Articles

7/26/18 - We're excited to offer some fantastic wines from Porter Creek Vineyards, located in the Russian River Valley. Now one of the most recognizable AVAs in American wine, George Davis bought his first vineyards in 1977, six years before the area was given AVA status in 1983 and a very long time before the widespread explosion of popularity, planting, and investment that occurred...

7/23/18 - It all started with the Tempranillo. Years ago, I tasted the 'Cauzon' from Ramón Saavedra, and was blown away. Save a handful of impressive aged Riojas and Ribera del Duero wines I'd tried, this was the best Tempranillo I'd ever tasted. It had more lift and acid, and was a little less extracted than many examples from the north of Spain, but...

7/20/18 - Today we're excited to offer you the first commerically available vintages of an exciting and dynamic new voice in Napa wine! Phil Holbrook, and his wife Dani, started Revik Wine Co. with an obsessive focus on non-invasive winemaking practices and a keen interest in the qualities of their specific vineyard sites. In a sense, this is entirely natural. Phil has lived in...

7/16/18 - It's perfectly reasonable to be wary of bearded dudes in Brooklyn making sake. Japan's national beverage has a millenium old tradition, with many breweries being generation-old family businesses. Many producers trade quite intensely on that heritage to tell their story and sell their product. When I first heard about Brooklyn Kura I was pretty skeptical. It seemed like the sort of cultural appropriation...

7/13/18 - A month ago, we had the pleasure of hanging out with Oriol Artigas as he passed through New York on a quick tour/vacation. We tasted his new wines and talked about the vineyards and the coastal mountain villages of Alella (a small wine region north of Barcelona). Oriol has an infectious type of energy and passion for his craft, and it's hard not...

7/11/18 - In its most simple definition, a Gemischter Satz is a field blend: a wine made from a mixed planting of a minimum of three different grapes that are harvested at the same time, fermented and aged together. In the past, these mixed vineyards were often planted as insurance against difficult vintages, and I've always been a fan of the underlying message at work, that...

7/6/18 - We're thrilled to announce that after a long wait, the rare and wild natural wines from Lucy Margaux are here. It's always a joy to see the bottles with their cheeky, home-spun labels on our shelves because they are unapologetically different from the conventional wine we usually see coming from Australia. For those who may have dismissed Australian wine as being overly-processed, extracted, or unimaginative, this...

7/4/18 - Today's email will be short and to the point: July 4th is upon us, and so is a nasty heat wave! With temperatures and humidity at a high, we will all be thirsty for the coldest and most refreshing beverage possible. Enter Wild Arc Farm's Piquette from the Hudson Valley! A beverage with a history dating back to Greek and Roman times,...

6/28/18 - Today we'd like to introduce the second vintage of two awesome Pét-Nats from Chëpika, a collaboration between Finger Lakes winemaker Nathan Kendall and renowned Master Sommelier (and dear friend of the store) Pascaline Lepeltier. What sets these wines apart is that they are made from two indigenous North American vine species: Catawba and Delaware. These grapes have a long history in winemaking...

6/22/18 - It's almost inevitable that any product of exceedingly high quality and finite quantity finds a rapturous audience. It's just a shame that New York's honeymoon with Foursquare rum couldn't have lasted a little longer before all the "Pappy of Rum" articles started showing up. Suddenly, just as Foursquare was acquainting rum lovers with its phenomenal range of aged Caribbean spirits, they vanished,...

6/22/18 - We are excited to offer today our new allocation of 2016 wines from Sandlands Vineyards, one of our very favorite producers working in California today. The passion project of Tegan and Olivia Passalacqua (the winemaker at Turley Wine Cellars and a partner at Folio Fine Wine Partners respectively), Sandlands emphasizes old vineyards from previously neglected varietals, grown on predominantly decomposed sandy soils...

6/20/18 - We're proud to announce a new shipment from our good friend Julien Guillot at the Domaine des Vignes du Maynes! These are among the finest natural wines of France, from a family with three generations of experience with organic farming and winemaking without sulfur-dioxide. "The vineyard has never had any chemicals used on it and has always been farmed with the greatest...

6/18/18 - Sardinia is a region I have struggled with in my exploration of Italian wine. It isn't so much that varieties are unfamiliar (reference Cannanou, Bovale, Nasco, Naragus, and Monica), which is a common issue in Italy; rather that the wines often seem to lack a particular identity beyond the island's ability create very ripe, modern wine.  We haven't seen the same sort...

6/13/18 - Last month Eben and I visted Puimisson, a charming village in the Languedoc north of Béziers, to taste with vigneron Jean-Francois "Jeff" Coutelou. As fans of natural wines, this visit was especially meaningful because Mas Coutelou is one of the first wineries to be certified organic in the Languedoc (1987), not to mention that the wines are delicious. On the big day,...

6/10/18 - This is a unique opportunity to taste wines that are changing the way California is making and drinking wine! Please join us at 5:00pm this Wednesday as Hank Beckmeyer pours his beautiful natural wines from La Clarine Farm, and taste with Hardy Wallace of Dirty and Rowdy, who is bringing  fantastic new energy to American wine culture. Then at 7pm, join Hank...