one glass at time
4:45 pm in Upper East Side Wine Shops by KT Goldthorpe
Upper East Side Wine Shops
306 East 86th St., 10028
Cross Streets: 2nd & 1st Ave.
212-396-3535
Hours: Mon-Thu 11am-10pm, Fri/Sat 11am-11pm, Sun 1pm-11pm
OK selection at this basic wine and liquor shop. The English Bulldog adds a touch of charm. Stop by on Saturday afternoons for a free tasting (5-8pm).
4:25 pm in Upper East Side Wine Shops by KT Goldthorpe
Upper East Side Wine Shops
1375 First Ave., 10021
Cross Streets: 73rd & 74th St.
212-288-0100
Hours: Mon-Wed 11am-9pm, Thu-Sat 11am-9:30pm, Sun Noon-8pm
Small, under the radar, wine shop serving vino to the neighborhood with brotherly love (the owners are brothers). It’s a local shop for locals: with a large selection of wines and liquors. The brothers know wine, know their business, are genuinely nice and helpful – and enjoy suggesting wines you might not have wouldn’t otherwise found.
There’s also a decent selection for under $20 and it’s easy to find a great bottle for $10 or so if you’re on a budget. Wine tasting on Thursdays.
6:26 pm in Upper East Side Wine Shops by KT Goldthorpe
Upper East Side Wine Shops
Bordeaux
1355 2nd Ave. 10021
Cross Streets: 71st & 72nd
212-639-9463
Hours: Mon-Thu 10am-9pm, Fri/Sat 10am-10pm, Sun Noon-8pm
With an “extensive collection of 2009 Bordeaux Futures sourced directly from the Chateaux,” this boutique specialist intends to provide consumers with expertly selected fine wines, authoritative content, and a seamless shopping experience by bringing some of the world’s greatest wines to wine lovers. Their USA store portfolio was designed to match the tastes of American wine drinkers.
They have regular, quality, in-store tastings on Saturdays, 1 to 4 pm. Past themes include 2000 Bordeaux, 2001 Italian Reds, Spanish Reds from Leading Estates, Pinot Noir from Burgundy, California and Oregon, and many others. Call ahead for the schedule.
5:10 pm in Upper East Side Wine Shops by KT Goldthorpe
Upper East Side Wine Shops
1334 York Avenue. 10021
Cross Streets: 72nd St.
212-894-1990
Hours: Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 10am – 6pm
After selling wine at auction for many years Southeby’s is now sharing it’s auction block with a NYC block – recently opening a retail store in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, on the ground floor of its famous auction house, actually.
Until recently, due to legal restraints, auction houses, like Southeby’s, had to partner with other retailers (licensees) for retail sales. Luckily for many, Sotheby’s has become its own retail entity after buying out their partner, Aulden Cellars; and will start selling (online and in-store) many of its keen wine finds around the world. Accessibility is a keyword here as they will offers a wide range of wine to all budgets and all palates; selling from $13.95 to $40,000 per bottle.
While Sotheby’s is known for the high-end prizes, there are a good number of everyday wines in the $20 range. However, the bonus to shop here is that not many wine stores have mature vintages of Domaine Romanée-Conti, Coche-Dury, Lafon, Haut-Brion and Araujo sitting on the shelves. And for that matter, not many have multiple vintages of Williams Selyem and Rochioli, the wait-listed Russian River Pinots…..
Go, if just to read the labels and talk to the wildly knowledgeable staff. (As of Fall 2010 www.wine-searcher.com lists them as having “1185 listings now showing for this retailer.”) Or take home a $23 Burgundy to have for dinner tonight!
8:52 am in Upper East Side Wine Shops by kt
Upper East Side Wine Shops
1555 Lexington Ave. 10029
Cross Streets: 99th & 100th St.
646-370-4100
Hours: Mon-Thu 1pm-9pm, Fri-Sat 1pm-10pm, Sun Noon-8pm
New wine shop: an eclectic space that feels like a record store of days gone by, run by two guys who have a shared enthusiasm for blending wine and music.
This upper Upper East Side stretch of land has limited options for sourcing out a quality wine selection from a knowledgeable staff → so enters Vinyl Wine: helping to fill the void. They are heavy on the design aesthetic (check out the speaker lined cash register and wooden bins and plastic crates that line the walls of this narrow store) but it’s not filled not with records, yet with organic and natural wines made by small, relatively unknown producers. The varied selection showcases over 100 hand-picked value, “rocking,” artisanal wines.
Prices are affordable, most bottles are between $10-$20. Wines are labeled with humorous tasting notes and tips, like Good, but inexpensive pinot noir is harder to come by than a decent song from Nickleback.
You’ll be greeted with a friendly smile, great price points and a sizeable selection. A fun place to go that may open your eyes to new wine discoveries – while going easy on your wallet. Also worth the mention is a point-reward system for frequent shoppers and a 5% discount on 6 bottles and 15% on cases.
6:43 pm in Upper East Side Wine Shops by kt
Upper East Side Wine Shops
1650 3rd Ave.. 10128
Cross Streets: 92nd & 93rd St.
212-828-9300
Hours: Open until Midnight
New wine shop with a small space. Tough to follow their organization, but once you get your bearings, the wines range from the classic to the esoteric, high-end to affordable all a nice value.
If they have a tasting, as they do from time to time, check them out and you may discover something new you like.
9:20 am in Upper East Side Wine Shops by kt
Upper East Side Wine Shops
1079 3rd Avenue. 10065
Cross Streets: 63rd & 64th St.
212-832-1144
Hours: Mon-Sat 10am-9pm, Sun Noon-7pm
A wine boutique that aims to specialize in artisanal producers, grower Champagnes, exceptional Burgundies and food & wine parings yet still excel in customer service.
Their first goal is to focus on finding exceptional, new wines: they claim to taste over 100 wines a week. This helps them provide the most up to date options available in the marketplace. Because prices change constantly and new wines enter the market every month, their selection is rotated often enough to reflect a “snapshot” of the best wine values at any given time.
Their second goal is to provide high-value individual customer service to the adventurous yet discriminating consumer. To meet those requests for something “different and delicous” is a challenge they are willing to accept.
In fact, they say their customer feedback is invaluable to their success. They encourage dialogue with each customer – in order to refine and improve their recommendations and pay attention to which wines “work.” (Supposedly, their local patrons actively give back: sharing how the wines they bought there have evolved, what some of their favorite food-wine pairings are, and even their fave BYOB discoveries.)
This relationship has become their inherent “exchange” in the “Manhattan Wine Xchange”.
12:00 am in Upper East Side Wine Shops by kt
Upper East Side Wine Shops
1103 1st Ave. 10021
Cross Streets: 60th & 61st St.
212-308-1650
Hours: Mon-Sat 0am-11pm Sun Noon-9pm
“Broad” is a fair way to describe the selection at this Queensboro Bridge-area wine and liquor store… which favors large producers and stocks a large variety of California, French, Italian and Kosher wines. Not only are there competitive prices – but the personable staff even accepts competitors’ coupons. Diverse selections from small producers.
12:00 am in Upper East Side Wine Shops by kt
12:00 am in Upper East Side Wine Shops by kt
