See that thing sitting on the arm of that chair? What do you think it could be?
Look like a juice box of some sort? For those of you with a European bent, maybe a carton of Ribena or a box of milk?
Well, it is a box of juice. A Tetra-Pak of juice to be specific.And that juice happens to be made of grapes And those grapes have been fermented. Sort of like……….wine! Yes, it’s WINE! In a little 500ml Tetra-Pak container that looks absolutely nothing like a bottle of wine. Think of the possibilities.
As for what’s in this little non-glass-bottle, it’s an easy-drinking Cabernet Sauvignon from California. It’s not the most complex Cabernet you’ve ever had, but picnics, park benches, and baseball games don’t really cry out for overly complex wine. It’s a tasty, lighter-bodied (for Cabernet), highly-drinkable wine.
And…it’s made from organically-grown grapes.
And….it costs $8.99.
Why on earth wouldn’t you want to buy a bunch right now??
A NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: Oh how I loved that Bornard Poulsard. Some day, when I’m feeling sentimental, I’ll write an entire post about it filled with all sorts of (literally) explosive stories about it!
Originally published on May 26, 2010.
Pop tops. Beer caps. Bottle caps. Whatever you want to call them…(try “crown cap” or “crown seal” if you want to seem really technologically fancy)…they’re popping up more and more often beyond the realm of beer bottles and old school Coca Cola. You’ll increasingly see them topping off bottles of…gasp…wine! Yes, wine!
Here are several reasons you shouldn’t be turning up your nose:
1. You don’t need a corkscrew to open them. And really, who wants to deal with a corkscrew when it’s 92 degrees out and the humidity is at 80%. In a pinch, you can just use your teeth.
2. Even uber-pricey bottles like Cristal and Krug spend a good portion of their life under crown cap before getting dosaged and gussied up with a fancy cork. If it’s good enough for these “luxury bottlings,” surely it’s good enough for your roof top wine.
3. Perhaps most importantly, you’ll miss out on some of the coolest, freshest, most summer-appropriate wines on the shelf.
Frankly Wines currently has at least 4 different wines in stock bottled under crown cap. We probably have 5, but one of those is our last bottle of Rene Mosse’s Moussamoussettes and we’re not letting anyone buy it so it doesn’t count. But we are willing to sell the other four:
Hofer Gruner Veltliner 1 Liter Jug (Niederosterreich, Austria):$11.99 Hofer Zweigelt 1 Liter Jug (Niederosterreich, Austria):$11.99
These jugs of Austrian happiness are becoming a summertime fixture in wine shops across the city. Customers pick up one on a whim (or because we twist their arm) and almost always come back for more. Usually several more.
The Gruner is crisp and clean with a hint of citrus and a zip of minerality that make them perfect for summertime guzzling. If you’re in a Pinot Grigio rut and looking for something a little different, this is one to try.
The Zweigelt is a light, fresh, summertime version of the grape. OK, OK…if you haven’t had a “regular” Zweigelt before, that’s not terribly helpful. Regular Zweiglt, at least the style I stock, is medium-bodied with bright red berry fruits and a kick of black pepper on the finish. This version keeps the bright, fresh berry notes but with a lighter body and a hint of white pepper (for those who are intimate with their spice rack, there is a difference. The jugs are best served with slightly chilled – not ice cold, just a bit of a shiver.
Malvasia Dolce Frissante 2007 (Emilia Romagna, Italy):$20.99 Let’s say you can’t decide between wine and beer. This would be your option. It has a crown cap and the foamy, frothy head of a beer. It even sort of looks like a beer in the glass. It tastes like a cross between a wheat beer and a cream soda. That may not sound appealing, but paired with some cured meats, or just a tall glass and a roof deck, it’s pretty darn good.
Philippe Bornard Tant Mieux Rose (Arbois, France):$23.99 There are very few wines that combine sheer drinkability (Sparkling! Pink!) with utter wine geekery (Poulsard! Jura!) This wine does just that. And it features a cute little fox on the label as an added bonus. It’s a little sweet, but that sweetness is balanced by the bubbles, the acidity, and the underlying earthiness that’s a trademark of the Poulsard grape. Pop one open and you’ll be the hit of the party.
Thirsty? Just pop in and ask for something with a pop top, or be lazy and order at the Frankly Wines on-line store. That’s what it’s there for.
Every day through Memorial Day, I’ll be making a suggestion of what to drink during the holiday weekend. These suggestions don’t expire on Monday. They’re good all summer long. And yes, they’re available at Frankly Wines. Because this is a store blog.
Holiday Weekend Suggestion #1: A Case of Something Cheap and Cheerful
Summer weekends, especially holiday weekends = roof parties. Beach houses. Or maybe just quality time on your tiny balcony or fire escape. In any case, you’ll need something to drink. And something to serve your friends to drink at your place. And something to take to their place…
So if ever there was a time to stock up and buy wine by the case, summertime would be it. Nothing too complicated. Nothing that breaks the bank*. Just cheap and cheerful crowd pleasers. Ideally a mix of whites, reds, and roses.
If you ask, any good wine store should be able to put a summer stock-up case together for well under $150. At Frankly Wines, we can get you a 12-bottle case of mix and matched reds and whites for $100.Or 8 reds/white + 4 roses for $120. If you stop by this Thursday (May 27), we’ll even let you try before you buy. Click here to learn more.
*If you do want to break the bank, we’re happy to make some recommendations.
I’m just going to pretend it hasn’t been, oh, nearly a month since my last post and will dive right in with an announcement of this week’s Thursday tasting.
We’re going to be cracking open some Bodeags Riojanas wines, one of my favorite Rioja producers. We usually don’t let sales reps pour at the shop. (Sorry any sales reps reading this, but you know the drill – it gets confusing for the customers if someone who is pouring wine can’t help them with anything except the wine they’re pouring.)
But we’re making an exception for Paula because:
1.) she happens to know quite a few wines in the shop b/c she was part of an in-store tasting group I ran about a year ago, and
2.) she promised to bring a bottle of 1978 for the tasting if we let her pour.
Aparently bribery works because this Thursday, from 6pm until 7.30pm, Paula will be helping pour a fantastic selection of Bodegas Riojans:
Jura Whites – they’re not the easiest whites to love on first sip. Reds from this region – a totally different story. Leaving aside those hankering for big, extracted monster-truck wines, many Jura reds can easily please both wine geeks and regular-ole-wine-drinkers (like my mom.) The whites, not so much. Here are some of the typical descriptors:
Jura twang
Oxidative Sherry kick
Rancid walnut
Walnut polish
Raging acidity
Burnt sugar
Briney / salty
Stinky
These are not words that send most people racing out to buy a bottle.
So as you can imagine, these wines need to be sold very, very carefully. If you bring a bottle up to the counter, we’ll likely ask you if you’ve had a Jura white before. If you haven’t, we’ll mention the distinctive “Jura twang” (credit for this phrase goes to my Rosenthal rep, Clarke.) If that doesn’t scare you off, we’ll sell you the bottle with a warning to open it well before you want to drink it. Like maybe a day before you want to drink it.
But they are wonderful wines that are distinctive, thought-provoking and go blissfully well with Comte cheese, fondue, and anything earthy and creamy and rich. And we had just gotten in the latest arrivals from Jacques Puffeney – his Melon Queue Rouge, Cuvee Sacha, and Savagnin. And we wanted to open them. So we did – at last week’s Thursday tasting.
Now I fully expected lots of wrinkled noses at first Sherry-scented whiff. Like I said, these are not easy wines. And an in-store tasting, even with a hunk of Comte cheese on offer, is a brutal setting in which to first encounter them. But…people liked them! They really liked them! Some were thrilled to find a white wine they really enjoyed. Many started off unsure about what they were tasting and smelling, but worked their way through the three wines, increasingly intrigued by the unusual textures and tastes. Everyone seemed to appreciate the opportunity to try something different and unusual and relatively rare. (I’d say no one spit the wines out, but that’s not much of an indicator because no one ever spits anything out at a store tasting.)
These Jura whites rank up there with the Lopez de Heredia Rosado, Dard et Ribo St. Joseph, and Foundry Viognier for most surprisingly well-received warning-label-required wines. More proof that it’s best not to underestimate what your customers might like.
Hmmmm…perhaps it may be time to break out the Americano.
So we’ll be hosting another winemaker at Frankly Wines tonight: Tuesday, March 23, 5.30pm – 7.30pm
Raimond de Villeneuve of Chateau de Roquefort will be pouring his Clairette, Corial rose, and Guele de Loup, all of which are regulars on our shelves. Biodynamic, all between $15 – $20, all very, very tasty.
In the picture, he’s sporting a lovely red clown nose (a nez rouge) which I’ll be asking him about tonight. The picture is from a slightly surreal French website: Momo le Clown Gourmand. It features a very extensive who’s who of the French wine and culinary world – all sporting red clown noses. Seriously. It’s worth checking out. And make sure you have the volume on because it also plays some catchy traditional French tunes, which imagine are about clowns.
So back to the wines. If we’re lucky, Raimond will bring along some samples of his higher end wines. The cases are on a boat making its way to the ports of New Jersey, but yesterday at his distributor’s portfolio tasting, he had a few samples open. There was the Momentum, which is a new wine that is made to tilt a bit more to the American palate. This generally means more fruit, more ripeness and more oak, often the point of overdone. In this case, the wine was just a bit more…more. Still very much in the same style as the other wines, with just a little more there there. It was tasty, but I preferred his other two wines, Poupre and Rubrum. These are wines that would sit at around $35 and $60 on the shelf. They’re both what I simply call Provencal kitchen soup blends (some combination of Syrah, Carignan, Grenache, Mourvedre, and possibly Cinsault) and are only made in years when Raimond feels the grapes warrant it. Which is not every year. I think he said he’s only made the Pourpre three times in many years, but I will confirm that tonight. The Pourpre is all ripe, vivid fruits with an underlying freshness. The Rubrum shows more Mourvedre and has the brambly, baked earth (that’s baked earth, not baked fruit. Very very different things.) quality that I love about my favorite Provencal wines.
Anyhow, if we’re lucky, we’ll have some of those to taste tonight. If not, we’ll be stocking them as soon as the cases clear customs.
Alright, it wasn’t really a week. It was just an evening. But it was a fine way to spend an evening. The wines were showing nicely, customers were chatting and tasting, Greek dips and flatbread were on hand and Demis Roussos and several mixes of “Never on a Sunday” were on the stereo. Winemaker Theodore Vatistas and sidekick Connor were in great form, pouring and talking and explaining how to pronounce grape names like Agiorgitko. (Which sounds sort of like “are you good to go.” But it’s really “are-yo-ghee-tee go.” Got that?)
Last night’s choices:
Vatistas Kidonista (Peloponnese): Kidonista is a very old, very obscure grape. The Vatistas Kidonista is the only bottling that makes it beyond the Greek borders. It’s a delicate white, floral, silky, and was very tasty with the garlicy potato dip was had on hand. I haven’t had a lot of quince in my life, but if I had, I would probably describe it as tasting a bit like quince because “kidon” is the Greek name for that fruit.
Vatistas Cabernet/Agiorgitko (Peloponnese): A 50/50 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Agiorgitiko that makes for a great intro to Greek wine. Customers are comforted by the familiar “Cabernet” on the label, even if it is paired with the unfamiliar (and unpronounceable) Agiorgitiko. Vatistas tends to shy away from using international grapes (and even in this 50/50 blend, the Agiorgitiko really shines through,) but this “something old/something new” trick really works well here.
Kappa Klima Xynomavro (Macedonia): Another local grape from the Kappa winery, located much further north than the Vatistas property. The Xynomavro grape is possibly related to the Nebbiolo grape and has a similar tannic structure – firm and fine without being heavy. It’s pretty and slightly floral and gives off the impression of being lighter than the Vastistas Cab/Agiorgitko, even if technically, the tannins are probably higher.
Ageri Assyrtiko/Athiri Semi-Dry White (Santorini): Very slightly sweet, with the sweetness balanced by a racy acidity and surprising minerality. It was fun to have a sweet wine and a dry, but floral wine on the same table. Many customers consider all floral wines to be sweet but in the technical wine-geek sense, that doesn’t have to be the case. So if someone thought the Kidonista was sweet, we could pour some of the Ageri and they could immediately taste the difference between floral/dry and floral/slightly sweet.
Everyone who tried liked at least one bottle. And many actually bought that bottle. Or several bottles. So a good time was had by all – including the cash register!
A NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: This is the wine that ten years later would show up on the shelves at Copake Wine Works. Even though we had room, we didn’t need to take in an 11 case drop, so we didn’t need to use it as furniture, which is pretty much what happened at Frankly Wines. I remember at one point, we actually would use the cases as a table/tasting bar. When your shop is 300 square feet and you want all of a certain wine, you do what must be done!
This is a sad day. The last 11 cases and 7 bottles of the J. Mourat Collection Blanc arrived at Frankly Wines this afternoon. These are the last cases available in the State of New York. The importer who brought this wine over from France is no longer importing. Maybe a casualty of the economy, or maybe just proof that living the dream isn’t as dreamy as it looks.
In any case, the license has been sold or transferred and I’ve gradually been buying up the remaining stock of this wine.
When I first brought it in, it was a great bottle of $13.99 Loire Valley wine. 50% Chenin Blanc, 50% Chardonnay. Crisp acidity nicely balanced by some crunchy pear fruit. It was the text-book definition of really good house white. Good with food. Nice on its own. Broadly appealing without being dull. And the bottle was cute, too.
It still is all that. But now, it costs $9.99/bottle.
Sometimes the New York Times features wines and regions that I actually don’t sell. Like Eric Asimov’s most recent column on Spätburgunder, Pinot Noir as it’s known in Germany name. The column highlights the difficulty of finding these wines for sale here in the US. I would concur. I don’t even sell one – and I like to think I sell one of everything.
Now Spatburgunder is on my list of “wines I’d like to sell” (a.k.a. the grid) but I haven’t yet found one to put on the shelf – at least at a price I thought I could comfortably sell it. This thought is echoed in the accompanying blog piece.
Well really, I’m echoing quotes from the blog….it’s odd to be behind the curve on something!
Meanwhile, over at the Wall Street Journal, Lettie Teague was extolling “The Lure of the Unpronounceable.” Specifically, wines from Croatia, Hungary, and Slovenia. Even more specifically, she mentions the Pannonhalmi Tricollis and the Monarchia Israi Oliver, two unpronounceable wines that sit side by side on the Frankly Wines shelf. I also have my eye on a Plavic Mali from Croatia and a couple whites from Slovenia.
