Jason Cooper's Road to Velvet 48
How a son honors his mom with wine
After over two decades working in the wine industry, Burlingame local Jason Cooper decided it was time to take the reins on that career and make it his own. In the late spring of 2019 he opened Velvet 48 at 310 Lorton Avenue, a stylish wine bar that filled a need in the community.
“It’s the place I would want to go and hang out,” Cooper explains about how the idea came to be. “That’s what I wanted … not necessarily a restaurant, but still a good wine list, a fun vibe, somewhere you could go and just drink wine, or have a little bit of food that complements what you are drinking.”
His years of wine experience in restaurants, retail, management, importing and buying offered countless opportunities to assess the type of space he dreamt of opening in his own neighborhood. And then in 2019, “I found myself wondering what my next step was going to be in my professional life and decided to pursue this.”
As for the name Velvet 48, Cooper explains: “Velvet refers to wines that are easy to drink, that aren’t going to rip the enamel off your teeth, wines that are easygoing and you could have with or without food,” a concept in line with his vision for the wine bar and shop as a whole. The other piece of the name is a tribute to Cooper’s mom, who passed away in 2017. It so happens that 1948 was her birth year, and felt like a nice legacy to attach to the business he launched using the money she left behind for him.
Ultimately, Cooper’s approach in deciding what to include on his wine list and stock on his shelves is to offer something for anyone who might come through the door. “I look for things that I think will resonate with people, that will have some crowd appeal. Nothing too geeky because that’s not our clientele,” he says. “I like to have something for everyone. I feel pretty good about my ability to pick some wines that will make people happy.” With over 800 wines on the list, it’s a good bet you will find something you like.
The Velvet 48 wine club is a testament to that crowd appeal. This very popular club offers a quarterly release of six bottles, with attention to good value, meaning that the typical retail price on those six bottles would be much more than the club members pay. Two different categories are available in your membership: one includes a mix of sparkling, white, rosé and some red, while the other is completely red wines. Throughout the year members get 10% off all food and drink in the bar, and they also get to go to the lively pickup parties. “It’s really a way to get people to come pick up their wine because we don’t have a ton of storage!” says Cooper.
At the parties Cooper is there himself, pouring all the wines from that quarterly selection for guests to taste and learn about. His knowledge about each wine is thorough, and he passes it on to the members, who can take those stories home to enrich their drinking experiences when they open each bottle. “I pour the wines and tell them about what makes each one special and why I chose it for the club. People dig it!” he says. Another huge bonus for folks attending the parties is the deep discount offered on additional bottles, which Cooper says is generally just a few dollars more that the wholesale cost.
It is always interesting to ask someone with longstanding years in the wine biz what they drink at home. Oftentimes the answers will be surprising. For Cooper, his devotion to wine runs deep. As a collector for the better part of 20 years, he has some gems and plenty of favorites, many of which hail from Napa Valley. But what does he drink day to day? Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir are most frequent. Another fun wine question to ask is if there was ever an aha! moment. Cooper actually remembers the exact wine that caught his attention.
“It was long before I got into the wine industry. The year after I graduated from college I worked at a restaurant and they let me take home a bottle that was open at the end of the night to try. It was a 1995 Ravenswood Sangiacomo Vineyard Merlot… It was the first time that I drank wine and felt like, ‘Oh, OK, I get it!’”
Amber Selene Turpin is a freelance food and travel writer based in the Santa Cruz Mountains. She is a regular contributor to the Mercury News, Edible Magazines, 7x7, Marin Living, Diablo and the Slow Wine Guide, with work appearing in Bon Appétit, EatingWell, and many other publications over the last 20 years.
