Dr Vino's wine blog

“Bottlerocket believes that buying wine should be as pleasurable as drinking it,” reads the store fact sheet. Who can argue with that! A selection of 365 wines arranged alphabetically by region runs along one wall, the same wines (and a few sakes) are then paired with foods selections on 18 handsome, rolling displays in the rest of the spacious store. The greenmarket display currently grapples with asparagus and suggests some sauvignon blancs and roses. Other displays pair wine with chicken, beef, and select good gift wines. Dial in your take-out thanks to the restaurant menus on the displays–or try to beat the delivery guy home.

The whole philosophy is the next step in drinker friendliness beyond arranging wines by style (a la Best Cellars). As well as food pairings, the shelf talkers offer critics’ scores, if available, and a “Bottlerocket index” out of 5 (mostly 3s and 4s) if not…While many wines are available under $20, the pricing is not the most competitive in town…Bring the kids since there is a playspace next to the spacious reading area at the back of the store.

Delivery: by cart within a radius of a few blocks; otherwise by taxi (you pay the cab fare!)
when: 11 – 8 PM daily, Sunday 12-6 PM
who: Bottlerocket Wine and Spirit
call: 212-929-2323
where: 5 W. 19th St, (just of 5th Ave), Flatiron district
See it on the nyc wine shop map!

tags: wine | wine | New York City

After plotting wine to go from shops in New York and shops in Chicago, I now have plotted wine to drink on premises in New York City wine bars!

Check out the East Village/Lower East Side! It has to be the wine bar capital of the world with that density. I’ll have to organize a Dr. Vino wine bar crawl there.

As ever, post your comments here or drop me a line with any comments/suggestions/additions. Which are your faves?

The new Astor Wine and Spirits glistens. It shines. It’s brand spanking new.

I dropped by last week to see the new store since the owners recently left their old location of 40 years. This new store is 50 percent larger and 150 percent more atmospheric. It has a “cool room” where a humming cooling unit chills the sakes, age-worthy and fragile wines to 55 degrees.

There’s also a curving tasting bar for handing out periodic free tastings. When I was there on Thursday afternoon, it was besieged with those wishing to try the Greek wines being poured in glasses (will the plastic of the previous location stay permanently banned?).

A huge plasma TV hangs over the bar. Since watching a video of grapes fermenting is about as exciting as watching one of me typing this post, I wonder what sort of programming they will run when it is eventually turned on (please, dear Bacchus, no sports!). To counterbalance the TV, on the other end of the store, a wall of built-in bookshelves houses a huge inventory of wine books for sale and perusal.

Some shelves remain bare but the wines are coming in. I just hope the prices will not be going up.

399 Lafayette at 4th Street, New York, NY 10003
Open 9AM – 9PM (Sunday noon – 5PM)
Subway: Line 6, Astor Place
212-674-7500
Astor remains one of my favorite wine stores in New York City. Map it on my map of New York City wine shops!

Swanky new entrance

The cool room still needs some filling up…

…but the tasting bar doesn’t

Handsome arched ceilings (barely visible in this poorly lit snapshot)

tags: wine | Astor wines | wine

When I left the Gambero Rosso tasting today in NYC, the line stretched around the block. The brief press/trade portion was already crowded enough but how did word ever get out to so many consumers? “It’s free,” came the reply.

While this tasting of over 150 of the top wines from Italy may have been ultimate free tasting (for the wines at least, but the not the crowds) there are many worthwhile free tastings. Our Senior Free Wine Correspondent rounded up some of the free tastings in Chicago here.

In New York City, I have signed up for the email lists of several shops including Appellation, Astor, and Crush–to name a few at the beginning of the alphabet. That way I can know about not only wine tastings but also any sales.

This week, Astor Wines is having a “Say Good-Bye to the Old Astor” extravaganza with free tastings every evening this week. Acker, Merrall is having a Jameson Irish Whiskey tasting on Friday (St. Paddy’s day). Sake on Saturday at Landmark Wines. Sat, Sun and Mon Le Nell’s in Red Hook is having a tasting of organic wines in honor of Earth Day (is it already Earth Day?). Mar 19 Mary Elke of Napa will be pouring her wines at September Wine and Spirit. Mar 20 Joe Dressner will assemble a merry band of naturalists at Crush. For more info on these stores, check my map of NYC wine shops.

Check localwinevents for more events near you! Try something new and get out of your groove!

tags: wine | free wine tastings

This spring, geography is even less of an obstacle to taking one of my classes!

In the new NYU/James Beard Foundation program, we’ll be looking at the hot-button issue of modern versus traditional winemaking styles. Our journey will take us to several New World wine regions including Napa, Barossa, Washington, Mendoza and South Africa. Starts 3/23 for 5 weekly sessions. (info and registration)

And at the University of Chicago, we’ll be looking at the conundrum facing French winemakers today through the historical and cultural lens of two regions, Bordeaux and Languedoc. This class runs on Saturday afternoon, 3/25. (info and registration)

And in Chicago again, we’ll taking a varietal approach as we examine the appeal, variation, and history of the finicky Pinot Noir. (info and registration)

I hope to see you there!

tags: wine | wine classes | Chicago | New York

Education is important for Scott Pactor. Walking into Appellation, his light and airy store that opened in Chelsea last fall, requires customers to walk in front of a reading area complete with two chairs and a bookshelf stuffed with wine books—not for sale, but for consultation.

While all wine shops try to help customers know their Pouilly-Fumé from their Pouilly-Fuissé, Pactor’s consumer education adds a green twist: his shop concentrates on organic and biodynamic wines. With more consumers seeking environmentally friendly products from unbleached paper towel to free range meat, wineries that take a sustainable approach to agriculture are becoming increasingly popular.
The 200+ wines in the store are arranged by flavor profile from light to full-bodied, from left to right in the shop. The discrete tags above each wine describe the flavors in words (not numbers) and list the vital statistics including the green credentials of the winery.

There are definitely some oddities such as the inky-black Cepages Oubliés 2004 from the Loire’s Henri Marionette, the “king” of carbonic maceration (a fermentation technique that does not use a press and leads to fruity tasting wines). A Coturri Zinfandel has no sulfites so Pactor keeps it in the cold storage area since it is so delicate. I purchased a bottle of the Auratus Alvarinho 2004 from Portugal where the vineyard is farmed organically and the winery eschews pumps and instead uses the force of gravity for the juice to flow from one tank to the next. I made it my value wine of the week.

But taste comes first. Pactor chooses the wines in the shop based on taste first and then green credentials second. When he started working in wine, first at the New York City restaurant Balthazar and later at the shop PJ’s, the distributors gave him blank stares when he brought up the topic of the environment. But today there’s no problem finding plenty of wines made in an environmentally responsible way.

Winemakers who are committed to environmental responsibility frequently visit Appellation for talks and tastings. Coming up on March 3 the Coturri brothers will be doing a talk and tasting and on March 9 Mike Benziger will be in the store talking about biodynamics. Appellation is also doing events with burgeoning ranks of New York’s organic-influenced restaurants including Cookshop, Telepan, and Billy’s Bakery. The education continues on-line as the shop’s informative web site has some essays, including one about the use of sulfites in wine.

Appellation is definitely worth checking out, even if it is way over on the west side. Bring your dog—there’s a dog bowl and doggy treats. And bring your toddlers—there’s a table and coloring books. You gotta get the next generation while they are green.

Appellation Wine and Spirits
156 Tenth Ave (btw 19th and 20th), open 7 days a week.
Tel: 212-741-9474

tags: wine | organic wine | wine stores New York

Well, now that the gray lady says so, it’s official: Trader Joe’s is opening a location near Union Square. The address of the 10,000 sq ft store is 142 East 14th Street.

But the address wine geeks will care about is 138 E. 14th St since that’s where their wine store will be. They will have a separate at-grade entrance to avoid running afoul of New York State’s bizarre laws on wine retailing the way Whole Foods did at Columbus Circle. No word on how big the wine shop will be. No other TJ’s in NY or CT sells wine and one location in NJ does.

Trader Joe’s may be in for a rough ride in given the number of wine shops in the area. Their business model of selling high volume wines, such as the notorious Two Buck Chuck, may not fare well in Manhattan where consumers are often reluctant to carry more than a bottle (or two) home with their laptop and groceries. And it’s hard to see the profit margin in offering a $24 case of wine for delivery. But hopefully they will find diverse wines that are good values.

Just steer clear of the Chiaro del Bastardo…

tags: wine | food and drink | Trader Joe’s | NYC

Are you ever in a new neighborhood in the city, looking for a bottle? Or wondering exactly where is that wine shop you keep reading about? Then this map of NYC wine stores should come in handy. My tech department in Bangalore has been slaving over this so, as they say in the finest casual dining locations, “enjoy!”

See the map of New York wine shops

PS- I WISH there were a tech department in Bangalore!!

Technorati tags: wine | wine stores | GoogleMaps | mashup | New York City