Category: Wine (Buying) History

Tales of a Clairvoyant Wine Merchant

Originally published on November 5, 2009.

A couple weeks ago I was going on, as I’ve been known to do, about how my personal wine geek preferences seem to be a leading indicator of what shows up in the New York Times. Yes, I know one really has nothing to do with the other. But I still get a kick out of it. I’ll quote a portion of that post:

“…if my personal obsessions are good indicators of what you’ll see in future New York Times articles, then stay tuned for features on dry muscats, Gemischter Satz wines, very old Chianti and anything alpine…..”

And what showed up in this week’s New York Times? Gemischter Satz wines! And a mention of my latest favorite Gelber Muskateller, a.k.a. a dry Muscat!

Spooooooooooky.

Wine You Never Knew You Needed: Gemischter Satz

A NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: Ten years later and I’m still in love!

Originally published on November 4, 2009.

What? Never heard of Gemischter Satz wines? Neither had we, until this summer, when Mr. Carlos Huber showed up at our shop. Well, he didn’t just show up, he did have an appointment. And in his wine bag, he had a range of tasty Gemischter Satz wines.

GS for short (at least accordingly to me), these wines come from inside the city limits of Vienna, are made from anywhere from 2 to 20 grape varieties, all growing on the same plot of land, and all harvested and vinified together. I could tell you more about the joys of field blends, or you could just read what Eric Asimov at the New York Times wrote in his Wednesday column.

Tasting through Carlos’s selection of GS wines, I was impressed at how different they all were. Some were light and floral, some a bit more weighty and oily. One had this almost yeasty/bready note going on. But all managed to be wonderfully fresh, aromatic and generally charming. Pardon me while I get all wine-geeky, but they all tasted like slightly different versions of springtime. And as the weather starts to get all chilly and bitter, who couldn’t use a bit of springtime in a glass.

That’s the general scoop on the GS. To get more specific, the one we currently carry is Weinbau Jutta Ambrositsch Wiener Gemischter Satz Sommeregg Reserve 2008. The name is quite a mouthful: Jutta Ambrositsch is the young, female winemaker. Gemischter Satz is the GS classification I mentioned above. Sommeregg is the vineyard site. Weinbau means something like Domaine and Wiener just means wine. At least I think that’s what it all means.

The wine itself manages to combine lightness with complexity – flowers, citrus, earthiness, white spices, berries, fresh herbal notes. Very close to 20 grape varieties are grown on Jutta’s plot of land, which was planted over 50 years ago. It’s a rarity that a wine of this dry wine is so light yet so complex, but that’s old vines, a diverse field blend, and a good vintner can do.

At $45.99, it’s not inexpensive. There are less expensive GS wines available, and we’ll probably bring some in. But we were intrigued by this one and wanted to get our hands on some before someone else got them all. If you’re looking for a unique, wonderfully different white wine that can justify a $50 price tag, this would be your bottle.

Come pick one up before we drink it all ourselves. (Fair warning…we have been known to do this, despite our accountant’s better judgment.)

P.S.  (Can I do this on a blog post?  Apparently, I can if I say I can.)  Mr. Asimov also mentions the fantastic Rainer Christs’s delicious Gelber Muskateller.  But every good Gelber Muskateller deserves it’s own post, so we’ll get to that later.

A Happy Home for the Oddball Pallets

Originally published on November 2, 2009.

This is a picture of a freshly delivered case of wine (and my foot, to the left.)

As you can see, cases often arrive plastered with stickers: shipping instructions, account names and numbers, delivery instructions for the delivery trucks, picking instructions for the warehouse.

This one came in a month or so ago and I noticed the warehouse sticker referred to both an “oddball aisle” and an “oddball pallet.” It made me laugh because it’s a pretty good description of many of the wines on my shelf. I don’t remember exactly what was in this case – maybe a dry Furmint? Another Gelber Muskateller? Or maybe a Mondeuse? So many options! After spotting this particular sticker, I started to notice loads of my cases are designated with some sort of “oddball” sticker.

Perhaps I’ll need to add this designation to my buying grid…only X% of wines in the shop can be from an oddball palate.

Nah. Every wine shop needs a little (or in my case, a lot) of oddball. It makes the world go round.

Another 3-Pack: No Tricks, Just Treats

Originally published on October 31. 2009.

So Halloween is today and Tribeca’s little people will be on a trick-or-treating rampage. All the stores decorate and offer goodies to all the neighborhood kids. But their adults need something too, and at Frankly Wines, we happily oblige.

Our Halloween spread will include the three wines on offer in our latest 3-Pack. The two reds, the Velvet Devil Merlot and The Chocolate Block, may not win any cool-kid-my-palate-is-cooler-than-yours contests, but they are quite tasty. As much as I love turning customers onto wines that qualify as “weird but good,” Halloween is not the night to attempt the hand selling required to do it well. No, on Halloween, I want to open something yummy and crowd pleasing that doesn’t require an explanation.

On that front, we have The Velvet Devil Merlot 2007 from Washington State and The Chocolate Block, from South Africa. Charles Smith (not to be confused with Charles Shaw of Two Buck Chuck fame,) makes the Velvet Devil.

Boekenhoutskloof, best know at Frankly Wines for fan favorite, Wolftrap, makes the The Chocolate Block. These are both full-bodied wines with plenty of fruit and a balancing, earthy (and in the case of The Chocolate Block, funky) complexity.

But our third wine does manage to fall off the beaten track. It’s a sparkling apple cider from Normandy with one of those typically romantic wine story: sommelier at Three Star restaurant in Paris can’t resist the pull of the old, old apple and pear trees on his family’s property back home in Normady. So he leaves the big city to tend the orchards and make cider from the fruits of his labor.

And the ciders are very good. They taste like autumn in a bottle. We’ve included the Cydre Doux in our Halloween tasting. It’s a lightly sparkling, slightly sweet apple cider. The sweetness doesn’t really come off as “sweet,” but more like the sweet spice/warm apple tastes of apple pie. But a very grown-up apple pie. Eric also makes a sparkling pear cider, Poiré Authentique, and a couple reserve bottlings from only the exceptionally old (as opposed to just “old”) apple and pear trees on the property. I had the Authentique recently and it’s very tasty and would be fantastic with cheese. It’s a definitely more thought-provoking than the Cydre Doux, but on Halloween, I don’t really want to deal with thought-provoking. I want tasty and immediately lovable. Which is the Cydre Doux. It happens to have wine geek cred as well, but that’s just bonus.

Why It’s Good to Be Last

A NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: This was indeed a good night to be last. That may be one of the last bottles of Ulysse Collin in the wild… the days when this producer could be brought out in a sample bag, when I could buy as much as I wanted. Those days are long, long gone!

Originally published on October 17, 2009.

When it comes to booking appointments with my sales reps, I usually like to be the first appointment of the day. In the Frankly Wines case, this is usually 11am, just as we open our doors. I’ve been told this is the best time of day to taste wine – you’re already awake, your taste buds have recovered from the shock of your morning coffee, and you’re starting to get a little hungry so your senses of taste and smell are at optimal perkiness. But that has nothing to do with it….

The reality is, if I’m the first appointment of my sales rep’s day, there’s a very good chance that she’ll be on time. Well, ok, she’ll still be late, but maybe 15 minutes max. And as the day goes on, those 15 minutes turn into half an hour, then an hour, and finally she’s on the phone asking what time we close.

But there is a drawback to being first. Mainly that my rep will have more appointments after mine. And she’ll have to take the bottles with her. But if I’m last, there’s a very good chance she’ll be sick of dragging around a bunch of bottles. And I’ll get to keep some of them. Or in some cases, like tonight, I get to keep them all.

A very good night to be last.

Strange Days Indeed Part 2: New Zealand S….yrah??

One of yesterday’s top selling wines was from New Zealand. Of all things, a New Zealand Syrah. This is strange because New Zealand Syrah is one of those wines that’s way off the grid. Regular people do not associate New Zealand with Syrah. Most wine geeks don’t even make this association. Sauvignon Blanc….of course. Pinot Noir…increasingly so. Maybe Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, or Riesling for the really hard core. But Syrah? Not so much.

Except for yesterday. For no apparent reason, customers just kept picking up the Otto’s Constant Dream Syrah (affectionately referred to in-shop as Otto’s Shrunken Head, also for no apparent reason. Alright, may the head on the label has something to do with the nickname.)

It’s a great wine. A very vibrant, fresh style of Syrah. Most of the best New Zealand wines have really racy acidity, and a bright, pure, freshness of fruit. In this particular Syrah, that raciness pairs nicely with bright red fruits and a kick of fresh black pepper. Delicious really. But it’s not like people come in asking for it by grape/region. Not like they do New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Or California Chardonnay. Or Argentine Malbec.

I guess they just liked the label on the bottle. Luckily, it’s filled with tasty wine.

Jura Maybe Not So Obscura Anymore – Hello New York Times!

Originally published on September 22, 2009.

Just 3 weeks ago, I was waxing on about the fabulous wines of the Jura and a 2-Pack I had put together featuring two of them. And what’s due to appear tomorrow in Eric Asimov’s New York Times wine column, “The Pour“? Why, yes! Wines of the Jura!

Ok, obviously Mr. Asimov is not copying my blog. Certain wine regions and grapes have a way of floating around in the rarefied wine-world ether until wine writers, retailers, and sommeliers of a certain bent all seem to pick up on them at the same time. A similar thing happens in the fashion world: somehow, for some odd reason, all the designers wind up showing tiger prints, or tent-like silhouettes, or lines inspired by fairy-tale tapestries.

But it is nice to be first…to feature these wines in-store before they hit the paper. And if my personal obsessions are good indicators of what you’ll see in future New York Times articles, then stay tuned for features on dry muscats, Gemischter Satz wines, very old Chianti and anything alpine. And Chateau Musar…always Chateau Musar!

Consider yourself warned. And remember….you heard it here first.

Lopez de Heredia Rosado….Again?

A NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: 6 cases!!! 6 cases!!! These days, ten years later, we get 6 bottles. And that’s only because I whine and cry and tell sad stories about the days when I used to be able to buy 6 cases at a time. 6 CASES!!!

Originally published on September 12, 2009.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ve written about Lopez de Heredia before. Their whites, their reds, their aged wines, their younger wines, their roses. In terms of wines and wineries most mentioned on my site, it’s probably a toss up between Lopez and Chateau Musar. If I could stock the store solely with these wines…and make any sort of a profit….I would do it. If anyone has any thoughts as to how this might be possible, please do let me know.

Anyhow…back to my broken record Lopez tendencies. Today, I’m revisiting the Lopez de Heredia Tondonia Rosado…for the 3rd time on the Frankly My Dear blog. I’m excited about this wine (again) because we just brought in 6 cases of the 1998, which is the newest vintages. It’s a little bit more fruit forward than the 1997. But this doesn’t mean it’s fruity. It’s definitely not fruity – and still requires a warning label because of its distinct non-fruitiness. But compared to last year’s version, it’s a bit more tropical. It’s still a holy trinity of funkiness: Fino Sherry tang, exotic spices, and those subtle, almost ghost-like tropical fruits.

Now 6 cases may seem like a lot for a $25 bottle of non-fruity rose. But the most recent shipment from Spain was only 50 cases. Which isn’t a lot. If 20 accounts take 2 cases each (because there’s a 2 case purchases deal, which most stores will by on) than that only leaves 10 remaining cases for a second round of purchases. And without a good sense of when the next shipment will be arriving (October? November) if I took just 2 little cases, there would be a good chance I would be out of stock And this is one of those wines I HATE being out of stock on.

So I sucked up 6 cases. This decision was based on neither cash flow nor margin considerations (the two main factors driving most of my size-of-buy decisions.) It was simply based on wanting to keep this wine in stock. It’s a decision even my accountant would understand.

I Love a Good Fiscal Year End

Originally published on September 5,2009.

There’s a video making the rounds among wine folk on Facebook called Wine Sales 101. It features little animated wine salespeople talking in freaky robotic voices about shoving overpriced, not-so-fabulous wines into the retail accounts on which they call. Sadly, it’s not a work of fiction. This conversation takes place frequently among real life salespeople in real life voices….generally at the end of every month. And certainly at their suppliers’ fiscal year ends.

As a tiny store, I don’t get a lot of these requests to bring in crap wine at inflated prices. I’d like to think it’s because my suppliers know I won’t do it, so they don’t even ask. But the real reason is I’m just not big enough to move the needle on their year end numbers.

So rather then dread the requests to “stock this schlock” that the big retailers get to contend with, I can look forward to the good things that come with fiscal year ends….like the urge to do a little spring cleaning (or winter, summer, or fall cleaning, depending on when the accounting year ends.)

This is when many importers and distributors take the opportunity to get rid of their bin ends – the random 2 cases of this, 5 cases of that taking up space in their warehouses. Sure, many of these random cases may be over-aged whites that should just be sold as fancy vinegar. But just as often, they could be very good wines in such small quantities that they fly under everyone’s radar. At least until the end of the fiscal year when most operations managers just want them to go away. Close out lists appear and eagle-eyed store owners (I prefer “eagle-eyed” to “cheap”) can pour over them, pick out the goodies, and offer the gems to their customers at great prices for as long as they last.

This is where the ever repeated adage to find a retailer you trust comes in.

Because sometimes these “get them while they last” deals are truly great deals (toot-my-own-horn-alert) – such as at Frankly Wines.

And sometimes they’re the sort of deals you can only get from freaky robotic-voiced sales people practicing Wine Sales 101. And while they may be funny to watch, you really don’t want to be drinking their wine!

Another 3-Pack: Jura Obscura

A NOTE FROM TEH FUTURE: Ok, ok, ok. The Jura isn’t actually an Alpine region. It’s pre-Alpine. Back in the day I was a little over-eager with my yodel references. The dear and brilliant Wink Lorch set me straight!

Originally published on September 1, 2009.

OK, full disclosure…this 3-Pack is really a 2-Pack. But we like consistency in titles, so live with it.

Onto the wine…continuing with the theme of Weird but Good, we’re heading to a obscure region where obscure grapes are used to make wines in obscure styles.

The Jura is a region in the far east of France – so far east that it’s practically Switzerland. We’re heading into Alpine territory here, and these are wines that make us want to yodel!

You’ve probably never heard of the Jura’s most famous wine, vin jaune, which lasts forever and has some of the same funky, tangy nutty notes as a good sherry. You’ve probably never heard of some of its most important grapes (Savagnin, Poulsard, Trousseau.) And you’ve probably never had wines that taste quite like the wines in this 2-Pack. But there’s a good chance you’ll like them.

We’re featuring a red and a white from Domaine Andre et Mireille Tissot, both made from grapes grown in the Arbois region of the Jura. Many producers in this region farm biodynamically and produce wines as naturally as possible, adding nothing except possibly a very small amount of sulfur. The Tissot husband and wife team is no exception. If you’re curious about natural wines this is a great region – and producer – to check out.

Tissot Arbois Selection 2004 (Chardonnay/Savagnin): Yes, that’s Savagnin, not Sauvignon. And you may think you know Chardonnay, but we can practically guarantee you don’t know this Chardonnay. Made in the traditional Jura style, the wine is slightly oxidized, but in a good way. You’ll get bruised apples, nutty notes, a slight sherry tang and a spine of racy acidity that keeps the wine going for days. It actually improves if you leave it open for a couple days. Yes, days. It’s a great match with stinky cheeses, chicken dishes, and pork chops.

Tissot Arbois Vielles Vignes 2006 (Poulsard): There’s some Pinot Noir grown in the Jura, but the wine geek favorite would be the rarely-seen-elsewhere Poulsard. This grape makes for a wine that’s light in color, medium in body, but big in flavor: bright, fresh, slightly tart cherries, exotic spice, a hint of autumn underbrush, and a fresh minerality, like fresh chalky soil. Bright acidity and surprisingly sneaky tannins give the wine some structure. Best with a very slight chill, it’s a wine that can pair with a surprising variety of foods, but duck with cherry glaze or lamb rubbed in fresh herbs might be just about perfect.

PRICING: $35.99 (regular price $39.98). Click to buy your little piece of obscurity.