Author: Christy

Originally published on July 9, 2008.

Love this wine. First tried it at T.B. Ackerson while working there last summer and pretty much drained the distributor of their last several cases.

I put it on my list of “must buys” for when I opened my own shop – and managed to lose that list. But then this summer, while looking for a new Rueda to replace one which had taken a price increase, I stumbled across this old friend. Good thing too – because it’s a great value and a great summer wine.

Casamaro is the name, Rueda is the region (in Spain), and Verdejo is the grape. It’s everything I look for in a summer wines – crisp, lively and refreshing with notes of peaches, citrus, and bright mineralty. (For those who aren’t sure what minerals are doing in their wine, it’s just wine speak for a crisp, almost stone-y note that you don’t so much taste as feel. Gives the wine a certain zip.)

It drinks very well on it’s own, but is a nice match for light summer foods – could even stand up to salads thanks to the racy acidity. And especially important for a summer white – it’s well-priced (under $15), so you can just drink it without getting all serious about it. It’s the bottled equivalent of a summer beach read – it goes down easy, doesn’t require a lot of heavy thinking, and makes you smile. Perfect!

Originally published on .July 5, 2008

DI = Direct Import.

Normally, a winery will sell a certain amount of wine to an importer who will ship it to the US. The importers sell it to various distributors across the country who then sell it to stores and restaurants and then we sell it to you, the lucky end drinker aka the consumer. Each link in the chain buys a certain amount and hopes they’ll be able to sell it without being stuck with a bunch of unwanted or slow-moving inventory.

Not so with Direct Import. With the DI system, wines are pre-sold. So the chain moves in the opposite direction – I’m given a list of wines and tell my distributor how much I want of what. They place the order with the importer who places it with the winery. So nobody buys any more than they think they’ll sell. If you’re an established shop with a well-developed customer list, you can even pre-sell the wine on your own – just put out a list of what’s available and only buy what your customers have committed too.

Fantastic – you’re only spending money that you know you’ll get back! Limited risk for anyone!

My problem – I’m a new shop, so the I’m still developing my customer list and don’t have the funds to place a bet as to what I’ll actually be able to sell in a few months when the wines arrive. So I can only buy so much.

My real problem – these pre-sell wines typically include a lot of fabulous higher-end stuff which I want to keep and drink myself. And the annual DI lists are the only times they’re available. So pouring over these DI lists, it’s like Christmas for adults. I make out my list which usually includes about 5X more than I can actually buy, whittle it down in a fit of depression, and realize that I can’t actually keep all the bottles to myself.

The list I was going over last night – Terry Theise’s 2008 German wine catalogue. I love German wines, but don’t know as much about this as I should. And Terry’s write-ups make everything sound simply fabulous so I want to buy just everything. And these wines last forever, so I want to buy some for now, for a little later, for a little after that, for much much later, etc etc etc. And that’s just what I want – let alone what I want for the store. To make it even more difficult, Frankly Wines is located not too far away from Chambers Street Wines which is pretty much Mecca for the Riesling-crazed, so absolutely no sense in trying to become Mecca #2 (I guess that would actually be Medina). Bottom line – I’ll be getting a little mini-shipment of goodies come October, and if you’re really nice, you might even convince me to actually sell them.

Anyhow, enough about buying wine…next post will actually be about drinking wine!!

Originally published on July 3, 2008.

Full disclosure – I sell this wine at the shop. But that shouldn’t be a surprise – I sell most of the wines on this blog at the shop. And really, what’s a blog for if not to do a little shameless self promotion….

So to continue my trend of blatantly ripping my blog posts from my newsletter – on to the wine!

A few weeks ago, I brought in a little bit of Barnett Vineyards Spring Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2004. It sold so well (and I like it so much) that I decided to scoop up everything the distributor had left – which is wasn’t much (less than 50 bottles).

I managed to pick it up at a great price because in distributor-land, when all they have left of a wine is 3 – 4 cases, it’s considered more of a nuisance than a sales opportunity. But small shops with eagle-eyed, value-minded buyers can scourer the closeout lists looking to pick up little treasures that can be passed on to customers. So that’s what I did

For those not familiar with the minutia of California wines, Barnett is what we consider an “under-cover cult cab”. All fruit is sourced from Napa’s Spring Mountain District. This is one of the area’s highest altitude sub-regions with hills so steep that the vines are planted on terraces and hand-picked (tractors would just fall off the slopes). Bottom-line: some of the best grapes in all of Napa are in these bottles.

What’s it taste like?

This is NOT a highly-extracted California monster wine (not that there’s anything wrong with that, but this isn’t it). Dark brambly fruits, a little bit of cherry, tobacco leaf notes, some spice, hints of vanilla from a well-integrated tannin structure. It balances good fruit concentration with an elegance and earthiness that’s unusual for a lot of California wines. It goes really well with hunks of grilled meat. And bonus: it’s drinking beautifully RIGHT NOW!

And of course it’s available at the shop. Regular price is $58.99. Special price is $53.00 / bottle with purchases of 3 bottles or more.

Price-wise, this is a relative bargain for a Spring Mountain Cabernet (note the word “relative”.) Mid-range for Napa these days is $50 – $100/bottle, with Spring Mountain wine typically at the high end. And when the 2005 vintage is released, it will probably hit around $65/bottle. So if you’re intrigued, don’t wait.

Originally published on June 12, 2008.

Not exactly a barbecue wine, but it’s always a good time for a good Barolo. This is an elegant, old-school Barolo which is entering its “drinkable” phase right about now. It has all the classic hallmarks of the region: roses, cherries, tar, and a subtle anise aroma that to my nose, says “Barolo”. And the gorgeous tannins (wine geek alert) – aged Nebbiolo, the grape used to make Barolo, has a tannic structure like no other grape – firm and powerful, yet elegant and supremely refined.

Barolo is a dangerous habit – so stay away from this wine if you don’t want to acquire it!