June 30, 2009

98 Chateauneuf Under $38: Sabon Reservee

This offer is going to be like an arrow – straight and very fast.

No doubt you have a lot to do this week with the holiday weekend coming up and when you’re offering a great 11-year-old Chateauneuf-du-Pape from the glorious and rugged 1998 vintage at only $37.24, well...why belabor the point?

The 1998 Sabon Chateauneuf-du-Pape Reservée is just now coming into prime drinking form, with rich, deep and seductive dark fruit, herbs and smoky notes. It’d be flattering to think that we found this parcel and secured it just in time for the holiday weekend (is there anything better than grilling with Chateauneuf? The smokiness in the wine and food graciously complementing each other?), but the truth is this wine’s arrival late last week was totally happenstance.

Posted by Ian McFadden at 12:36 PM | TrackBack

2008 Germany: Donnhoff - Willi Schaefer - A.J. Adam

To see the 2008 Germany Vintage Report in its entirety, click here.

Click here to read about A. J. Adam
Click here to read about Donnhoff.

Posted by Stephen Bitterolf at 7:46 AM | TrackBack
Related to this Article: 2008 , adam , donnhoff , germany , schaefer

June 29, 2009

Four for the Fourth!

Celebrate with Savings
20% Off!

July 4th holds a special place in our hearts. C’mon...here we have a holiday based on sunshine, grills, fireworks and of course relaxing with a drink in hand!

While we’ve been tempted for the last few years to do a Madeira offering (this was, after all, what our founding fathers cracked open to toast the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a symbolic gesture as Madeira was not taxed by the British empire) – but still, Madeira in the humid heat of July doesn’t make that much sense.

Instead, we’ll veer away from historical references and more toward satisfying your holiday weekend needs. Today’s “Four for the Fourth” attempts to supply you with a range of bottles that covers everything – a sparkling wine, a rosé, a crisp Sancerre and a grill-friendly Pinot Noir.

And the price is something to celebrate itself – these wines have been discounted 20%! Today we can go as low as $86.63 on the four-pack and $173.26 for the 8-pack which also comes with free delivery in Manhattan.

Today’s “Four for the Fourth” is our attempt to rival, in a vinous manner of course, any fireworks display that the Grucci family might be planning for the Fourth. To begin with the sparkler, Roederer’s Anderson Valley is American bubbly that offers up crisp citrus notes and is stylish enough to trick you into thinking that you’re drinking Champagne. Crochet’s Sancerre displays enough sophistication and complexity to remind you why he’s one of the region’s benchmarks and also is so refreshing that it will slap a smile on your face. Edmunds St. Johns Bone-Jolly Rosé is made from a rare sighting of Beaujolais’ Gamay grape on American soils and offers up juicy cherry fruit and spice. Finally, St. Innocent’s Pinot Noir is Oregon by way of Volnay with it elegant velvety texture. This is gonna pair well with just about anything the creative grill could conceive of. See further descriptions below.

While this 4-pack is intended to accommodate all your holiday weekend needs, we’ve reduced the pricing so much that we’d encourage *everyone* to try a 4-pack regardless of whether it will be consumed on the 4th or not. The wines are just that good and the price that compelling.

To order, call the store at (212) 980-9463. We can guarantee all Manhattan deliveries by end of day Thursday, July 2nd only when your orders are placed by 5pm Wednesday, July 1st. If you have special delivery needs, please call us at the store and we’ll do our best to accommodate.

Happy Fourth!

Posted by Joe Salamone at 11:25 AM | TrackBack

June 25, 2009

2008 Germany - A Very "Important" Vintage

Do you just want to read about the individual growers and their wines? Scroll down...

It's a ludicrous title for a vintage report, I know.

Still, I'm sticking with this title because it's stuck with me, ever since I shook Oliver Haag's hand goodbye and left my first tasting appointment of the 2008 vintage in Germany. (That was, by the way, April 18th, 2009, just to give you some context).

Let me try and explain what I mean by the word "important." The 2008 vintage presents, for the first time in some years, an authentic snapshot of what we used to mean by the words "Kabinett" and "Spatlese." If the last few years have turned the stage over to the Baroque masterpieces, the epics with layer after dripping layer, in 2008 we find something more intimate, smaller...2008 is less Wagnerian Opera and more Chamber music. Less the expansiveness of Jackson Pollock and more the detailed, tight, etched spaces of Albrecht Durer. For those of you who know sports, enter some sports analogy here. 2008 is concise and sharp.

Posted by Stephen Bitterolf at 2:38 PM | TrackBack

Hanno Zilliken's (Auction) Cellar Treasures:

1993 & 1994 Saarburger Rausch Spatlese Auction
Riesling STEAL from the Master of the Saar

We were wondering if we should apologize for the rapid pace of this week's offers - but then we took another look at the quality of the juice and realized that no, this offer couldn't wait for next week, or even for tomorrow's Friday Steal. The rarity / value quotient is just too serious and we didn't want to wait a day and miss out.

Posted by Stephen Bitterolf at 10:25 AM | TrackBack

June 24, 2009

Summer Fine & Rare Drinking

From The Cellar of a 'Distinguished Gentleman'
Pichon, Grand Puy Lacoste, Caymus, Dunn, Heitz, Joseph Swan, Stag's Leap, Quilceda Creek and more...

All Mixed Cases 10% off!!!

Today we are thrilled to offer a very cool cellar from a friend of the store; let's call this the cellar of a "Distinguished Gentleman!" His cellar is deep and cold and all of the wines have just arrived in the store in impeccable condition.

There are some very cool and hard-to-come-by bottlings here - wines that are in prime-time drinking form and *not* priced in the stratosphere. Just a few examples...

1982 Chateau du Tertre @ $75.00
1995 Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste @ $113.95
1985 Beaulieu Vineyard George de Latour @ $66.95
1988 Caymus Cabernet @ $51.95
1990 Dunn Howell Mountain @ $113.95
1985 Heitz Martha's VIneyard @ $241.95

All of the wines were purchased on release and have been perfectly stored. Spinning capsules, excellent fills and perfect labels are the norm, not the exception. We should also point out that the sellar was motivated. As you'll see, we are able to offer each wine around the lowest price in the nation. If you need any extra motivation, we will discount any mixed case from this offer by 10%!

We'll keep our prose short today, because the wines (and prices) speak for themselves. 

We anticipate that many of the wines will sell out quickly so you should call the store, reply to this email or click here to see the complete list on our website and place an order online to secure your wines ASAP.

Happy Hunting!

Tom Stephenson
General Manager
Crush Wine & Spirits

Posted by Tom Stephenson at 1:20 PM | TrackBack

June 22, 2009

2007 Caloz Heida-Paien "Les Bernunes"

Mineral Purity of Chablis - Honeyed Fruit of Rhone
The Extreme Contradictions of Terroir in One Bottle

"Flowers and fireworks."

That's what I blurted out, awkwardly, at a small, late night staff tasting last Wednesday, after having Caloz's 2007 Heida-Paien "Les Bernunes" for the first time. Joe was showing some of his new finds/obsessions to the staff and this one struck me, immediately, as one of the more unique white wines I've had in a long, long time. This is so good, and our price so compelling, that if quantities allowed this would have been a sure contender for a "Friday Steal."

Posted by Stephen Bitterolf at 1:08 PM | TrackBack

June 17, 2009

California's Santa Lucia Highlands

The Santa Lucia Highlands has emerged as one of the star's of California's northern central coast. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are the key grapes that have excelled here and California Pinot Noir aficionados will no doubt know the Pisoni and Sleepy Hollow Vineyards of the Santa Lucia Highlands. These vineyards produce some of the most coveted (and most expensive) Pinot Noir and Chardonnay fruit in California.

The fruit grown here is like no other. Combining the intense, sun-soaked days with foggy afternoons and evenings, the region has an extremely long growing season - this is key - so harvest can occur as late as November. The resulting wines are intense and show a luscious fruit with dazzling freshness and firm spines of acidity.

One of the factors that allows the Santa Lucia Highlands to achieve such a combination of ripeness and poise is that the mountain ranges run east to west, which allows cool afternoon fogs to come in from the ocean unobstructed and to settle in the vineyards until the next morning sun burns them off.

Another factor delaying ripening and building balance are the infamous "howler" winds that start in the afternoon. The winds are so intense that they can cause the vines to shut down and stop focusing on ripening through a complex moisture-conservation process. Combine these factors with beautiful terraced vineyards that face southeast allowing for maximum sunlight and you can begin to get a sense of what the best of Santa Lucia has to offer.

Posted by Joe Salamone at 1:04 PM | TrackBack

2006 Monterey Vineyard Pinot Noir

Can one size fit all? With today's offer, the answer might just be YES!

Today's wine is a hard-won triumph. We'll admit to being particularly proud of this offer as we've been searching for a good California Pinot Noir for well over six months, to no avail. Even though we've had requests for a follow-up to the Baileyana just about weekly, we've remained silent. (Our last New World Pinot offer was in December of last year!)

Posted by Stephen Bitterolf at 12:58 PM | TrackBack

June 9, 2009

Early Summer Mixed Case

The Perfect Collection to Start Your Summer
Every Bottle Discounted 20%!

It's a glorious time to be living in NYC. Despite today's torrential downpours, the temperatures are continuing to climb and weekends like this last one seem to reaffirm life's glory.

While greenmarkets are still oriented towards spring vegetables, they are available in such abundance that you know that summer is just around the corner. As the thermometer and your wardrobe transition from spring to summer, we offer up a mixed case that has you totally covered and we've discounted every bottle 20%, bringing the the case under under $190!

Posted by Joe Salamone at 10:26 AM | TrackBack

June 4, 2009

Basilicata: Bandits, Exiles, Exodus (and Grapes, too)

Basilicata is located between the toe (Calabria) and the heel (Puglia) of Italy's boot. This region has long suffered due to its remote and mountainous local. Living here has never been easy and between 1945 and 1955, 600,000 people left the region in pursuit of a better life in Italy's wealthier north and elsewhere.

Posted by Joe Salamone at 12:56 PM | TrackBack

2005 Macarico Aglianico del Vulture

The (Extreme) Barolo of the South
Twice the Wine at Half the Price?

If the wines of southern Italy have never quite enjoyed the so-called "polish" or "sophistication" of the north, when the force of these muscular wines is tamed, they are show stoppers - riveting bottles that flash powerful ripe fruit on tensile, sinewy frames.

It should also be said that the best wines of the south happen to be ridiculous values. since the producers don't have the aristocratic legacy that many of northerners benefit from. (and dare we save even sometimes use as a crutch)

Posted by Joe Salamone at 11:27 AM | TrackBack