I had an impromptu chat with one of the owners of a prominent Manhattan retailer yesterday and we were discussing the future of wine, specifically in upper Manhattan. I’ll leave the theories out of this post, but overall the consensus was that the NY State wine industry is probably about to go through a big overhaul if it is going to stay the top player in the world for fine wines. Perhaps the biggest reason is that in order to stay profitable distributors are causing the wines in NY State to be more expensive then other states. Now savvy consumers are seeing major and highly desirable Domestic and European houses at smaller, lesser known retailers in states like CT, NH, MA, IL, and FL. The distributors in these states don’t need need to pay the high costs of the empire state and therefore are able to post prices 10, 20, sometimes even 30(!) percent lower then states like NY and California. Ironically, the two biggest and most powerful markets – San Fran and NY – who’ve actively discovered and created new brands over the past 60+ years for the American market are starting to get gutted (and this isn’t just happening in the wine world – spirits and beers aren’t impervious to the trend). Other states have seemingly watched and waited while NY and San Fran have paved the way with wine trials and errors and are making their strategic moves with the very same portfolio NY and San Fran have been vigorously shaping and reshaping for years. Online prices that are 30% higher (even a mere 5%) will lead savvy shoppers elsewhere. Even if it means breaking loyalty bonds they’ve created with their trusted stores.

How will the NY market overcome this? Well, I have several ideas but I told you I’d keep theories out of this post. Would love to hear what you think!

 We also got on the topic of Diageo (a global brand collection leader – portfolio includes giants like Johnnie Walker, Buchanan’s, Ciroc, Smirnoff, Guiness… etc) and it’s loyalty to Empire Merchants in the NY market. Oddly enough, Diageo teams with Southern in every other market besides NY. To reduce any nail biting, Diageo just signed another five year contract with Empire, but if they ever started to think it’d be more profitable to jump to the bigger NY ship, it would be devastating to the second most powerful ship in the sea. It’d be the equivalent of transforming a aircraft carrier to a tug boat. The question is – should this change occur? The powerhouse wine markets do need to change. There are just too many fish in the sea right now with WAY too much bait being thrown in. Serious failures are likely going to and, quite honestly, need to occur within 2-3 years with the lazy and/or foresight-lacking companies that don’t make the right moves to grow smart, fast and efficiently. Many more partnerships/acquisitions like that of the vineyard brand/winebow/martin scott/tempranillo merge and product swaps are going to happen and should happen while they sort this out. As regulations get tighter and competition gets tougher it’ll be very interesting to see which companies have the internal force and structure to not just stay profitable, but stay afloat.

And just so you weren’t thinking I didn’t have terroir on my mind (ahem.. I always do!), I tasted a killer Champagne over the weekend at Mohonk Mountain House. Talk about a place that knows a thing or two about utilizing the land (the pics online look incredible but still don’t do it justice)! What an amazing weekend escape destination. My wife and I sat down to celebrate transitions in our lives and we popped a 2012 bottling of J.M. Seleque’s “Tradition” Brut that I brought along. Fresh, lively, slightly buttery with a honeyed citrus and pear focus, floral notes and light-med yeasty finish. It’s a bit young now, but once it opened up (60-90 minutes) it was hitting it’s stride just fine. I think a clever colleague of mine and fellow taster, Josh Raynolds, summed it up nicely on Vinous,

“Light yellow-gold. Vibrant, mineral-laced lemon and pear scents are complemented by notes of anise, chalky minerals and buttered toast. Juicy citrus and orchard fruit flavors flesh out in the mid-palate, picking up a hint of honeysuckle. Finishes focused, stony and long. This bottling is made from the estate’s youngest vines, which are reportedly around 35 years old now.”

And gave it 91 points to boot.

I feel I have to give an honorable mention to a gorgeous Rioja that costs next to nothing. Tobelos nearly blew us over last week while we were tasting with a small importer, Spanish Acquisition, led by Tempranillo Inc alums (one a former partner, Juan Paredes). The Tobelos is well-crafted, varietally/regionally correct and over delivers in a big, big way!

I was sitting in Duet, a corner restaurant off 7th Ave in the village last night, with a friend of mine who owns a small import company, and throughout our conversation about what makes the market tick, I was pondering what people are truly looking for in whites and roses this spring. Many of us know that roses in particular have skyrocketed in popularity over the past 5+ years thanks to the NY and San Fran markets (not normal for me, but a big shout out to the Hampton’s for this!). Rose is so popular that if you have anything to do with the beverage industry and you’re not making one, you just plain don’t like to make good sales! Breathing a sigh of relief, I applauded how the industry has really started early at unleashing the pink sea torrent this year – a big complaint I had last year. I felt everyone was way to slow at preparing for the spring rush of blush in 2015. Gosh, I’m even annoying myself with all the pink wit.

I’ll stop.

I really wonder what is the best selling style? Where is the best region? Of course, many of us would burst into these questions with an immediate “PROVENCE, DUMMY!” But I’m not so sure anymore. I’ve felt that some of the most exciting regions that have been gaining more and more popularity aren’t even touching the south of France. Regions like Rioja, Sancerre, Chinon, pockets of Cali, South Africa and Long Island (YES!) are producing unbelievable wines. Why was I think about all of this? I really don’t know. Wine is so subjective that it is okay to make any style, but I feel that when it comes to rose, the one who reads the market well enough to know the preferred palate wins the annual lottery and could sell thousands upon thousands of cases. And still, why does that concern me? I don’t know. I guess I just like to know what people are drinking. What are you looking forward to drinking this spring?

I’m pumped about:

Muga Rioja Rose 2015

Txomin Extaniz Txakoli Rose 2015

Gerard Boulay Sancerre Rose 2015

Matthiasson Napa Rose 2015

Lioco Indica Mendocino Rose 2015

Berangerie “Tu bois coa?” Cahors Rose 2015

Wolffer Estate Long Island Rose

Will Lopez de Heredia finally release their next rose vintage?? There hasn’t been one since 2013 (the 2000)! We’ll have to see if they’re on schedule.

By the way the smoked tartare is crazy good at Duet. The presentation and freshness is certainly worth a dip in. Try their marinated mushrooms with a shot of whatever vodka the owner recommends first and make it a small plate endeavor.

Whites to come.

 

So I just made my last “Good as Gold” purchase. This is where I believe the wines to be such a solid choice that I’d rather buy into them and leave the gold to the launderers (and the higher price tags to the tech industry). These wines will age incredibly well – they have the structure, the weight, the acidity and the precision all in check – and I have no doubt that with 10-20 years of cellaring they’ll not only be drinking like liquid nirvana, but they’ll probably have appreciated three fold. The only problem is, I now have 14 cases stacked in my West Village apartment bathroom (gaining earthiness I assure you) as they await in limbo to be taken upstate for proper cellaring. If I don’t get them there soon, I think I’ll have to convince my wife to get rid of the sofa so we can start building furniture out of cases. My current golden fellas include:

2005 La Rioja Alta 904 Gran Reserva

This is just amazing stuff. It’s so much more closed than it’s year older brother. Huge potential here for a blockbuster down the road. While some will brag about their 01 890s, I’ll be drinking more of these over the long run, mainly, well because I’ll have more of them! Closed now, but wait 3-5 years and these will start singing.

2006 La Rioja Alta Vina Arana Reserva

If you haven’t tried a back vintage Arana, do so immediately. You can sometimes find them on a good wine list somewhere where the owner/director was smart about what wines could do down the road a bit. These are round and a tad tart while in youth, but give them 20 years and you’ll reap gigantic rewards. From El Palo and Las Monjas vineyards in Rodezno, where a little bit more robustness is obtained in their Tempranillo.

2008 La Rioja Alta Vina Alberdi

Always an amazing value. Run, don’t walk, for this if you’ve never had it. It’ll open up so many possibilities. The 95s and 89s are smoking good right now. For the no brainer price tag these have, the ageability and drinkability just doesn’t seem fair.

2005 Vallana Gattinara
I recently sat down for a gigantic library tasting of these nebbiolos from Gattinara, one of Piedmonts smaller siblings. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. These don’t have the muscle of the Barolo/Barbarescos to the South, but what they lack in power they make up for in terroir, precision and complexity. In fact, I think the aging consistency of these is quite a bit higher than vastly more expensive Barolos which I feel tend to crap out more often around age 25.

2006 Cantalupo “Anno Primo” Ghemme

Again, from a region north of Barolo and Barbaresco (just east of Gattinara and sharing the other side of the Sesia River). Remarkable structure in these wines. Now, I’ve never had the chance to do a library tasting of any Ghemme, but given the year (especially phenomenal) and the focus now I think these will age forever. Black bramble fruit and dusty. Sauvage at it’s finest – where’s the boar sausage?!

2001 CVNE Imperial Gran Reserva Magnum

Because… duh. The last vintage before CVNE went to their multi-million dollar modern facility. Will the post-traditional house cuvees be as exciting as their predecessors? Only time will tell, but I have an inkling that considering they’ve opted for a more modern, opulent style across the board (one of the reasons the 04 Imperial picked up Wine Spectator’s #1 pick in their Top 100 of 2013) following this vintage, my guts tells me to pick up as much 01 as is feasibly possible. The 01s won’t be around at the prices we can get them now for much longer.

These are my don’t hesitate to cellar wines. Price is right, wine is definitely right and it’s like sitting on liquid gold.

I made sure that before I left for my next adventure, I had an opportunity to sit down with an old friend. Vega is one of the houses that made me take the opposite of a swan dive into the wine industry since on I was on the end of the teetering performing arts diving board. It all happened in 2010 when I was sitting across the table from Pablo Alvarez (owner of Vega) at Colicchio and Sons asking him about his life. We were discussing the pairing potential between a dry Tokay (his newest project in Hungary, Oremus) and oysters topped with shaved chorizo. I was pretty hesitant to accept such a pairing as I felt the Tokay with it’s golden fruit and tropical roundness wouldn’t have enough minerality, salinity or zip to lift the oyster. Boy was I wrong – once the course came out it floored me. This started a very long and life-altering night of Vega surprises. The ’96 Unico, ’00 Unico, ’01 Valbuena and 2008 Reserva Especial were among the highlights in this 9 course, mind-bending dinner.

No swans. I fell hard.

Well, last Friday we invited some old friends to the tasting room along with some special PJ wine buffs. Antonio Menendez, marketing manager for Vega, led us through some of the wines we had on the illustrious C&Sons night as well as newest releases AND unreleased vintages. For hours we talked and sipped Vega. Not a bad way to end a week, I assure you.

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The consensus was that the 04 Unico was magical. Like the ’01 Valbuena and ’96 Unico on the night my heart took the wine plunge, the ’04 had people reminiscing of wines of lore like the ’59 Latour, ’70 Unico (arguably the best Vega ever), ’81 La Rioja Alta 890, ’85 Latache, and ’61 Petrus. Yep, the ’04 showcased why VS is the top house in Spain and takes a spot as one of the best houses in the world.

I had heard a few rumors regarding the ’01 vintage and why no Unico was made, but had the rumors disproved when Antonio reaffirmed that because of late frosts there was a second bud break and thus not acceptable for the flagship. Too bad as ’01 seems to be the dynamite year to pick up from Ribera and Rioja. However, if you see anymore ’01 vabuena on the market, jump on it for it is the Unico in a quasi-secondary form!

The lineup:

2004 Valbuena

2007 Valbuena

1996 Unico

2000 Unico

2004 Unico

Just released lineup:

2012 Alion

2009 Valbuena

2010 Valbuena

Not released lineup:

2008 Unico

2016 Unico Reserva Especial (’96, ’98, ’02)

2011 Valbuena (2018)

 

 

So I’m about to move on after 6 years of buying and selling some the best wines and spirits for a prominent NYC retailer. I’ve learned a thing or two about the biz while throwing/attending hundreds of tastings and eating at the best restaurants in the area. The number one thing I’ve learned? I like food and wine. But not like other people would say so… For me, it’s a bit of an obsession. In fact, I could go a step further – I love food, wine, language, arts and culture especially when they’ve come from a single origin. Whatever the taste, I want to know how it was made, what it felt like, who is awake talking about it now in the land it is from and whether or not I should know anything more. That is why I started this site. To unleash the incredible amount of info that is spat at me 24/7 onto you. All three of you.