Dear Reader,
It's Friday again and you know what that means. It's time for the question of the week.
So far, I asked you what restaurant you would miss most if you ever had to move away from Carroll Gardens. Then, I inquired about your favorite neighborhood bakery, the best mozzarella , the ultimate cookie and last week, I asked you about your favorite slice of pizza in Carroll Gardens.
This week, lets move away from food and start talking wine:
So won't you please, please, please answer this question?
Ready?
Here it is:
Which Is Your Favorite Wine Store In The Neighborhood?
And Do You Have Any Wine Recommendations?
Ready?
Here it is:
Which Is Your Favorite Wine Store In The Neighborhood?
And Do You Have Any Wine Recommendations?
So lets hear it!
For Home Page, click Pardon Me For Asking
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12 comments:
I love Scotto's. Nicest people, and I've always gotten great advice when I asked for it. All price ranges, too.
When I am too lazy to go to Dumbo's Blanc & Rouge which is the best quality / price ratio, I go to Scotto and focus on scpecific wines. As said by Margaret, they are nice people.
Yes same view, Scotto is OK.
Chateau Heights on Atlantic is somewhat OK too.
Smith and vine is great. The guy on Henry next to met foods is good also but only takes cash which is a hassle.
Smith & Vine get my vote
Elizabeth
I like Scotto's AND Smith & Vine. Scotto's is great people and Smith & Vine has an excellent 10 dollar and under table and 10 percent discounts on Tuesdays (I think!)
Is there any other place than Scotto's? Not in my mind. Helpful, always friendly, better prices than Smith and Vine. No question for me.
I really love Heights Chateau. Scotto's is great too, but the selection is a bit broader at Heights Chateau. Service is great at both stores.
Chateau has VERY knowledgeable staff. Scottos is just a really great neighborhood wine/liquor store. Clearly multiple generations, no "tude" and an easygoing experience. Smith & Vine - yes the $10 table is great but if you go to $20-$25 they have a nice small edited list - extra points for having their wines listed on their website so you can do a bit of research before you walk in. Nice, Fancy, Extra Fancy, depends on what kind of experience you want. I usually go for "nice."
Fat Cat Wines on Court and 9th gets my vote. I love their little signs that tell me what pairs well with each wine (a little drawing of a pig, cow, chicken, cheese, etc.). The owners have been very helpful when I need a wine for under $15.
Katia, wanted to post this last week, got too wrap up in stuff, realized today I kept a little draft so here it is.
Well now wine, a subject I can get light hearted about contrary to all the heavy stuff with the canal that seemed to paralyze me to the point I could not make a coherent comment.
I like wine and wine stores and spend a fair amount of time browsing in them as opposed to the maddening experience in most other retail stores. When I first came to the neighborhood I bought a lot of wine from the store across the street from Sam’s Restaurant. I lived across the street from there. Have you been in the store? Coming from upstate farm country it was a very different experience. The customers came in the door and into a small chamber surrounded by very thick plexi glass. It was a security device, it limited your movements, a kind of cage keeping the public out and therefore the clerk safe on the other side. It was run by a family all very friendly as long as you stayed on your side of the barrier. It struck me as having a bit of the aquarium or peep show about it. Money passed through a series of sliding doors into a tin pan with a bigger but discreet opening for the bottles. I actually got comfortable with it and would scream out to the clerk needing vintage information and tasting notes. It was big help though to know exactly what you wanted, to get in and get out as being in that space with some of the other local clientele back then was not cool. When it was time to splurge I would make a trip up to the north heights to Marcolini Wines a wonderful store. That store front is now a restaurant and the son of the owner merged the business with the shop at the St George hotel. The father and original owner bought into a vineyard in Virginia and retired. He was a Greek man whose name was Armand He was a true connoisseur, new his burgundy’s and Barolo’s and was extremely welcoming and ready to let you taste many expensive wines that he often had open. They also had a regular Monday night unadvertised tasting in a back storage room. People actually brought wines into the store to share with him and others. It was not just about making a sale. This was in the late 70’s early 80’s and great wines although expensive, because the dollar was strong was nothing like now. However, I have found another good place to browse wines is in peoples garbage bins on recycling day. I love looking through garbage anyway and this way I can to see what’s hot and what’s not. To my surprise down on Union St below Columbia an apartment, above what looks like an abandoned garage put its bottles out on Saturdays and wow do those guys live high. I’m always shocked to see their empties, Vosne Romanee, Mongeard-Mungneret Beaune , Chateau Margaux as all these go for near $100 a bottle easy . I really want to get invited to one of their parties and find out what they do for a living. The recycling bin is not at all a bad idea for wine recommendations, you can take my word for that. One place I would caution you about the wine tasting notes though is Smith and Vine. You know the kind of notes I mean, the bunk generated by the store or critics that talk of apples, lavender and chocolate and crispness and honey on the tongue. Yes, these are generally total bunk but using some counter intuition I find they can tell me a lot. Wine style has gotten to be a bit too fruity for me, no structure and way to high in alcohol, just plain fat and frumpy, no real style. So it’s easy if the notes are too florid and sound more like a McDonalds happy meal I know to stay away from that one. I’ve learned that what sounds good does not always taste good. Smith and Vine, in their cool, hip irony though have really stray off the path to a place where I do not think we need to go. I swear the last time I was there they had tasting notes that used analogies about dog shit. Or maybe it was “shit eatin” and wet dogs, regardless I do not think this is the right train of thought for encouraging wine consumption. I know… irony, I understand but?? I guarantee you take a trip over there start reading their notes you will find references to all types of things you really do not need to know about before you uncork the bottle. Basically I shop all the stores think the whole culture of wine is fun or fun to make fun of depending on how I’m feeling and regardless of how I feel I love to drink it.
Vince
To Vince - Now THAT's a new way to get wine recommendations that would never have occurred to me -looking through people's recycling bags! I hear you about the "honey, smooth, fruity, tart, smokey, silky, smooth, vanilla, chocolate, hint of.., etc.." bunk wine descriptions. I LOVE yummy wine, but one of my main criterions is, will I get a headache in the morning?!? Let's cut to the chase!
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