All posts tagged: Brooklyn wine tasting

Bouza Do Rei Albarino 2009

April 14, 2011 Events, Wine

Join us tomorrow, Friday April 15 from 6-8pm to try this week’s wine of the week Bouza do Rei Albarino 2009 ($16.50) with Capri fresh goat cheese from Westfield Farm in Connecticut. If you read the article in yesterday’s NY Times Dining Section on special wine bargains, you know why we’ve been able to offer you such great deals recently. The wine world has had an excess of good juice and rather than sit on a wine, many importers are selling at or close to cost just to convert inventory into cash. The Times thinks this trend of being able to buy great wines at a discount can’t last much longer but we’ve had great success just being an alert merchant willing to act. That’s especially true with our wine this week, Bouza Do Rei’s Albarino Rias Baixas 2009 ($16.50)

If this wine sounds familiar, it should. The 2008 vintage of this wine was on our shelves at $20.50 and was well-received and a staff favorite. So when we were presented with an opportunity to offer you an even better vintage of a wine you already loved at 20% off (30% off if bought by the case), we bought all of it. The Bouza Do Rei 2009 drinks perfectly now with classic Albarino aromas of apricot and peach and zippy acidity bringing it all in balance. This wine would be perfect in summer but the inventory we got will likely not last so we recommend buy and hold.

Bouza Do Rei grows only Albarino grapes. This single-minded focus resulted in one of their 2009 Albarinos being included as a top 100 wine of the year this past November. Nestled in the low hills of the northernwestern coastal Rias Baixas region of Spain, the grapes experience ideal growing conditions with cool breezes at night blowing off the warm summer days, allowing for maximum ripeness. This will not be the last you will hear of this estate and when you see the price of the 2010 on the shelves next year, we hope you’ll remember us fondly.

Bouzo Do Rei Albarino 2009 ($16.50 a bottle, $14.02 on 12 bottles or more). While supplies last. To order call us at (718) 797-9463.

NY Times ‘Best Value’ Lagrein Tasting

March 30, 2011 Events, Wine

Join us this Friday from 6-8pm at the wine store to sample the ‘best value’ wine from today’s NY Times tasting of Lagreins, San Pietro Alto Adige Lagrein 2008.

From the Times, the San Pietro Lagrein is a “spicy, plummy, juicy and succulent” wine that “delivers straightforward pleasure.” We also found pleasant mineral notes and a balanced acidity that makes a very food-friendly red. And at $15 a bottle ($12.75 for 12 bottles or more), it’s a pretty decent deal.

Order San Pietro Alto Adige Lagrein 2008 online

A Wine to Guard

March 24, 2011 Events, Wine

Join us tomorrow, Friday March 25 from 6-8pm at the wine store to taste Mas de Martin’s 2006 Cuvée Roi Patriote, a red from France’s Languedoc region, along with La Quercia’s Prosciutto Rosso and some olives from Provisions’s olive bar.

A Wine to Guard

Though delayed gratification brings great rewards in wine, it is often no match for the seductive power of its evil twin, instant gratification. Perhaps this is why the French refer to a wine that can benefit from substantial aging as a ‘vin de garde’ which literally translated means “wine to guard.”

Recently we took a call from an importer asking if we were interested in a ‘vin de garde’ that he had cellared since release three years ago under perfect aging conditions in a temperature- and humidity-controlled warehouse. Excited by a shot at outsourced self-restraint, we immediately made an appointment to taste the wine and loved it so much we offered to buy it all. This, in turn, made the importer so happy that he gave us an excellent price. A win:wine situation, if you will.

The current vintage for Languedoc reds is 2009 (soon to be 2010) so we’re thrilled to offer a little blast from the past, the 2006 Mas de Martin Cuvee Roi Patriote. Built to age, this powerful red combines Chateauneuf-du-Pape grapes Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre with Bordeaux varieties Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in a voluptuous wine with an aromatic nose of wild herbs and black olives and concentrated black berry fruit. A wine of this structure and quality will even improve over the next 3-5 years. That is, if you can wait that long.

At original price, this wine would go on our shelves at $25. But for the next week, we’re offering Mas de Martin’s Cuvée Roi Patriote 2006 at $19.75 a bottle ($17.78/bottle for 12 bottles or more). Limited supply, when it’s gone, it’s gone. To order, call us at (718) 797-9463.

Zahel Komposition & Christ Weissburgunder

March 4, 2011 Events, Wine

Join us tonight, Friday March 4 from 6-8pm at the wine store as we waltz through a few bargain Austrian wines and sample some country pate from Brooklyn Cured. Scott Bridi, founder of Brooklyn Cured will also be sampling his charcuterie at Provisions from 6-8pm.

When renowned wine importers Paul Darcy & Carlo Huber (who were profiled in the NY Times a year ago for their “exquisite” Viennese wines) parted ways with their NY distributor, a lot of their wines went on sale. We were able to pick up a few of these wines and are happy to offer them at a third off their original prices. We have limited amounts of these wines so first come, first served.

We’ll pour:

Weingut Christ Weissburgunder der Vollmondwein 2007 ($19)
Available elsewhere for $28, this delicious white is pure and peachy with a stony finish. Weissburgunder, which is what Pinot Blanc is called in Austria and Germany, commands a premium price and develops ideally in the relatively cooler climes of northern Europe.

Zahel Komposition 2008 ($18)
Available elsewhere for $25, this delightful red blend of Blaufrankisch, Zweigelt and St. Laurent has a slightly violet tinge, intense cherry flavors and light tannins.

Order Christ Weissburgunder 2007 & Zahel Komposition 2008 online.

Johann Donabaum Gruner Veltliner Federspiel 2007

January 13, 2011 Events, Wine

Big Red Wine Tastings This Weekend

December 17, 2010 Events, Wine

We’re pulling out the big reds from Piedmont in Italy – Barolo and Barbaresco – tonight from 6-8pm. Come bask in the glory of the nebbiolo grape as showcased in these exquisite wines. We’ll open the Ferrando Carema Etichetta Bianca 2006 ($39), the Cantina Del Pino Barbaresco Albesani 2005 ($60) & the Paolo Conterno Barolo Ginestra 2005 ($75).

Then tomorrow, Saturday, December 18 from 5-7pm, we’ll be opening some Chateauneuf du Pape, that well-known Rhone.

We’re opening some of our more expensive wines through the end of the month because these are quite often gift wines and at least this way you’ll taste what you’re giving instead of having to hand over the bottle and ask “well . . . aren’t you going to open my gift?”

Both days Lobster Claus will be out and about on Fulton street handing out copies of parts I & II of his ‘tail.’

Meet Your (Port) Maker!

November 12, 2010 Cheese, Desserts, Events, Wine

We’re thrilled to welcome Joao Roseira, winemaker and owner of Infantado Ports, to the wine store from 5-7pm tonight, Friday, November 12. Joao will be pouring his ruby, tawny and vintage 2004 ports for your tasting pleasure and Provisions will be providing blue cheese samples to pair. Ports make a great after dinner drink especially around the holidays.

Since we opened, we’ve carried Infantado ports. The first estate-bottled port producer in the Douro, Infantado has blazed a trail for independent port producers and is creating a whole new heritage and legacy. Their ruby port shows dark, rich plum-like flavors and an elegant touch of sweetness. The tawny brings nice nuttiness and flavors of chocolate and tobacco. And the delicious 2004 vintage port drinks like a fine wine with layers and depth. Don’t miss this opportunity to meet Joao and hear what goes into crafting such high quality ports.

Chateau des Hospitaliers

April 17, 2009 Events, Wine

On Sunday, April 19 from 12-7pm in both the Manhattan and Brooklyn wine stores we’ll be tasting inexpensive organic wines including Chateau des Hospitaliers Prestige Coteaux du Languedoc, a white from a producer we’ve carried since we opened that is back just in time after having run out earlier this year. Enjoy its lean peach and apple flavors with Graber olives or grilled trout stuffed with rosemary and lemon. For $14, it is hard to find something this satisfying. With summer coming, this is a ‘buy the case’ wine – our 15% case discount makes it only $11.90 a bottle.

The promotion of organic farming is all the rage in the marketing plans of wineries all over the world. They tout their organic practices in the brochures and on their labels. A noble and worthy endeavor for sure, but it sometimes comes off as just another marketing ploy. For Serge Martin-Pierrat and his wife at Chateau des Hospitaliers, farming naturally is just the way things are done. You won’t see it on their label. Or in a brochure. But for 20 years of farming apricots, peaches and grapes in the red clay of the Languedoc, the Martin-Pierrat family have not used chemicals in their vineyards. After all, their children play in the same vineyards where their grapes grow.

When Sara from the wine store visited the Martin-Pierrats years ago, they were building their winery. She remembers:

And when I say they I mean he was building it himself. It was all done with saving energy and using natural products in mind. The insulation was sheep’s wool, they used gravity to move the wine around and they took into consideration the windows and the positioning of the sun in order to maximize solar energy.

Sara, by the way, is enjoying her time on the west coast and says she frequently gets a shout out to Fort Greene when she wears her Greene Grape sweatshirt. Though no longer working in the wine business, she has continued her passion for the grape through a new website, vine-yl.com, which she describes as the love child of a wine geek and a record freak. Check it out!

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