Category: Behind the Counter

Originally published on July 21, 2008.

Cheap and cheerful Pinot Grigio – it’s one of those bread and butter items that every neighborhood store has to have. And I have been having a devil of a time keeping one on the shelf. My usual $10 – $11 bottle was out of stock at the distributor. It’s now back in stock, but before I could get more than a case or two, the distributor shut down. For two weeks. During a heat wave. Another week to go before they open and there’s no more cheap and cheerful Pinot Grigio on my shelf and the weather is still pushing 90+ degrees.

Sure, I have the Livio Felluga Pinot Grigio, which is a fabulous wine, but at more then $20/bottle, it’s not what most people want when they come in looking for a Pinot Grigio. I also have a nice Godello from Spain – Valdesil Montenovo. To my palate, it’s more interesting than Pinot Grigio, but still has that crispness, slight citrus edge and general neutralness that most people want in their Pinot Grigio. (In wine-speak, ‘neutral’ means ‘doesn’t taste like much’ or ‘alcoholic water’ or, to take a phrase from my Polaner rep Linus, ‘refreshingly inconsequential’ which frankly, is what most people look for in a Pinot Grigio.) And while the Godello can stand in for Pinot Grigio in a pinch, at $13, it’s still a couple dollars more than most people want to pay for their ‘refreshingly inconsequential’ beverage – and most damningly, it doesn’t say “PINOT GRIGIO.”

As luck would have it, one of my sales reps happened to have a sample handy of a nice little Pinot Grigio that fit my cheap and cheerful requirements. I like to try everything I sell, even those wines that fall into the cheap and cheerful category (in the Frankly Wines case, that’s $9.99, or $10.83 with tax). I especially like to try those wines. I think if people see that you take as much care selecting your lowest priced wines as you do with your higher priced wines, they’ll have more confidence in your entire selection.

So I tried the wine and it definitely fit the bill – . It’s not life-changing wine, and if you don’t already like Pinot Grigio, it won’t make you a fan (try the Livio Felluga for that). But it tastes crisp, clean, with a hint of citrus, clearly says Pinot Grigio on the bottle, and will sit happily on the shelf at $9.99. Actually, given the heatwave, it probably won’t do much sitting.

Unfortunately, i don’t remember the name of it, but that’s not really the point.

Originally published on February 22, 2008.

It’s finally snowing!

Many retailers don’t like snow because it means we have to shovel (or pay someone to shovel.) I don’t mind snow so much because by some freak coincidence of downtown architecture and wind patterns, it never snows in front of Frankly Wines. It actually never snows on my side of the street. I was expecting today to finally prove me wrong – was all ready to go buy a snow shovel, but turned the corner to the shop and once again – no snow!!! This is one of the small things that make me happy!

Blaufrankish would be another small thing that makes me happy. This is a grape variety that’s starting to make a name for itself in Austria, although it’s also grown in Germany, Hungary (I think) and occasionally in Long Island and Washington where it’s known as Lemberger. Its days of relative obscurity are probably numbered as both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have done pieces on it during the last year.

Anyhow, Blaufrankisch tends to make wines that are medium-bodied, fruit-forward with just enough acidity to make them more than just an average fruit bomb. Some winemakers will put the grape through a bit of oak aging, but the ones I like the most tend to be left to their own fruit devices – and tend to be very very easy to drink.

Yesterday I tried one from Weninger, a producer that’s recently been moving to biodynamic production. This Blaufrankisch was just the kind I like – very little oak was used, so the wine was filled with juicy red cherries and berries and a little bit of spiciness. Nice acidity, medium-bodied. Plush, happy fruit is the overall impression. Price-wise, will probably hit about $15.99.

This wine will be hitting my shelves soon – because every good wine shop should have a Blaufrankisch or two, even if their focus is Southern Hemisphere.

Originally published on February 13, 2008.

Finally brought in some ice wine! This is a major accomplish, mainly because now my husband can no longer ask me when I’m planning to get in some ice wine. The first day we were open, someone came in and asked if we had any ice wine.

“Open” is a bit of an overstatement given that we probably had about 10 bottles of wine on the shelf at the time, the cork floor had only been partially glued down, and I was using an old-school credit card swiper to run transactions. (Those swipers are called “knuckle busters”. It’s practically an official term – you ask your credit card guy to send you a manual card swiper and he looks at you with complete cluelessness. You ask for a knuckle buster, he knows just what you want.)

But we were “open” and someone comes in and asks about ice wine, which I say we’ll be getting, but not yet. My husband, who was helping out that day, looks at me as if he’s lost all faith in my ability to run a wine shop – because someone asked for ice wine and I don’t have it on the shelf within hours of opening the doors. Of course he doesn’t actually know what ice wine is, so I had to explain that first. Then I have to explain that it’s a fairly obscure item for people to be asking about and that’s why it wasn’t a top priority for my opening orders. I think he felt better when I told him Chamber Street Wines only had 1 in stock – and they have a lot more inventory than I do.

Then several weeks later, someone comes in and asks for ice wine. My husband just happens to be in the shop again. Several weeks later, same thing. Ice wine! Of all the things, ice wine!!

Finally, this week, I placed my first order with the distributor that sells Inniskillin, the ice wine I’ve been promising to buy all along. It’s bloody expensive stuff, but if you’re positive you want an ice wine, it’s a good bet. I’m sure it gets crazy ratings points, but regardless, it’s still good stuff. It’s from Canada – which is not the warmest part of the continent. They leave the grapes to hang on the vine long into the winter time. They freeze and then thaw, so the grapes wind up very dehydrated – and the remaining sugars, juices, and resulting flavors are highly concentrated. The wine is very very sweet, but because of the cold temperatures, the acidity is very high – which counteracts the sweetness and keeps the wine from being cloying. You wind up with a very sweet, luscious wine with flavors of lychee, peach nectar, honey, and mango. $84.99 for a 375ml (a half bottle) – which is enough for even a fair size dinner party as it’s so very rich that just a little dab will do.

Anyhow, my husband’s faith in my ability to run this business has been fully restored – all it took was a little ice wine.