Author: Christy

Why Ticker Tape Parades Aren’t So Great for Wine Stores

Originally published on November 6, 2009.

The Yankees fans were in the neighborhood for the big ticker tape parade. I wish I could say it was good for business. Unfortunately, most of the fans that stopped in only had interest in buying the following, none of which I sell:

Cigarettes
Matches
Beer
Liquor
Little bottles

One fan was mystified that a place that sold liquor didn’t sell matches. He failed to notice I didn’t sell liquor, so therefore, I didn’t actually need to sell matches. At least according to his theory.

Tales of a Clairvoyant Wine Merchant

Originally published on November 5, 2009.

A couple weeks ago I was going on, as I’ve been known to do, about how my personal wine geek preferences seem to be a leading indicator of what shows up in the New York Times. Yes, I know one really has nothing to do with the other. But I still get a kick out of it. I’ll quote a portion of that post:

“…if my personal obsessions are good indicators of what you’ll see in future New York Times articles, then stay tuned for features on dry muscats, Gemischter Satz wines, very old Chianti and anything alpine…..”

And what showed up in this week’s New York Times? Gemischter Satz wines! And a mention of my latest favorite Gelber Muskateller, a.k.a. a dry Muscat!

Spooooooooooky.

Wine You Never Knew You Needed: Gemischter Satz

A NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: Ten years later and I’m still in love!

Originally published on November 4, 2009.

What? Never heard of Gemischter Satz wines? Neither had we, until this summer, when Mr. Carlos Huber showed up at our shop. Well, he didn’t just show up, he did have an appointment. And in his wine bag, he had a range of tasty Gemischter Satz wines.

GS for short (at least accordingly to me), these wines come from inside the city limits of Vienna, are made from anywhere from 2 to 20 grape varieties, all growing on the same plot of land, and all harvested and vinified together. I could tell you more about the joys of field blends, or you could just read what Eric Asimov at the New York Times wrote in his Wednesday column.

Tasting through Carlos’s selection of GS wines, I was impressed at how different they all were. Some were light and floral, some a bit more weighty and oily. One had this almost yeasty/bready note going on. But all managed to be wonderfully fresh, aromatic and generally charming. Pardon me while I get all wine-geeky, but they all tasted like slightly different versions of springtime. And as the weather starts to get all chilly and bitter, who couldn’t use a bit of springtime in a glass.

That’s the general scoop on the GS. To get more specific, the one we currently carry is Weinbau Jutta Ambrositsch Wiener Gemischter Satz Sommeregg Reserve 2008. The name is quite a mouthful: Jutta Ambrositsch is the young, female winemaker. Gemischter Satz is the GS classification I mentioned above. Sommeregg is the vineyard site. Weinbau means something like Domaine and Wiener just means wine. At least I think that’s what it all means.

The wine itself manages to combine lightness with complexity – flowers, citrus, earthiness, white spices, berries, fresh herbal notes. Very close to 20 grape varieties are grown on Jutta’s plot of land, which was planted over 50 years ago. It’s a rarity that a wine of this dry wine is so light yet so complex, but that’s old vines, a diverse field blend, and a good vintner can do.

At $45.99, it’s not inexpensive. There are less expensive GS wines available, and we’ll probably bring some in. But we were intrigued by this one and wanted to get our hands on some before someone else got them all. If you’re looking for a unique, wonderfully different white wine that can justify a $50 price tag, this would be your bottle.

Come pick one up before we drink it all ourselves. (Fair warning…we have been known to do this, despite our accountant’s better judgment.)

P.S.  (Can I do this on a blog post?  Apparently, I can if I say I can.)  Mr. Asimov also mentions the fantastic Rainer Christs’s delicious Gelber Muskateller.  But every good Gelber Muskateller deserves it’s own post, so we’ll get to that later.

And Now for Something Completely Different: Lopez de Heredia!

A NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: Yeah, that never happened. We never made a window display of LdH bottles filled with tiny foam leaves. I think the prices started to go up and we had to put the breaks on the drinking of it, so not so many empty bottles. But it would have been very, very cool.

Originally published on November 4, 2009.

Alright, alright. I write about LdH all the time.

But this time, it’s not about the wine. It’s about hundreds of tiny plastic leaves shoved into a bottle of Vina Tondonia.

Looks cute, doesn’t it?

Next autumn, I’m envisioning a window filled with bottles of LdH, each filled with hundreds and thousands of these tiny leaves.

Even if it does feel a little sacrilegious.

A Happy Home for the Oddball Pallets

Originally published on November 2, 2009.

This is a picture of a freshly delivered case of wine (and my foot, to the left.)

As you can see, cases often arrive plastered with stickers: shipping instructions, account names and numbers, delivery instructions for the delivery trucks, picking instructions for the warehouse.

This one came in a month or so ago and I noticed the warehouse sticker referred to both an “oddball aisle” and an “oddball pallet.” It made me laugh because it’s a pretty good description of many of the wines on my shelf. I don’t remember exactly what was in this case – maybe a dry Furmint? Another Gelber Muskateller? Or maybe a Mondeuse? So many options! After spotting this particular sticker, I started to notice loads of my cases are designated with some sort of “oddball” sticker.

Perhaps I’ll need to add this designation to my buying grid…only X% of wines in the shop can be from an oddball palate.

Nah. Every wine shop needs a little (or in my case, a lot) of oddball. It makes the world go round.

Why I Love My Architect

A NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: Definitely check out the link way at the bottom. The new owners of the shop gave it a major update – including taking over the space next door, which was always a dream of mine that I could just never make happen. It looks beautiful – and I’m more than a little envious of the proper sink that they have in the proper bathroom. But for a little peek at the original layout, the cork wall, and the plywood boxes I talk about below, then click away.

Originally published on November 1, 2009.

Before I tell you why I love my architect, let me tell you about Halloween in Tribeca. It’s possibly one of the coolest places in NYC for kids to go trick or treating. All the shops and restaurants put out quite a spread for the little ones, who go store to store picking up their goodies. Fancy decorations, fully costumed staff, very tasty, gourmet treats, music and dancing. All that – and the sidewalks are wide enough to accommodate the strollers.

As a wine store, there’s only so much I can do to entertain the kiddos without feeling irresponsible. But I can provide treats for the parents. So it’s a piece of candy or two for the kids and several sips of this and that for the grown-ups.

Now at any given time during the big Halloween rush hours, we can wind up with five or six kids picking out candy. And their five or six adults sipping on liquid treats. And then a regular customer or two picking out wine for the night or a case for the week. Throw in three Frankly Wines employees – and that’s a lot of bodies in 320 square feet of space.

Which is why I love my architect. Because my store can actually accommodate all this without giving the impression of a telephone booth stuffing contest. How is this possible?

The store is built like a ship. Paper goods in the big shelving units above our heads. A very long counter with wine coolers underneath it, hiding in plain site. Sneaky storage built behind the counter, into the 3×3 foot square bathroom, and under the window display units.

And most genius? These white plywood display units that can be pushed around the store to create additional shelving, display units, or table tops for tastings. Thanks to these, I can completely change the store’s functionality (nasty word, but it works) in just a few minutes. So we go from a display featuring box wines and sparkling cider to – presto change-o – a pleasant tasting area where customers can gather around a big ice bucket filled with treats. And then by 8pm, we’re back in display mode.

It’s magic! Or maybe it’s just very good design.

My architect (who has no idea I’m posting this):

Carlos Rodriguez
rodriguez studio
139 Fulton Street PH-3
New York, New York
http://www.rodriguezstudio.net/

Another 3-Pack: No Tricks, Just Treats

Originally published on October 31. 2009.

So Halloween is today and Tribeca’s little people will be on a trick-or-treating rampage. All the stores decorate and offer goodies to all the neighborhood kids. But their adults need something too, and at Frankly Wines, we happily oblige.

Our Halloween spread will include the three wines on offer in our latest 3-Pack. The two reds, the Velvet Devil Merlot and The Chocolate Block, may not win any cool-kid-my-palate-is-cooler-than-yours contests, but they are quite tasty. As much as I love turning customers onto wines that qualify as “weird but good,” Halloween is not the night to attempt the hand selling required to do it well. No, on Halloween, I want to open something yummy and crowd pleasing that doesn’t require an explanation.

On that front, we have The Velvet Devil Merlot 2007 from Washington State and The Chocolate Block, from South Africa. Charles Smith (not to be confused with Charles Shaw of Two Buck Chuck fame,) makes the Velvet Devil.

Boekenhoutskloof, best know at Frankly Wines for fan favorite, Wolftrap, makes the The Chocolate Block. These are both full-bodied wines with plenty of fruit and a balancing, earthy (and in the case of The Chocolate Block, funky) complexity.

But our third wine does manage to fall off the beaten track. It’s a sparkling apple cider from Normandy with one of those typically romantic wine story: sommelier at Three Star restaurant in Paris can’t resist the pull of the old, old apple and pear trees on his family’s property back home in Normady. So he leaves the big city to tend the orchards and make cider from the fruits of his labor.

And the ciders are very good. They taste like autumn in a bottle. We’ve included the Cydre Doux in our Halloween tasting. It’s a lightly sparkling, slightly sweet apple cider. The sweetness doesn’t really come off as “sweet,” but more like the sweet spice/warm apple tastes of apple pie. But a very grown-up apple pie. Eric also makes a sparkling pear cider, Poiré Authentique, and a couple reserve bottlings from only the exceptionally old (as opposed to just “old”) apple and pear trees on the property. I had the Authentique recently and it’s very tasty and would be fantastic with cheese. It’s a definitely more thought-provoking than the Cydre Doux, but on Halloween, I don’t really want to deal with thought-provoking. I want tasty and immediately lovable. Which is the Cydre Doux. It happens to have wine geek cred as well, but that’s just bonus.

That Customer #3: The Clinker

A NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: I still hate clinkers. My blood pressure is starting to rise just thinking about them!!!

Originally published on October 28, 2009.

This person isn’t typically encountered in a store, so technically, they’re not a customer. But what I’m about to describe seems to generate such rage among working wine stiffs that it’s worth a rant.

First, a bit of background. Anyone who’s worked as a wine importer, sales rep, or brand manager has probably spent their fair share of time standing behind a table at some major consumer tasting event, pouring wine for thirsty customers who seem to have no idea that the buckets on the table are there for spitting.

The grand daddy of these events just wrapped up: the Grand Tastings that are part of the Wine Spectator’s New York Wine Experience. $250 per ticket. 250 wineries spread across two gigantic floors of the Marriott Marquis hotel. Trophy wines everywhere: Bordeaux First Growths, California cult wines, top-of-the-line Champagnes. You’re probably not going to get to taste some funky, cool thing from the Jura or the far northern reaches of Italy, but as much as I hate to admit it, it’s still pretty impressive. At least until the lack of spitting turns everyone all sloppy.

So in the last week, in the lead up to the event, there was a lot of chatter among industry wine folk about their time behind the tables. And what was the most frequently mentioned topic? It wasn’t any particular taste of big name trophy wine. It certainly wasn’t the food. It wasn’t even tales of decanters used as spit buckets (although if people actually spit, this would probably happen more often.)

No, the big topic was the “clinkers.” Alright, no one really calls them clinkers. They’re usually referred to as “those insanely annoying people who raise their glass and clink it against your bottle as you’re trying to pourthe m wine.”

This little raising-of-the-glass motion could be the most universally reviled movement in the wine industry. Just mention it to someone who’s had to work behind a table at a wine tasting…and watch their blood start to boil. Mine boils just thinking about it.

Why do people clink?

Perhaps they don’t realize that the person on the other side of the table is a highly skilled wine pourer.

Perhaps they don’t notice the slow pours on the bottle, which are indeed meant to force the wine to….you know…pour slowly.

Perhaps they don’t realize that the pourer is fully aware that he’s pouring at a wine tasting, not a drinking.

Perhaps they just don’t realize they can spit, and instead, fear the consequences of being required to drain the entire content of every glass they’re poured and therefore, the clinking thing is just a fully understandable attempt at self-preservation.

Or….perhaps they’re just too rude to utter a simple “just a little please.”

Really now, why talk when you can just clink?

Grand Opening Debrief

Originally published on October 18, 2009.

It’s been almost 2 1/2 years away from the corporate world and my urge to produce Power Point presentations has waned considerably. (Waned….but not disappeared. I’m afraid that may never happen. Ever.) But I still love a good debrief, and last week’s “Grand Opening” is as good an excuse as any.

Key learnings:

1. It’s impossible to throw a party in a 320 square foot store during business hours…and actually do any business. I kind of already knew this, but figured to try it anyway. We close at 8.00pm, but decided to start the party at 7.30pm. Because who actually comes to a party on time? Well, to this party…apparently everyone. By 8.00pm, the store was packed (in 320 square feet, packed = 25 people) and we had to physically drag paying customers through the crowd to the cash register. OK, not really, but it was tough to do business during the party. Not a surprise, really, but a good debrief never shies away from stating the obvious.

2. People never use the spit buckets. Not a new learning. Maybe after the 10th time stating this, I’ll just stop putting them out.

3. You can never have enough glasses. Even if you have 50 glasses for 25 people, somehow, you will run out. This appears to be an immutable law of wine physics.

4. A two-tiered wine offering system sounds like the height of snobbery, but it really is a necessity. I’ve always hated the idea that you pour one wine for the special guests and another for the general population. I’ve been to parties where I was actually invited into a storage closet to partake of the good stuff. But when faced with a store full of thirsty people and only one bottle of 1994 Chateau Musar, a two-tiered system becomes less an exercise in snobbery than plain old common sense.

A NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: That Chateau Musar 1994 was really, really good. It was a vintage that had a refermention problem in some bottles. This one, I think had probably done a bit of refermention at some point in it’s 15 year history, but it had worked to its benefit somehow. The wine was almost overtly fruity, even juicy and based on my non-statistically significant sample size of bottles opened, it’s always been a crowd pleaser.

5. People will not leave until you force the issue. Luckily, there are easy ways to do this. 1) Take away the food. 2) Take away the wine. Then, if necessary 3) Turn up the lights and watch the guests scatter like roaches. Voila – party killed in three easy steps.

Debriefing over…next time, perhaps I’ll put together a Power Point presentation.

Why It’s Good to Be Last

A NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: This was indeed a good night to be last. That may be one of the last bottles of Ulysse Collin in the wild… the days when this producer could be brought out in a sample bag, when I could buy as much as I wanted. Those days are long, long gone!

Originally published on October 17, 2009.

When it comes to booking appointments with my sales reps, I usually like to be the first appointment of the day. In the Frankly Wines case, this is usually 11am, just as we open our doors. I’ve been told this is the best time of day to taste wine – you’re already awake, your taste buds have recovered from the shock of your morning coffee, and you’re starting to get a little hungry so your senses of taste and smell are at optimal perkiness. But that has nothing to do with it….

The reality is, if I’m the first appointment of my sales rep’s day, there’s a very good chance that she’ll be on time. Well, ok, she’ll still be late, but maybe 15 minutes max. And as the day goes on, those 15 minutes turn into half an hour, then an hour, and finally she’s on the phone asking what time we close.

But there is a drawback to being first. Mainly that my rep will have more appointments after mine. And she’ll have to take the bottles with her. But if I’m last, there’s a very good chance she’ll be sick of dragging around a bunch of bottles. And I’ll get to keep some of them. Or in some cases, like tonight, I get to keep them all.

A very good night to be last.