I’ve long gotten requests for a post like this one, and I’ve finally decided to do a feature about my favorite NYC wine shops. New Yorkers are lucky to have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to wine shops, so I’ve decided to break my review of them into multiple blog posts. Today, I’m going to focus on bigger shops that aim to offer a wide cross-section of different types of wines from various regions. I’m going to save specialty shops (like ones that focus on one particular region) and smaller, neighborhoody shops for a future post. For now, here is the first AmWino list of Favorite All-Purpose Wine Shops in New York city:
Chambers Street Wines – this shop is a mecca to the serious wine geek, and for many New Yorkers, the establishment of this store was a formative event, introducing many to a world beyond California cab, Bordeaux, Champagne and Burgundy: underappreciated producers, grapes and regions and importers that have become staples of wine cognoscenti in the city. Here you will find extensive offerings from the Loire, the Jura, Germany, Austria, Piedmont, Burgundy and Beaujolais; producers ranging from Pinon, Luneau-Papin and Puffeney to Hirtzbirger, Nikolaihof and Pichler, to Giacosa and Roagna, to Tremblay, Fourrier and Dujac; importers represented include Dressner, Jenny/Francois, Savio Soares…. you get the idea. Especially of note: possibly the best collections of rare bottlings like back vintages and large-format bottles of the wines for those-in-the-know.
Union Square Wines – this store is not one of the ones that’s talked about widely on wine forums and such, but I think it’s been quietly becoming perhaps the best all-around wine shop in the city. When I first moved to New York in the ’90s, I knew this shop as one with a great location but high prices. After moving to a new larger location, this store has really hit its stride, introducing Enomatic tasting machines to allow customers to sample both low-cost and highbrow wines, and offering weekly Saturday tastings that usually include 20-30 wines, augmented by lots of special single-region or single-producer-focused tastings or book signings during the weekdays. The sum total may be the best tasting program in the city; just by regularly attending their tastings, one can gain knowledge of hundreds of wines. Regular prices are still a bit high, but their NET price sales are very competitive, as are prices for wines included in their weekly Saturday tastings. The selection here is a terrific balance of the kind of wine geeky offerings you’d find at Chambers or Crush, in-demand producers from California that are usually mailing-list only like Rivers-Marie, Anthill Farms and Bedrock, at the same time that you’ll find the more standard offerings like that bottle of Juan Gil or Rombauer chardonnay that your aunt and uncle must have every time they come over.
Sherry-Lehmann – for me, this Upper East side store feels like old New York, stemming back to the old-wood look of the former Madison Avenue location. And that’s fitting, because this is a store that oozes tradition. You won’t find that funky new blend from Radikon here, but for the classics, there’s no place I trust more for excellent provenance and storage at competitive prices. Order something that’s in stock at the store, and it will arrive in your hands still cool from its place in the storage cellar. Sherry-Lehmann has another of the city’s really strong tasting programs, with tastings that range from top-flight Bordeaux, Burgundy and Cali cab producers, to less common themes, like amarone, traditional Rioja producers or New Zealand wines; however, with the departure of former wine education director Robin Kelley O’Connor to Christie’s, it remains to be seen if the tasting program will continue to be as strong.
Crush – an oasis to Midtowners in much the same way that Chambers has been for downtowners, wine geeks will find riches here, especially if they are German riesling, Burgundy or Champagne fans. The riesling selection is possibly the best in the United States – with rare bottlings, tasting reports from the ground in Germany and Austria, etc. As a burgundy lover, I find tons to browse and marvel at here; I’ve also been turned on to great sparkling wines here, from $20 cremant de bourgogne to grower champagnes like Benoit Lahaye and Larmandier-Bernier to solid big-house champagnes. Monthly tastings are excellent but crowded; I wish they would go back to weekly tastings like they had in years past, where I found many a great producer tasted in a non-hectic setting of 4-5 wines at a time.
PJ Wine – this (way) uptown store is kind of a hike for most people, but those who make the trip are rewarded with good prices, a huge supermarket-like selection and one of the city’s best collections of Spanish wines: I found lots of choices for various bottlings of older vintages of one of my favorite producers, Lopez de Heredia, but all of the heavy-hitters from Spain ranging from traditional to modern-styled are represented here.
Astor Wines & Spirits – this East Village outpost offers a broad selection including specialized sections including a natural/biodynamic wine section and a cool room with back-vintage trophy wines for those flush with cash. As with USQ Wines, I tend not to buy at regular prices here, but the extensive number of sale-priced selections are generally well priced and well chosen.
If you don’t see your favorite NYC shop here, chances are they will make it into my next post, where I will look at smaller and specialty shops that rock my world. But feel free to drop a comment on your faves! Cheers,
Alan
Special note: I do not have any affiliation with any of the stores mentioned in this report other than being a satisfied customer.