Wow! Everything is crazy right now. I have slipped into a world that was probably inevitable anyway. I have been serious into wine for over four years now going from heavy interest to true enthusiast to obsessive passionate into pure geekiness. I love wine and have decided to explore it in all aspects. I love the history of it. I love the mystery of it. I love the community that involves wine and I love sharing wine with good company. I figure the next step would be to take my mission and message about wine to the masses not only on the Internet but also on the street. Myself and two other geeks that have found themselves frequently mentioned in the ramblings of this crazy blog have decided to open a wine shop in Manhattan. An opportunity came our way and we decided to jump on it. Everything I have talked about in these posts about how wine can be good and affordable at the same time and how the service in wine shops can improve tremendously as well as the atmosphere and how wine should be fun and approachable and not pretentious and esoteric I would like to bring to life and fix them solid in reality.
We are, of course going to set up shop in The East Village and the name of the place will be Alphabet City Wine Co. keeping true to this area of New York’s past and giving respect to the people who have lived here and endured the city’s changes as it went from being called The Lower East Side to Alphabet City to the current East Village. I have really always been the East Village it’s just had different names from decade to decade. This is all depends on us acquiring an “on-premises beer and wine license.” These are not very easy to come by and take a long time to be issued. It will take us a good six months before we can actually sell wine in our shop so we are in deep demographic research mode to prove to the State Liquor Authority that this neighborhood is on the up and up. I won’t bore you with all the details but if it all works out we will be selling wine by Thanksgiving helping people find good, quality, valued wine for all those New York Thanksgiving get-togethers.
Speaking of good wine under twenty bucks. I have some great ones to talk about. In my next post I want to tell all of you about a great day in the park with good friends and an awesome trip to the near by wine shop for some spontaneous wine buying. Man that was fun. Talk to you guys soon. Cheers!

I would like to take a break for a moment from the Cali wines and talk about a bottle that was given to me recently as a gift. I will say up front that this wine is over twenty bucks. But I just have to talk about it. And it is worth every penny. This wine is from an area of the world I have never tried so it was pretty exciting for me. The area of the world I am speaking of is Uruguay. Everyone these days knows about Argentina’s malbec, which actually came from the Cahors region of France where it is known as auxerrois as well as the Loire Valley where it is known as cot. And we are becoming very well acquainted with Chile’s carmenere grape which also from France (from the Bordeaux region) as well as their cabernet sauvignon (interestingly enough, carmenere is related to cabernet sauvignon so it kind of makes sense why they both are doing so well there). But there is another grape from France doing very well in Uruguay, tannat. Tannat comes from the Madiran region in southwest France. It made its way to Uruguay in the 1800’s and has been the wine that the Gaucho (cowboys) drink with their steaks for decades. I am still researching the history of Uruguay’s viticulture practices and will be trying more very soon but for now, let me get to talkin’ about this here vino.
The wine is a 2002, unfiltered one hundred percent tannat made from sixty, eighty and one hundred year old vines. It is a “gold reserve” and the producers name; I believe is Los Cerros De San Juan. The name of the wine is “Torrens” and my friend picked it up at Astor Wine for thirty bucks. Not too bad. That’s only ten extra bones. This is one of those wines that, as a wine geek, you just can’t wait to open. It’s like walking home with your new iPod or computer, rushing to charge it up and start playing. I was at work setting up the restaurant when Esteban dropped by with the bottle. When I found out where it was from and that it was tannat I was ready to open my resources and get online and do some intense research then pop the bottle with friends, take out my note pad and have at it. Alas, It was at the beginning of my shift and there was no time to even consider opening the wine and thinking about it. So I put it on the shelf and there it sat all night just staring at me waiting patiently to be approached. Hell, it had been in the bottle since 2002 what was another couple of hours.
Finally it was time. The night came to a close and we were doing the numbers. This is the time of night when we usually taste the wines that are talked about in this blog. We popped the bottle and saw that the cork was ink-stained black. Good sign. This was going to be a deep one. The initial taste was poured and I watched as everyone marveled over the way the wine coated the glass. It was like a dark, transparent film that slid slowly down the walls. In other words this tannat had great color. We swirled and let the air do its thing getting ready for the first taste. The nose came at me strong with a distinct barnyard aroma that was pleasant and not sulfuric. I could tell there was some nice dark fruit in there somewhere but it was still a bit sleepy giving the stage to this wonderful briny, ocean spray aroma. There was a green-ness to it on the nose and I wonder if this coupled with the ocean spray is an indication of high acidity. I will have to consult Dr. Vino on that one.
The initial palate of this wine was quite impressive. It is a big wine with a hefty tannin structure yet keeping in mind that it is unfiltered, this wine achieve a really nice balance. You can tell it is rustic right away with the tannins hitting you first but then after that they blend into the rest of the wine. There was a lot going on in the glass so I decided to throw the rest into a decanter to watch it evolve as we sipped away. The decanter allowed the tannins to soften a bit and give way to the acidity. I think that is what it was: the acidity. I feel like I am rambling here so let me get to the point. I loved this wine. It has muscle and depth and concentration. It is rustic without being overwhelmingly so. It has an acidity to it that cuts through all aforementioned characteristics that provides the backbone and keeps everything in check. And for an unfiltered wine to have that balance is very refreshing. Also, the age of the vines used shone through in the fruit concentration. I read that Uruguay has a nice soil complex of clay and sand. I am no expert but what that tells my weak scientific mind is that the clay allows for natural drainage while the sand holds the soils nutrients allowing better control in the plants food distribution. And even though it is a moist, subtropical climate coastal breezes promote nice ventilation further controlling the ripening. And after forty or so years a vine begins to produce less fruit which means more concentration of flavor. I will have to talk to Dr. Vino about that as well.
I ordered a skirt steak from the kitchen and I was in Shangri-la. I highly recommend splurging a bit on this one. It’s an age worthy wine that can hang out in your “wine cellar” for a couple more years or just have around for that special occasion when you have friends over for dinner. Definitely eat with this wine, especially steak, and if you don’t eat meat cook up some hearty vegetable dish or grill up some portabellas with a nice dollop of blue cheese on top. Thank you Esteban for the excellent wine and I look forward to trying many more of the wines from Uruguay. I will definitely be putting a couple in the shop to expose an amazing and internationally burgeoning wine region of the world. Cheers!

A very good friend of fellow wine geek and mine is also an amazing Jazz musician. His name is Patrick Wolff and, on a mean, methodic and focused sax heads the Patrick Wolff Trio, along with Chris Van Voorst on a soulful bass and Yujiro Nakamura on some slammin-ist drums. Otherwise known on The East Village Wine Geek as Mr. Wolff, he happens to have a gig this Saturday night at one of the coolest Jazz venues happening right now, Zebulon. Now this joint is not necessarily known for their wines but they do have some down right solid French and Spanish wine by the bottle and by the glass. I have seen these guys play before and I feel they are bringing something new to the stage when it comes to Jazz. Yes, they flow through some wonderful standards but what really gets the room moving is when they get into the originals. The rhythms they play with and the challenges they take with their movements is a testament to the confidence they have as musicians. They really know their craft and if any of you out there are reading this in NYC. Please give this trio a listen.
Zebulon is located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at 258 Wythe Ave. Between North 3rd and Metropolitan Avenue. If you’re In Manhattan take the L to the Bedford stop. Walk south on Bedford and take a right on North Third. Walk two blocks and take another right on Wythe Ave. and you are there. It has a nice and worn white and green looking awning and there is a kick-ass diner across the street for before or after the show. After Mr. Wolff finishes with the trio he goes on to jam out free stylee with the Afro-beat band, Asiko.
The Patrick Wolff Trio goes on at 9pm sharp and there is no cover! How cool is that. You think that’s cool…check this out. I am going to be in Boston that night so I was pretty bummed at first that I was going to miss it. But I won’t because Zebulon web casts their shows!!! I love it! So Saturday night my wife and I will be sitting our hotel room watching the show. Here is the link to watch the show. And if you like the music you can visit his myspace page here or buy his CD online here. The CD is just very well done and shows how tight these guys are. Not only that but the album cover art done by Micelle Franco is down right awesome. It is a beautiful cover. At my work we have The Patrick Wolff Trio on the iPod and people really seem to just sit back and relax when it come through the speakers. I have even paired a wine with this CD here.
Cool. So check these guys out and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Cheers!

Who…me? No, I’m not nervous. Are you nervous? No, I am not nervous. Stop it I am not nervous. You’re nervous aren’t you? I need a glass of wine. Time to ponder and relax and just let it happen man.