a grand hostess and conversationalist,” said Bruce Scranton, the former president of the Dayton chappters of Les Amis du Vin and Tasters Guild who first met Mrs. Davis at a wine-appreciation class in 1973. “Nobody had more fun or enjoyed the social aspects of wine tastings more than Karen. She knew her wine, and she knew her food, too.”
Davis served as specialty foods buyer for Arrow until 1998, when her husband Ray was transferred to North Carolina.
“In the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, Karen was a driving force in specialty foods and specialty cheeses in the Dayton area,” said Mike Frank, Arrow’s co-owner. “She had an unsurpassed following at her Saturday tastings … . Dayton-area wine lovers owe her a real debt of gratitude as she made Dayton the true leader of wine-tasting in the Midwest.”
Services are pending.”
Two postscripts: Bruce Scranton and his wife Suzanne, along with Tony Blesas and his wife Judith, long-time friends of Karen and Ray, traveled down to Karen’s home earlier this month when they heard that Karen’s condition was worsening. Tony and Bruce cooked a gourmet meal, and uncorked a bottle of one of Karen’s all-time favorite wines — Ch. Mouton-Rothschild (hey, we said Karen was a gourmand) — to share. Her eyes lit up when she saw the bottle, and she enjoyed her few sips.
Also, I’ve dusted off a story I wrote for the Dayton Daily News 15 years ago — about the Breakfast Club at Arrow, which continues to this day — that captures a bit of Karen’s spirit, I think. Click on “continue reading” to view the story, and again, feel free to post a comment if you’d like.
Mark Fisher
THE BREAKFAST CLUB
WINE TASTINGS GIVE A SPIRITED START TO THEIR SATURDAYS
By Mark Fisher DAYTON DAILY NEWS
Published: Saturday, March 14, 1992 ; Edition: CITY ; Section: WEEKENDLIFE ; Page: 1C .
It’s high noon on a Saturday at the Arrow Wine store in Kettering. The weekly wine tasting is barely an hour old, but already folks are standing two- and three-deep around the small bar, chatting and sipping maroon-colored liquid from tiny plastic cups.
A man and woman approach hesitatingly. They’re not regulars, and they scan the throng in front of them, tentative - perhaps a tad intimidated. From behind the bar, Karen Davis spots the couple and waves them over. “C’mon, fight your way through,” she says. “Would you like to taste some wine today?”
The Breakfast Club sets another place at the table.
The Arrow Wine store on Far Hills Avenue helped pioneer the idea of public wine tastings on weekends in the Dayton area. Davis, the store’s food buyer, helped launch the store’s Saturday tastings in 1975. Judging from the growth in popularity and in the number of tastings in the area, the idea has filled a need along with a few empty glasses.
The samples cost 50 cents each, sometimes more for a taste of an expensive wine (state liquor law requires that a fee be charged). Servings of an ounce or so - along with a strict “no-seconds” policy - help ensure most people will leave the place with no more than a desire for an afternoon nap.
There is no pressure to buy, although if one of the samples caresses the right taste bud, a sale of a bottle or two - or even a case - can certainly be arranged.
Davis has kept meticulous records of each wine tasted for the last 15 years, so she can tell you - if you ask - that on April 2, 1977, you missed tasting Mateus, which sold then for $3.95 a bottle.
And some of the members of the self-professed “Breakfast Club” just might have tasted that Mateus a decade and a half ago.
The ad-hoc group of wine enthusiasts met by coming early to the drop-in, 11 a.m.-to-5 p.m. tastings. Over the years (and over a few hundred samples of wine), they eventually formed a close-knit - though not overly clubby or exclusionary - social group: The Breakfast Club.
Members share vacation pictures, cooking advice, condolences and jokes.
When Breakfast Clubber Dori Dick broke her hand, she brought her X-rays in for fellow club members to peruse. The group even receives its own mail, most recently airmail from Managua, Nicaragua, from Ross Runnells, a wine lover who joined the Peace Corps.
On this particular Saturday - Feb. 29, Leap Day - Davis chooses a wine from a California winery called Stag’s Leap. Few catch on immediately to the pun, despite Davis’ prompting. But the round of groans grows in volume with each newly arrived wine taster.
The conversation this day ranges from wine to asbestos removal, back to wine.
“Say, have you tried that Balkan Crest Cabernet yet?
“Tried it? I’m on my third case of it.”
The interest in wine locally seems to have surged in recent months, in part because of a 60 Minutes report last November that extolled the possible cardiac-health benefits of wine, especially red wine.
Saturday wine-tasting luncheons that Jay’s Restaurant launched last year recently have begun selling out several days in advance. The Wine Works wine shop in Springfield started Saturday afternoon tastings a few months ago.
At Arrow, the crowds ebb and flow, usually with the weather. Warm, sunny days keep people at home, working in yards and gardens. Rainy days pack them in at the wine bar.
Behind the bar at the Leap Day tasting, Davis is dusting off her Stag’s Leap pun for a late-arriving Breakfast Club member. Another groan.
“I should’ve stayed home and put some more dishes in the dishwasher,” the woman says.
Breakfast dishes, no doubt.
TweetGo to my facebook page and click Like to comment.
Comments
By Jean (Kogel) Kujat
June 6, 2007 7:06 PM | Link to this
Karen and I met at Ohio University when we pledged Kappa Delta sorority. Our friendship grew and our days in the Annex were some of the very best. She and Ray left before me and we didn’t get together again until we ended up in the Dayton area. I so enjoyed stopping by for a chat, many laughs, and some good food. I moved to Wyoming but we always connected with a Christmas card containing the yearly news of kids, travel, family stories, etc. We finially started sending e-mails and not too much later Ray and Karen decided to come tour the West and stop for a visit. It was so wonderful to spend time with them again, to renew an old friendship. Any one who knew Karen enjoyed her upbeat personality and her positive approach to life and Ray was her perfect partner. It was my privilege to know her. With love Dane and Jean
By Jean
June 6, 2007 11:13 AM | Link to this
Karen and I graduated from Washington High School together where we both played French horn in the band. Karen was an outstanding quality person with a great love for life. If ever there was a person who lived it to the fullest I believe it was Karen. She was my maid of honor at my wedding in May of 1963. She will always have a special place in my heart. Jean McCoy
By Lillian
June 2, 2007 3:16 AM | Link to this
In or around 1983, I made it my habit to stop by Arrow Wine to try whatever they were tasting. Karen was our server and always had a smile on her face and something interesting to say. She always made me feel welome and taught me a lot about wine. After many weeks she suggested I come earlier and meet the “Breakfast Club” gang. While 11am seemed a little odd, I did as she suggested and became a regular attendee at the “Club’s” Saturday morning meetings. It was there that I met several of my now dearest friends. As a result of Karen’s warm, welcoming, and outgoing personality, I have dear friends who I wine, dine and travel with today. Thank you Karen!
By Gordo
May 31, 2007 3:34 PM | Link to this
Mark: I came to Dayton in 1980. At that time I knew very little about fine wine and less about food. In 1983 I accidentally happened to walk into Arrow on a Saturday afternoon. Much to my surprise I ran into Karen and the Arrow wine tasting. She introduced me to many different wines and ideas about wine and food parings over the years. I even ended up in part-time retail sales of wine at one point. As many others have said, Karen will be very much missed by those that knew her and whose lives she enriched.
By mel
May 31, 2007 9:52 AM | Link to this
Karen will be sadly missed. she is largely responsible for for a 30 year tradition that continues to this day. My Saturday morning pilgrimage to Arrow Wine. Karen was the heart and soul of the Breakfast Club. Always a big friendly smile and a kind word. I will always fondly remember her.
By Tony
May 31, 2007 8:02 AM | Link to this
Judith and I have known Karen and her family for more than 30 years. We have laughed together, cried, traveled through Europe, visited wineries and cheese making companies, cooked, ate(a lot), drunk wine and champagne(even more). Karen was always in a positive uplifting mood. She thoroughly enjoyed life to it’s fullest. She was also a “rock” upon which many of us could depend on good times and bad times. Even when she knew, a couple of years ago, that she was diagnosed with the beginnings of the dreaded disease, her e-mails were still positive and extremely funny, especially when she commented on the medical profession(or the lack of it). Words alone cannot adequately express how much we will miss her.
By Mark
May 30, 2007 10:16 PM | Link to this
Mark, thanks for the most sensitive and insightful tribute to Karen. I knew Karen from both a personal perspective and in her role at Arrow for so many years. She was a class lady in all respects. Karen had an engaging and warm personality that could melt the ice on the most irreverant wine snob. You are correct, she was indeed a pioneer and leading influence on the embrionic Dayton wine trade. I spent many a Friday evening and Saturday rolling into Arrow North as part of my weekly wine tasting pilgramage in close accompanyment with Karen’s brother Gary. She always greeted us with a smile and a generous pour. We routinely exchanged jokes and good belly laughs. She will be sorely missed on many levels. I hope Arrow honors her with a memorial wine tasting benefiting an appropriate cancer charity. Count me in! I’ll look forward to getting a pour from Karen at the pearly gates where I’m sure she will have a hand in tending God’s tastings…..
By Bob Beecher
May 30, 2007 8:14 PM | Link to this
Karen Davis…going to Arrow on Saturdays was an ongoing conversation about family and friends as well as about wine tasting. Karen wanted to know us because the culture she was developing was about friendship as well as wine education - the two should go hand-in-hand. We will treasure those Saturdays always.