Category: Wine (Buying) History

Auction Fun? Boring, boring, boring….BORED-EAUX!

Originally published on April 18, 2009.

I’ve written before about the first Frankly Wines foray into the auction world. Well, I’m back for more and as of this very minute, sitting at the Sotheby’s Finest and Rarest Wine Auction. I could say I’m “live blogging” to use a trendy technical term, but really, I’m just a little bored.

Specifically, I’m a little Bored-eaux!
We’re slogging through pages and pages of multiple 12 bottle lots of 2005 big name Bordeaux. For example, we just got through 9 identical lots of Chateau Montrose 2005. The winning bidder of the first lot had the right to claim all of the remaining lots at that same price. But an absentee bidder happened to put in a higher bid for one of those remaining lots, so the bidding was reopened. That winner could have claimed the remaining lots, but only wanted the one. So bidding was reopened again and the new winner got to make his claim on the rest. Which mercifully for us, he took. You get the idea. Sort of. As much as I get it and I’m sitting here listening to it.

It will get more exciting. Some of the lots I’m interested in are coming soon. These include lesser known names from good years and great names from crappy years. I’m especially interested in some mixed lots with a variety of vintages and producers. Or random single bottles. Serious collectors tend to ignore these lots, but cheap little retailers like Frankly Wines love them.

Well, we’re getting close to my stuff, so must get back to my spreadsheet!

Another 3-Pack: A Year in Provence

Originally published on April 12, 2009.

3-PACK: A YEAR IN PROVENCE

What, can’t afford a year in Provence? Well, neither can I. But you can still transport yourself there recession-style – with a matched set of this region’s beautiful wines….for less than the cost of simply checking a matched set of luggage.

I’m on a huge Provence wine kick right now. Rose season is right around the corner, and Provencal roses are probably what springs to mind when most people think “dry pink wine”.

I’ve also recently had a few distributors taste me on some great reds from the Bandol subregion (probably the best known wine from Provence after the pink stuff) and some very nice ones from the broader Cotes de Provence region. The best Bandols are made from nearly 100% Mouvedre. The Cotes de Provence reds generally are a blend of Cab Sauv, Syrah, and Grenache, and Mourvedre. The best will have give off a whiff of “garrigue” which is just the fancy French term for the herbs you’ll find grown in Provence (sage, rosemary, thyme). You won’t feel like you’re eating an herb garden, but this subtle note makes these reds different from anything else in the world…and it makes them an ideal pairing for lamb that has been rubbed in….well, sage, rosemary, or thyme.

And I’m really on a Provencal white kick. These wines can be tough to find here in the US. They’re made from not-very-well-known grapes like Clariette, Rolle, and Ugni Blanc. Semillon is probably the best know grape from the region, and it’s not exactly on most people’s list of everyday favorites. But if you like wines that are more about texture and subtlety than outright fruit, the region’s whites are worth seeking out. They’re the perfect match for grilled fish, which shouldn’t be a surprise given the amount of great grilled fish kicking around the Provencal coast.

So, if you’re intrigued, we have a three pack put together a Frankly Wines featuring a white, red, and rose. You can buy one on the Frankly Wines web site for $47.99. The regular price for all 3 bottles would be $54.97.

(Full Disclosure: I own the Frankly Wines store…

(NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: Not anymore I don’t!)

…but if you don’t already know that, well, I need to work on being a little more obvious about it!)

Here are the wines:

Clos Bernarde Tete de Cuvee Rouge 1999: A “Provencal” blend (meaning everything but the kitchen sink), this red has mellowed out over the last 10 years: subtle red fruits, dried herbs, and very soft tannins. Like I said above, it’s perfect with lamb.

Clos Bernard Blanc de Blancs 2005: Provencal whites are difficult to describe – they’re more about texture and subtlety than in-your-face fruit. We don’t see many of them in the US…because they pair so well with the region’s grilled fish dishes, the French are reluctant to give them up to anyone else.

Chateau Routas Rouviere Rose 2007: The Provencal staple – dry, subtle, elegant berry flavors and a beautiful pink color. This is what most people think of when they think “Provence.”

The two Clos Bernarde wines are imported by Blue Coast, an importer which specializes in wines from Provence and the Côtes d’Azur (“Blue Coast” in always less romantic English). I like to mention this because the owner is a woman, and it’s fairly rare to find a woman running a wine importing company. Perhaps even more rare than a woman who owns and operating her own store.

In Search of a Classic White Bordeaux

Originally published on March 26, 2009.

I’ve written about the buying grid before. Well, lately, there’s been a big hole in it. I’m in need of a classic Bordeaux Blanc, one that can sit on the shelf between $20 – $30. Ideally, right at $24.99. Ideally, from the Graves sub-region (the part of Bordeaux best-suited to dry, white wines.) And the style absolutely, positively has to be the classic Bordeaux Blanc style.

And what’s that, you ask?

Well, to start, Bordeaux Blanc (ok, white Bordeaux) is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. The Muscadelle grape is also allowed, but you don’t see it very often. Actually, you don’t see any of the grapes very often because their names don’t appear on the label. You just have to know.
To my taste buds, a “classic” white Bordeaux has a high percentage of Semillon in the blend, goes through barrel fermentaiton, and spends some additional time aging in barrel. This time in oak adds an element of creaminess and spice that is usually associated with Chardonnay. But the Sauv/Sem in the blend ensures a zippy acidity and notes of citrus and herbs that is very un-Chard-like.

The combination of creaminess + citrus + herbal notes make it the perfect match for almost anything in a cream sauce, especially if fish or any sort of fresh herbs are involved. Tonight, someone needed something to pair with a pasta dish prepared with cream sauce, zucchini and scallops. A classic white Bordeaux would have been perfect….

But alas, I didn’t have one to offer. I had been selling the Chateau Villa Bel-Air 2004 which had all of the above + the extra benefit of a little bit of age. Just under $25, it was a great buy. Little by little, I managed to drain the distributor of their entire supply. The last bottle was sold about 2 months ago and I’ve yet to find a suitable replacement.

Part of the problem is that a lot of white Bordeaux is now very New Zealand-esque: heavy on the Sauvignon Blanc, highly citrus/grapefruit driven fruit, oak-free, fresh and zingy rather than creamy. From a business standpoint, it’s a wise move. New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc has been growing like gangbusters. People love it. I love it. But if I want New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, I buy New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. If I want white Bordeaux….well, I haven’t been able to find a white Bordeaux I like because they all taste like New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

Alright, I exaggerate a bit. I know there is plenty of classic white Bordeaux out there. The current vintage of Chateau Villa Bel-Air 2007 could fill the slot…if I could put it in a time machine, age it for 3 years, and then bring it back to the shop. But that’s not an option. So I keep on searching…for the right wine….at the right price…with just that little bit of age on it…

Suggestions?

Fancy Pants Wine: Brogan Cellars

Originally published on March 23, 2009.

What in the world??? Two posts about actual wine in the same week?

Well, I am so excited about these wines, I didn’t want to keep them to myself. (Yes, if you get the newsletter, you already know this, but give me a break…I have 3 kids under 5, so I’m allowed to do a little cross posting. And I promise, this won’t be a total cut-and-paste job. Alright, it will be a total cut-and-paste job, but like I said, just give me a break.)

Here’s the scoop: If you’re a California Pinot-phile, you probably know the name Williams Selyem, the fabled winery that started making wine in a two-car garage and quickly became the top Pinot Noir producer in California. Founding winemaker Burt Williams sold the business in 1998, and is waiting for his non-compete agreement to run out before entering the winemaking fray. But the Williams Selyem wines still remain incredibly scarce, mainly available direct from the winery or popping up at the occasionally fine wine store (such as, perhaps, Frankly Wines.)

Whoa whoa whoa….I can hear you thinking, “Williams Selyem….but isn’t the fancy pants wine Brogan Cellars? Why aren’t you writing about Brogan Cellars? I’ve never even heard of Brogan Cellars.”

Well, the founding winemaker of Brogan Cellars, Margaret “Margi” Wierenga, is Burt Williams’s daughter. After more than a few years working at Williams Selyem, she started her own winery making small production Pinot Noir in a winery that was partially housed in….yes, déjà vu, an old garage. Production is truly small, with a total of 1,500 cases across all her various bottlings. And like father, like daughter, you can only get these wines off Margi’s mailing list, at top restaurants, and…at Frankly Wines!

We have two bottlings in stock:

Brogan Cellars Morning Dew Ranch 2007 (Anderson Valley):sourced from Papa Williams’s own vineyard. A little darker toned, a little more concentrated, a little more “California” than the Russian River Valley bottling. But with an alcohol level of only 13.6%, (ignore the label to the left, which probably exists through the magic of photoshop…the real label says 13.6%) this is hardly over-the-top Cali-style Pinot Noir. Price: $59.99

Brogan Cellars Russian River Valley 2007 (Russian River Valley): sourced from vineyard sites across the Russian River region, this bottling is a little more perfumed, with notes of cherries and spice. This wine is elegant, pretty, and dare we say sexy? Price: $59.99

We have less than two cases across both wines. Claim them quickly before we resist our accountant’s sound advice and claim them for ourselves.

Occasionally I write about wine

Originally published on March 20, 2009.

OK, time to get back into the swing of the blog thing. And what a better way to start than listing all the wine I tried today. Note I said “try”, not “drink”. If you’re not in the industry, there’s a very good chance you think all wine-industry people sit around and drink all day. Not true. 1) We spit and 2) we’re usually standing when we taste, either at behind the counter at the store or in front of a table at a distributor portfolio tasting.

Yesterday was a taste-from-behind-the-counter kind of day. We saw a total of seven different distributors, all but two with winemakers in tow. This matters because winemakers require more attention and better behavior than your regular sales rep. The winemakers (hopefully) know more about the wine than your sales rep, so they have more to say. And while some wine buyers may take pride in being rude to anyone who tries to sell them anything, I’m not one of them. If you’ve taken the appointment, you should at least pay attention, maybe ask some questions, try to learn something. Otherwise, don’t take the appointment.

Yesterday there were lots of appointments. Here’s what I had. (I’m working from memory here, so if any of my reps are reading this, give me a break if I’m wrong!)

Appointment #1:

  • Ribero del Dureos (Portugal), one from 2005, one from 2006. Always cool to try the same wine from two different vintages. One was filtered, one wasn’t so that was extra cool.
  • 1 Chinon, the winemaker’s 2nd vintage, which I liked more than the first, as did the winemaker.
  • Higher end Ribero del Duero. Something like 550 different parcels of land to add up to a total of 4 hectares. This is madness!

Appointment #2:

  • One very nice rose from an island just off the coast of Provence. Lots of mouvedre in the blend…may be why it reminded me of a Bandol rose at a fraction of the price.

Appointment #3:

  • High end Godello from Bierzo region of Spain.
  • Tempranillo/Granacha blend from La Mancha
  • Wacky blend of five different grapes which added up to a really nice wine that people will like a lot…even thought it’s a sort of geeky wine (for reasons I won’t go into for fear of seeming even geekier than I actually am.)

Appointment #4:

A veritable grab bag of goodies, including:

  • Nice Muscadet that made me wish for warm weather
  • Old vine Quincy (what, you’ve never heard of Quincy?? Come on!!! It’s in the Loire, like near Sancerre. OK, I’m a geek.) which is the more concentrated mate to the Quincy I currently carry.
  • Nice little Navarra (big day for Spain)
  • Bordeaux – either Cru Bourgeois or Bordeaux Superior, can’t remember, but primarily from St. Emilion fruit…ie mainly Merlot
  • Another Bordeaux – Grand Cru St. Emilion

Appointment #5:

  • 2 village-level Mersaults, one from 2005, one from 2006. Slightly different fruit sources, but still cool to taste the differences between sites and vintages.
  • 2 Premier Cru-level Mersaults, both 2006. Even cooler to see the difference between two different sites from the same year. These wines would retail somewhere between $70 – $100, so that just made the tasting even cooler. Man, they were good!
  • Premier Cru-level red burg by the same producer which we already carry and love. 10 minutes after the winemaker left, a regular customer came in and bought a bottle of this very wine. Would have been sweet if he’d gotten there 10 minutes earlier. Winemakers love to see real customers buying their wine.

Appointment #6:

  • Value-oriented producer from Washington and Oregon (there’s really no reason a winery has to stick to one state, although most do). Pinot Grigio (OR), Chardonnay (WA), Pinot Noir (OR), and Cabernet (WA). In addition to the wines, lots of gossip about distributors and the wine-in-grocery-store legislation, and discussion about the FCC’s policy about not showing butt cracks on TV.

Appointment #7:

  • 1 Menetou-Salon Blanc (never heard of this region either? Come on now…it’s near Quincy!!)
  • 1 Valencay (also in the Loire, as is Quincy) – a blend of Gamay, Malbec, Cab Franc, and Pinot Noir, which I think is actually every red grape allowed anywhere in any of the AOC regions in the Loire Valley (and if I’m wrong on that, please don’t tell me.)

Whew! I think I need a beer.

Frankly Wines, Apatasgi Hungarian Tramini, and the New York Times

Originally published on February 21, 2009.

There’s this little paper you may have heard of…The New York Times? Every Sunday, wine writer Howard Goldberg features a wine under $20 in the City section. This week he features one of the Frankly Wines favorites…the Pannonhalmi Apatsagi Pinceszet Tramini. And he mentions Frankly Wines as the place to get it!

For Mr. Goldberg’s view, checkout his column here.

He calls it a knockout, and we’re inclined to agree. Winning plenty of obscurity points, the Apatsagi is a Gewurztraminer from Hungary. It also wines points on flavor, refreshingingness, bottle coolness, and affordability. How many points? Let’s say 1,328.695.

That’s a lot of points for $12.99!

Days That Drive a Wino to Drink

Originally published on February 12, 2009.

What I’m about to describe isn’t exactly a typical day. Most days, at least in my little retail universe, are a mix of placing orders, writing checks, chasing down distributors who always seem to lose my checks, printing out shipping labels, picking out mixed cases, helping customers, fighting with the cash registers, dusting, putting stickers on bags, sorting out deliveries, stocking shelves, and maybe tasting through a few wines with a sales rep or two, occasionally with a winemaker in tow.

Wednesday was a little bit different.

I started out with my 10am blind tasting group. On deck, 5 different wines made from the ever popular Tannat grape. On the off-chance you haven’t heard, Tannat is the star grape of such star regions as Madiran, Irouleguy, and Uruguay. It’s inky dark, deeply tannic, and perfect with steak, stews, or cassoulet. Not exactly breakfast wine, but what can you do when duty calls. There are 2 Tannats at Frankly Wines and we’ll probably be getting a third soon….because every boutique wine store should have 1 Tannat for ever 100 square feet of floor space. It’s in the manual.

NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: It’s totally not in the manual. First, there is no manual. And second, if there was a manual, it would most certainly advise against having more than one Tannat at a time, period.

Blind tasting finished, I brushed my purple teeth and headed off to a winemaker lunch at Alto. I love winemaker lunches…especially when I don’t have to plan them. This one was with Elizabetta Foradori, possibly the chicest Italian grower/winemaker I’ve yet to meet. She does magic with the Teroldego grape which, on the (probable) chance you’ve never heard of it, is a very old grape that makes its home in the northern alpine reaches of Italy. Some day soon I’ll go on about my growing fascination with alpine wines, but for now, I’ll just lay out what we tasted: 2 vintages of Myrto (a white made from the very non-international grape Incrocio Manzoni), the current vintage of Elizabetta’s Teroldego Rotliano (a fresher, younger-drinking style of Teroldego) and 6 vintages of her more serious, age worthy Granato (also made from Teroldego) going back to 1986. That’s 9 wines. For lunch. Survival tactics include lots of bread, a gallon of water…and a conveniently-located red plastic spit cup by my place setting. Red plastic may not seem terrible chic, but neither is a table full of drunken wine buyers.

Lunch over, teeth brushed again, and off to a Burgundy tasting at the Design building. Less zoo-like than I had expected, but still plenty of of French spoken, plenty of men in suits, and plenty of elbows making their way to the Grand Cru wines. I settle in next to a spit bucket and concentrate on distinguishing the Volnays from the Pommards, while dodging elbows and spit streams, balancing my glass, scribbling highly evocative tasting notes like “powerful”, “more perfume than the last one”, “a little more earthy”, “berries”, and muttering in fake French. I generally ignore the price list, as one 6-packs of some of these wines would suck up most of my weekly open-to-buy. There are probably 20 tables at the tasting. I make it to about 5 before the tasting ends and I head outside.

Going for full-on contrast to my Foradori lunch at Alto, I have a hot dog and bad coffee for my 5.30PM snack. Then off to the International Wine Center for my weekly Diploma wine class. This week,we’re studying the Loire, a region best loved by fashionable Parisians and New York-based wine geeks. We’re learn that come test time, even if you smell stone fruits in your Pouilly-Fume, you should say you smell melon, because it will make the graders happy. There’s a discussion about whether a wine is medium+ alcohol or high alcohol. And another about the odd purple color of a Cabernet Franc, which looks suspiciously like a Malbec. We taste 7 different wines, and I realize I’ve already drunk 4 of them at some point in the recent past, outside of class. Of the other 3, I’ve had similar styles from different producers. Since I’m not a fashionable Parisian, that must make me a New York-based wine geek.

As if a day filled with 5 Tannats, a Teraldego vertical, and a bunch of Burgundies hadn’t already proved that point.

Going Going Gone…Wine Auction Fun: Part 2

Originally published on January 14, 2009.

During the fall, Frankly Wines started to dabble in the wine auction world. I figured the auction market would be slow and prices low due to the stock market implosion: And since we were heading into the holidays, any goodies I managed to pick up would have their best chance of selling in the coming weeks.

I learned quickly that wine auctions can be a dangerous pastime. You walk into the room with your target lots selected, your upper limits firmly in place, and your total budget for the day well understood. Then as soon as that little numbered paddle hits your hand, you can barely restrain yourself from waving it in the air. But if you can control yourself, you can walk away with some really great stuff.

I snagged several cases 10 – 25 year old Bordeaux and 1 case of Eileen Hardy Shiraz 1993, one of the old-school stars of Australia. As planned (and hoped), everything was going, going, gone less than a month after hitting the shelves. The last auction bottle sold just yesterday…not bad given shelf prices were around $50 – $70.

Well that sounds easy…buy it, price it, sell it! Not quite.

There’s a huge amount of research involved. Like what was the quality of the vintage? (Great vintages tend to age longer, while less great vintages have the advantage of drinking well at an earlier age. There’s research on the producer …they may have a great reputation today, but that doesn’t mean it was so great 25 years ago. There’s pricing…is anyone else selling the same vintage? If not, a similar producer from that vintage? Or a similar vintage by the same producer? And on it goes.

You do all that, pick a shelf price, figure out the maximum you want to bid (including the typically hefty buyers premium), load it all into a fancy spreadsheet (maybe that’s just me) , snag a seat next to a power outlet so your computer doesn’t die and then wait for the lot to come up for bidding….while trying NOT to randomly bid on anything else.

It’s a lot of work for a little dabbling. But for a small retailer like Frankly Wines, I think it’s absolutely worth it. Drinking an aged wine can be a wonderful, mysterious experience, but unless you have the money, space, and patience to buy and store the stuff, it’s a relatively rare one. So I like to always keep the store stocked with a small selection of older vintages from good producers with a reasonable chance of already being in that good-drinking window. And the auction market is the best place to get these bottles….as long as you can keep your paddle well under control.

Food & Wine Pairings You Never Would Have Considered

Originally published on January 9, 2008.

Wine and food pairing. It can drive a sane person nuts if it’s taken too seriously. Or it can be a lot of fun. One of my favorite things about the store is when someone comes in, tells me what they’re having for dinner (down to the sauce preparation and the side dishes), gives me a price range and then lets me recommend whatever I think will go best. Good retailers love this sort of challenge, especially when the customer is ready and willing to take a chance on something unexpected.

One of those very unexpected combinations…. Southern fried chicken and Chardonnay.

And not just any Chardonnay, but California Chardonnay – ideally one that’s stereotypically big, buttery, rich, and almost over the top.

Newton Unfiltered Chardonnay is the one that springs to my mind. It’s huge, massive, big, buttery, rich, but it has enough acidity to actually carry all that fabulousness. No one will ever mistake it for a Burgundy, but really, if you want Burgundy, drink Burgundy.

Now back to the pairing…imagine this:

You take a bite of the fried chicken. It’s juicy, a little greasy, a little fatty, definitely yummy. Then you take a sip of the big, buttery Chardonnay. It’s richness cuts through the lingering grease and fattiness. It’s as rich as the chicken, but in a different way – butter and cream vs. grease and fat. Your mouth waters (that’s because of the acidity in the wine…that’s why acidity is a good thing…it makes your mouth water). You’re ready for another bite of rich, greasy fried chicken. And then you want another gulp of Chardonnay to wash it down. And so it goes until the chicken is gone and the bottle is empty.

Hungry? Thirsty?

Fried chicken and Chardonnay? Who would have thought?

WORD OF WARNING: this works best with greasy, fatty friend chicken. KFC. Popeyes. Don’t be shy – go for the grease!

New Year’s Eve Bubble Debrief

Originally published on December 31, 2008.

Before Frankly Wines, I was a bit of corporate girl, so every once in while I succumb to the urge to use Power Point or have a debrief. Who am I kidding – I still use Power Point all the time. But the debrief urges, those are much rarer. But I figure, the start of a New Year is a good time to have one.

NEW YEAR’S EVE DE-BRIEF

Things I ran out of:

  • Robert John Brut Cava
  • Le Colture ‘Fagher’ Brut Prosecco
  • Lucien Albrect Cremant d’Alsace
  • J Vineyards ‘Cuvee 20’
  • Ruinart Blanc de Blancs
  • No. 1 Family “Cuvee #1”

Things I almost ran out of:

  • Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label – even at my crazy price, it just flies. (NOTE: My price is crazy NOT because I like to rip people off, but because I can only afford to buy 2 cases at a time rather than the hugely discounted 30 cases that the bigger stores sell it at. I even tell regulars not to buy it from me unless they are desperate for it.
  • Philippe Prie Champagne – 3 bottles left as of now.

What I’m left with: mainly obscure stuff. Some Solo Lambrusco, a rose from the Loire, a Cerdon de Bugey, an Aussie bubbly. And I would have run out of almost all of those if I had only ordered 1 case of each as originally planned. I also have a few bottles of Dom Perignon, La Grande Dame, and Krug left. But I didn’t have much to begin with.

Key Learning: Next year, order more.

Hours of Operations: We were officially open at 11AM. But I was there at 8AM waiting for a delivery and if people desperately in need of wine can see you in the store, they will assume you’re open, so I started selling wine around 9.30/10AM. Then an otherwise crazy day screeched to a halt around 8PM. A few stragglers came in after that, but I think we only had 1 customer between 8.30 and 9PM. Granted, she had wonderful taste and took my last bottle of No. 1 Family Blanc de Blancs from New Zealand (forcing me to drink Krug 1995 when I got home.)

Key Learning: Next year, open at 10AM, close at 8PM, maybe 8.30PM

Chilled Bottles: This year, I had toyed with the idea of getting a cold box (i.e. the technical term for “wine fridge”) to put at the front of the store during the holidays. This way, people could help themselves rather than waiting for us to pull a cold bottle from the “employees-only” coolers underneath the counter. Amazingly, there wasn’t a huge demand for chilled stuff. Maybe because it was so cold outside already. Or maybe because New Year’s Eve isn’t one of those occasions when the need for chilled Champagne just takes you by surprise.

Key Learning: Nix the cold box. Buy an “employees-only” microwave instead.

Stating the Obvious: Wine people assume any good wine store will offer a selection of bubbly. Normal people do not assume this. I know, because prior to New Year’s Eve, we often heard: “Do you have Champagne?” “You don’t have any Champagne, do you?” “I’m guessing you don’t have any Champagne.” Yesterday, we didn’t get this so much. Why? Because I changed the sign out front to say “yes, we have bubbles”.

Key Learning: Never hurts to state what you think is obvious. Because sometimes it’s apparently not.

That’s enough debriefing. Time to work on the web site….