Author: Christy

Early Signs of Autumn

Originally published on September 12, 2011.

It’s autumn! Time to think about new wine to put on the shelves! Cider for crisp fall days! Champange for the holidays! Jura whites! Gift packs and dessert wines and higher end bottles for gifting! Right?

Wrong.

It’s time to master the logistical challenge of getting three kids to/from three schools with introductory phase-ins, sorting out the store schedule, training a newbie, attempting to attend as many trade tastings in a day as physically possible, and trying really really hard not to forget anyone’s lunch. Yes, there’s a husband and a babystitter and even grandparents flown in for the first couple week but still…everyone needs to know who’s picking up whom and packing what.

So the spreadsheets to the right are the essential tool to make all this happen. At least I get to put my highlighters to good use.

Because nothing says autumn like a nice, new highlighter….

Or that first call from the school asking who’s picking up your kid….

Or that first time you get to a locked store at noon…and realize you were the one that was supposed to open it an hour earlier….

OK, that last thing hasn’t really happened.

Hurricane Prepardness – An Exercise in Vagueness

Originally published on August 27, 2011.

I’m from Ohio, so I’m used to tornados. Or at least tornado warnings. You sort of know one might be coming, but there’s not much warning. In school, we spent a lot of time practicing tornado drills, just in case a giant funnel cloud suddenly descended from the sky. Our high school mascot was even a tornado. So I get tornados.

But we didn’t see many hurricanes in Ohio. Hurricane Irene is my first one. And so far, as we sit here waiting for the storm to hit, my first impression is that hurricanes involve a lot of, well, waiting. And preparation. And then more waiting.

Since we don’t really know what we’re getting until it gets here…and since I live just around the corner from the shop, and just around the corner from the evacuation zone, determining opening hours has been an exercise in playing it by ear.

The plan: stay at the shop until one of three things happened: 

  1. Customers stopped coming in the door
  2. Wind and rain started to threaten a safe trip home
  3. My husband called in need of backup to deal with three building-bound kiddos

How to communicate this to those hunkering down and needing wine? The old school Door Sign + Chalkboard Method worked pretty well.

 The Chalkbaord

The Door Sign

And…in case you’re wondering. I shut down around 4.30PM. And the kiddos had nothing to do with it!

Hurricane Prepardness – Don’t Forget the Wine

Originally published on August 26, 2011.

A NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: This was Hurricane Irene, which turned out to be a bit of a nothing burger. At least down in NYC. Upstate in the Hudson Valley it was a major disaster. One year later, in October 2012, Hurricane Sandy would be another story. But we’ll get to that in future posts!

If you haven’t heard, there’s a hurricane on the way. Everyone here is busy putting together their emergency preparedness kits (except me, I’m putting together this blog post.)

The National Hurricane Center recommends the following: Batteries, water, insurance papers (in a zip lock bag), tools, full tanks of gas, pet car items, a traditional telephone (you know, the sort that plugs directly into the wall) a radio (who has a radio??), canned food, prescription drugs…..on and on.

But they make no mention of a really important thing: WINE

Highly recommended in hurricane situations: BOX WINE

Box wines are ideal for upping your hurricane preparedness. One 3 Liter box includes the equivalent of four bottles, but in a much lighter format. And each box usually come with a handle, which makes them especially easy to evacuate. And a bonus: the bag-in-the-box can be used as a pillow. So you have one less thing to pack.

Given all this, I fully expect to see box wines included in the next version of the National Hurricane Center’s official preparedness list!

NOTE: Thank you to Jeanna for making the initial recommendation to include a box or two in your kit.

Chalkboard Project: Good Vibrations

Originally published on August 24, 2011.

So I missed yesterday’s earthquake. I was on an airplane, descending into LaGuardia with 2 out of 3 Frank kids, when it happened. The taxi driver into the city was very excited about the whole thing, but we felt nothing. Back at the shop, I was told the bottles jingled a bit but nothing fell of the shelves. We appear to be much better at breaking bottles than an earthquake, at least a 5.9 earthquake.

But always quick to turn topical events into chalkboard fodder, this appeared in front of the store:

Apparently it was a big hit – several dozen photos snapped in the first two hours it was outside. Could be our most popular effort to date!

Wooden Boxes – Maybe They’re Not So Bad

Originally published on August 19, 2011.

One of my most popular posts ever was a rant on wooden wine boxes. I had a theory that while most people start out thinking these boxes are the coolest things going, the longer you work in retail, the more you grow to loath them.

I arrived at the ‘Utter Contempt’ phase years ago, so these days my enjoyment of wooden boxes is limited to putting them out on the sidewalk and doing a staff poll on how long they’ll stick around. It’s not long – usually under five minutes. Once, we had two boxes sit on the sidewalk for an entire 20 minutes – but that was because monsoon-type wine started to pour the minute we put them outside. The second the rain stoped, the boxes, waterlogged and all, disappeared.

So yes, I am not a big fan of wooden wine boxes….until yesterday. Some of the love came back when I spotted this urban box garden in front of a nearby restaurant. It’s cool enough – and simple enough – that I may go back to keeping the boxes for myself.

Frankly Wines box scavengers, be warned – the glory days may be over!

THE QUEST FOR THE PERFECT WHITE BORDEAUX CONTINUES

Originally published on July 28, 2011.

Yes, yes, yes, this is a direct cut and paste job from yesterday’s newsletter. And it’s pretty much the same as the blurb that’s on the web site. But I would bet money that there aren’t more than three people in the world who read my newsletter, this blog, and the store web site. And two of those people are probably my parents (who will most likely be sending me an email this evening that says “hey, you mentioned us in your blog!)

So in the name of reach and frequencey, here’s a little Control-C / Control-V for your reading pleasure:

It’s possible that white Bordeaux is the least fashionable wine out there. But I don’t care. I love it and am continually on the quest for good ones. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: a really good, aged Bordeaux Blanc can offer up the perfect balance of rich creaminess, zesty acidity, zippy citrus and subtle herbal notes, combined with the nutty complexity that comes with a bit of bottle age. It’s wonderful with cream sauces, sauces involving fresh herbs, many veggie dishes, and grilled fish.
My quest for the delicious but unfashionable finally landed me in a very happy place. I managed to round up some very good, very nicely aged Bordeaux Blanc at a very, very, very nice price. Apparently, loving an out-of-fashion wines can have its perks!

So here’s the story: the wine is L’Esprit de Chevalier. It’s the second label of Domaine de Chavalier, which is one of the region’s most classic, most proper producers of white Bordeaux. We have both 1999 and 2000 on hand. The 2000 is drinking wonderfully right now, right out of the bottle. The 1999 is a bit tighter and more structured at this point in it’s life. I loved it on day 2, so it’s one to enjoy over a couple days, decant, or sock away for another couple years. And the price (drum roll, please) – $29.99/bottle.

Not to get all infomercial on you, but this is a really, really good deal. If you’re at all intrigued, my recommendation is to buy one of each vintage, invite some friends over, grill up some fish and drink them side by side. I’ve put together some special pricing to make this even more intriguing!

Go ahead, be fashionably unfashionable and click to learn more.

We’ve Got Booze!! And the World’s Manliest Cocktail

Originally published on June 19, 2011.

Our cocktail program has gone a bit crazy. Nick wanted to whip up a cocktail featuring bacon-washed rye. Since we were going to be featuring it the day before Father’s Day, it morphed into the World’s Manliest Cocktail. At least as defined by us.

It’s a very manly take on the Ruby Manhattan – a Manhattan cocktail made with whiskey and ruby port in place of the sweet vermouth. Because really, what’s more manly than a rye whiskey and port cocktail? Well, how about a cocktail involving rye whiskey, port, bacon, cigar smoke and jolokia peppers? And bitters. I’m learning that bitters can be very manly. But for this cocktail, it was the salt rim that really seperated the boys from the men. It was intensly smokey and spicy. I think Nick choose the pink Himalayan salt just to counter-balance the sheer manliness of the rest of the drink. (Well, probably not. It’s probably because it has an extra bit of complexity.)

Here’s the “basic” recipe. If you want details of how to bacon-wash the rye, candy the bacon, or infuse the Himalayan salt…for that, you’ll have to talk directly to Nick!

THE WORLD’S MANLIEST COCKTAIL
2 1/4 oz bacon- washed Bulleit Rye Whiskey.
1 oz ruby port.
A drop of Liquid Smoke.
A dash of The Bitter Truth Aromatic Bitters.
One large ice cube.
Spicy smoked tobacco-jolokia infused pink Himalayan salt – to rim the glass.
Candied bacon for garnish glass.

Use a tiny amount of bitters to lightly moisten the rim of the glass. Dip rim into spicy smoked salt to coat rim. Add a tiny drop of Liquid Smoke to glass and coat bottom. Add a dash of bitters and swirl around with liquid smoke. Add bacon-washed rye and port. Take a moment to bask in the aroma. Drop in one large ice cube. Garnish with candied bacon strip and enjoy. Share with dad, or keep it for yourself.

Inter-Continental Wine Buying

Originally published on June 12, 2011.

Twitter is a wonderful thing. Not only does it allow you to waste hours sending 140 character messages to people you should really just meet for lunch, it occasionally can set you on the wine buying trail. Like when I caught @winewomansong, a London-based wine writer tweeting about the Mac Forbes Rieslings and Pinot Noirs from Victoria, Australia.

I’m always looking for wines from Australia that 1) aren’t made from Shiraz, 2) are from regions beyond South Australia and 3) don’t have cheeky, hopping Aussie animals on the label. So I asked @winewomansong (a.k.a. Jules) about the wines and she said they were fantastic. I tracked them down with Vision Wines, my rep brought a sample of the Riesling by and I scooped it up.

So here it is…the wine from Australia recommended on Twitter by way of London:

Mac Forbes Riesling RS37 2008
(Strathbogie Ranges, Australia)

Yes, that’s an animal on the label. But butterflies aren’t cheeky and they don’t hop. And yes, I did in fact amend item 3) above to include “cheeky, hopping” when I posted this picture and realized there was an animal on the bottle.

Price: $24.99

The Anti-Cult Cult Wine: La Clarine Farm Home Vineyard

Originally published on June 9, 2011.

About a month ago, we received and quickly sold through our single allocated case of La Clarine Farm Home Vineyard. But sometimes the wine gods smile on you and you get lucky. OK, it wasn’t really the wine gods, it was my distributor sales rep, keeping an eagle eye out for me and brokering a case trade with another account who wanted something I had – and they had something I wanted….one last little case of this great wine. So it’s here, until it’s gone, which probably won’t be long. We have 10 bottles left as I type.

More details:

La Clarine Farm is not your typical California cult wine. It doesn’t have any big rating points (although I bet it would score at least a 101.68 on the Dirty South Wine Rating Scale.) The wines aren’t models of super-concentrated, uber-velvety, extra-ripe tannins (but they are definitely full of flavor, texture and life.) And bottles sell for well below the usual Cali cult three figure prices.

Still, among drinkers seeking out wines made with as little intervention as possible, that taste of where they’re from – and are simply delicious, La Clarine Farm is developing a certain slow burn buzz. It’s made by husband and wife team, Hank Beckmeyer and Caroline Hoel on their small farm located in Sierra Foothills of California.

The vines share the land with goats and chickens. You can read about their farming philosophy (and see their cute goats) here. It’s well worth a click. One thing these wines do have in common with the traditional California cult wines? The New York market didn’t get more than a handful of cases.

As for the what’s in the bottle – it’s a blend of grapes grown on the farm: Tempranillo, Syrah, Tannat, Grenache, Negroamaro, and even a little Cabernet Sauvignon. You’ll get dark, leathery fruit and notes of exotic, raw spice. And thanks to the Tannat and Negroamaro, this wine has some serious tannic structure. This is a wine you can get to know slowly, over the course of an evening – or even days.

Price: $29.99

If you want it, don’t hestitate to buy it now. We’re more likely to win the lottery than we are to get yet another case!

We’ve Got Booze! And Grilled Oranges.

These are grilled oranges. (Note the lovely charred bits.)

These are oranges on their way to getting grilled.

Now you may be wondering, why exactly am I grilling oranges? (You may also be wondering if that’s a propane tank being used to get those oranges grilled, but I’m not going to answer that one.)

Well, these oranges are being grilled as part of our attempt to make a cocktail, the Negroni Sbagliato, for a recent Thursday Tasting Session featuring Lini Lambrusco. Wait…a cocktail? Isn’t Frankly Wines a wine-only store? An oddity of the New York market that sells wine, wine, and only wine?

We were, but after about three years of selling wine, wine, and only wine, I finally succumbed to the lure of a liquor license. Enough regular customers were coming in and asking if we had any spirits, or liquor, or alcohol (even though wine is alcohol) that it just seemed like the neighborly thing to do. So I submitted the paperwork and the big,fat check (there’s always a big, fat check) and eked out the additional shelf space for an extremely well-edited selection.

One month into it, it seems to be doing the trick. It’s nice to be able to answer the question “do you have any liquor?” with a “why yes, we do” rather than a “no…but there’s a shop over that way that does.” You can only give away so much business before you decide to fix he situation. So the additional business is nice, as is being able to better serve our regulars, but what’s really fun? Cocktails!

Saturdays have been designated as Cocktail Day (haven’t had a chance to come up with a kicky name, so for now, it’s just plain, old Cocktail Day.) Nick, the store manager, takes a walk across the street to the Amish Market, picks a few things off the shelf, and whips up a cocktail. Occasionally, he goes a little crazy and we have to figure out a way to grill oranges on short notice. But when you check out those lovely charred bits and taste the end cocktail, you realize it was all worth it!