Daily Archives: March 20, 2019

Omega Fine Wine and Spirits, 23-18 31st street, Astoria NY 11105

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I live in Astoria, Queens and I frequently visit Omega Fine Wine and Spirits, so I decided to write about them. The owners are from Greece, so they have a really big selection of Greek wines. It is a small retail wine shop, located in the shopping plaza near Ditmars boulevard subway station. Alex, who works here is an enthusiastic young man, always in a good mood and ready to answer all of the customer’s questions. Also, everyone that works there is so friendly and helpful.The staff is always willing to take a walk around the store with you to recommend something that fits your needs. They make you feel like a friend and this is why I like coming here so often.They have a wonderful selection of really nice wines for any budget and they are always coming up with different deals for loyal customers.

Front of the retail wine store

As I said, the store is really small, but they really offer many different choices. They have wine from many different countries.

Red wine selection

Sparkling wine selection

I asked about their best red wine from Spain and they recommended those 3 choices:

Red wines from Spain

Emilio Moro is the most popular Spanish wine among customers and it costs $25.99.

While I searched for the sparkling wine, one specific area caught my attention-it was marked as SUPER SALE and all the wines were under $5. I picked up one bottle and I saw that it was from Slovenia, which is so close to where I am from, Serbia and I couldn’t believe that Slovenia actually makes wine. The dust on the bottle and super sale tells me that many people don’t know it either.

Wine from Slovenia

My further research resulted in finding wines from Bosnia and Herzegovina, which I also didn’t know existed !! I was very excited to find wines from my sister countries.

Wine from Bosnia and Herzegovina

I only found only one shelf talker, but there were several deals and discounts throughout the store:

Shelf talker

One of the store’s deals and discounts

I chose to write about particular sparkling wine from Italy because Alex told me it was the most popular in the store. With its low price and great taste, many customers choose this wine over many others

.Sparkling wine from ItalyThis image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative.

I also stumbled upon very interesting label that caught my attention. It had very interesting picture up from and very little information about wine, I found it very interesting and mysterious.

Interesting wine label

And, for the end of this assignment I wanted to leave a comment about the store weakness. As I said before, the sore is very popular among customers due to amazing wine selection, low prices and very friendly staff but the only thing that I find as the should improve is- marking the wine countries and making it easier for people to find what are they looking for. For example, I think they should mark the different areas of the store as : Wines of Italy, Wines of France, Wines of Greece etc. I believe that would be very helpful for their business.

I enjoyed this assignment very much.

 

Paso Robles

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Names: Noha Mahdi, Chris Raghubir, Amanda Ashwood

Country/Region/Appellation

USA/California/Paso Robles

Grape variety

Zinfandel: Zinfandel was the first commercially viable grape to be planted in Paso Robles, back in 1914. It is known for its sweet-fruited jammy raspberries, wild bramble berry, raisins, prunes, licorice and black tea spices and plush tannins.

Cabernet Sauvignon: The Paso style strives to Big and Bold, making more richly textured, opulent, ready-drinking Cabs and Bordeaux blends with flavors of anise, cola, peppercorns, finishing with textured minerality and bright acidity.

Rhône Varieties: The term “Rhone-Zone” was given to Paso because it hosts the largest acreage of Syrah, Viognier, and Roussanne in California. The Rhone is actually a region in France that lies along the mighty Rhone river. Red Rhone wines are traditionally blends dominated by Grenache, then Syrah, Mourvedre amongst 10 others. These wines have flavors of both red and black fruits (strawberry and blackberry), licorice, herbs, a full body and soft plush tannins. White Rhone wines can be 100% varietal-based from Viognier and literally taste like you bit into a dried apricot, or blends that include Marsanne and Roussanne along with 8 others, making wines that are richly textured viscous wines.

Cal-Italians: Vine cuttings from Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Barbera, and Montepulciano grape varieties were brought with Italian immigrants from as far back as 1861 to the USA. However, it wasn’t until the 1980’s that these grapes found their home in Paso. Although Italian grapes lack the plushness of texture of other styles, their uniqueness lies in their ability to retain high levels of acidity, despite the heat. This allows them to be some of the most food-friendly wines in the world.

Innovative Blends: Adding to the sheer diversity of grapes and styles explored above, we are now seeing producers add Spanish grapes like the white Albariño, or Verdelho, red Tempranillo and the Portugese Touriga Nacional (the main grape of Port wines) to their repertoire. These grapes are being made into single varietal styles that showcase their unique attributes but are also found alongside Italian and French varieties in innovative blends as well.

https://winefolly.com/review/understanding-paso-robles-wine-w-maps 

Climate

The temperature varies from day and night, Diurnal and Maritime Climate becoming more continental to the east with growing de-gree-day.

https://pasowine.com/paso-robles/geography-climate/

Soil

These are primarily bedrock (the hard layer of rock beneath looser rocks and soil) derived soils from weathered granite, older marine sedimentary rocks, volcanic rocks, and younger marine sedimentary rocks of the Miocene-age Monterey Formation featuring calcareous shales, sandstone, or mudstone. Soil diversity is the norm and a vineyard block may commonly contain several different soil types.

https://pasowine.com/paso-robles/geography-climate/

Viticulture

Chateau Margene – Creston: A producer of highly sought after luxury Cabernet Sauvignon & Cabernet Franc under the Chateau Margene label, luxury Pinot Noirs under their Mooney Family label and port style wines under their Roxo Port Cellars label. Chateau Margene is a small family-owned winery located in the Creston District AVA. The initial year of production was 1997. Farming practices are organic and sustainable and the focus is small lots of ultra-premium grapes that are hand picked, hand sorted and then gently moved through our gravity flow grape processing system.

Austin Hope & Treana Tasting Cellar: At the Austin Hope & Treana Tasting Cellar, we offer a unique blend of eclectic dĂ©cor, cozy lounge style seating and a fun, casual approach to world class wines. We are proud to be family owned and operated with four unique brands: Austin Hope, Treana, Troublemaker and Liberty School. The Tasting Cellar features our small production wines from the Treana and Austin Hope brands, which represent Austin’s passion for artisan winemaking.

https://pasowine.com/member/austin-hope-treana-tasting-cellar-hope-family-wines/?refer=winery

Vinification

Once the grapes arrive at the Paso Robles winery they are again inspected for quality. For our white wine program, a whole cluster press is used to extract the juice. After a gentle pressing, the juice is immediately transferred to stainless steel fermenters for a 24-hour cold settling. The white juice will ferment for approximately 30 days at 55F until dry, yielding no residual sugar. Post primary fermentation the whites are fined and filtered before being botted the following spring to preserve the aromatic qualities in each variety.

Red grapes are de-stemmed and pumped directly into the fermentation tanks. We utilize both static and open top fermenters in our program. During fermentation the must is allowed to reach temperatures up to 85F to extract the intense color and flavors the Donati wines are known for. The red varietals will ferment for 7-10 days, then the wine is racked to another tank and the remaining skins, seeds, and pulp is gently pressed.

The aging process for our red wines begins in a combination of both French and American oak barrels from a select group of coopers. The red wines are barrel aged for 12-18 months. During this time, a continuous sensory assessment of each lot gives us the ability to designate the premium lots for our higher-end wines. When those lots are selected the wine is racked and blended and stored in barrels until bottling. The red wines are bottled un-fined and unfiltered to preserve natural flavors and aromas the grape varietals have to offer.

Overall, the winemaking team brings hands-on experience, analytic knowledge and a strong dedication to the industry. We are here to make the best wines possible to share with you. Please visit our online store detailing the varietals and blends that we have to offer or you can visit our tasting room in Paso Robles.

Add additional notes about the regions/appellations/labels during.

How to Read a Wine Label

Vintner Rob Murray created Stasis, Tooth & Nail, Force of Nature and Amor Fati to showcase his vineyards in Paso Robles and Santa Barbara. The Possessor ($26.99), is a big, spicy cabernet sauvignon blend. The label is a mid-1800s John James Audubon print, featuring a red-tailed hawk swooping down on its prey. “There’s a little death and destruction in all our labels,” Murray says.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/06/22/five-awesome-paso-robles-wine-labels/

Interesting fact

Today, Paso Robles is still considered by many as thewine industry’s wild west, characterized by that same rule breaking diversity and innovative spirit in which the town was founded. “Paso Robles is the wild west of California wine.” Factoid: Paso Robles is California’s fastest growing AVA.

https://winefolly.com/review/understanding-paso-robles-wine-w-maps/

 

Hunters Point Wines & Spirits

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Hunters Point Wines & Spirits opened on Vernon Boulevard in 2006. One of the owners Marko Babsek who gave me the permission to take the pictures and also answer any question about the wine.

This wine store is located at 47-07 Vernon Blvd, Long Island City, Queens. A week before I made an appointment with Marko Babsek one of the owners. Marko was very cordial and made me feel welcome all the time.

Hunters Point Wines & Spirits in Long Island City

The house has a very beautiful European type colonial appearance. When I entered, I saw that it was relatively narrow, almost like a passage connecting another.

Be ready for a lesson in wine. If you ask the owner, Marko, for advice or information he is able to tell you anything you’d like to know. The best wine store in LIC.

Marko started telling me that his main costumers are neighbors who live around for many years. In fact, his familiarity is so great with everyone who knows about the tastes in wines of most neighbors.

They organize wine by regions for example these wines come from South Africa and its surroundings.

I asked him about which wine is the most expensive and it was this one which is of French origin and slopes for $ 2000 I think that is good for people who like expensive wine.

One of its priorities is to maintain its clientele by maintaining low prices and, of course, providing discounts from its suppliers.

 

 

Most of the wines of this establishment have notes about its composition and its quality that makes the client learn the differences between a European and an American wine.

Grand Itata Red wine from Chile Rogue Vine

Cholilla ranch from patagonia Argentina Malbec It contains red fruits and has great acidity. Good to combine red meats

Sauvignon Blanc 2018 Taft Street Russian River Valley Sonoma country. California Its color is pearl yellow Nose are aromas of green apple, grapefruit and white peach palate Crisp with lively acidity Pair with chicken, turkey, pork, chops and also fishes

France, Italy, Spain, the United States, New Zealand and some South American wines are the main wines they have. He told us that his guests ask for more wine from Italy and, in summer, Rose is more popular. The most expensive wine he has is Cabernet Sauvignon since 1997 and costs $ 450.

I realize that Marko is very knowledgeable about wine because he told me about the variety of grapes in the United States, like smelling a wine so that we know which one to prefer. In fact, tasting classes are held here. With what to combine each wine in short was a very pleasant experience and I realize that Marko loves his work. I will recommend my family and friends to visit this place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Vintage Harlem (Wine & Spirits)

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When approaching the retail beverage shop analysis, I decided to stay within the neighborhood and access a local winery, Vintage Harlem (Wine Spirits). Located on 2235 Frederick Douglass Blvd, New York, NY 10027, Vintage Harlem provides over hundreds of different wines from your lowest selling item all the way to the vintage collection that usually prices at almost two-thousand dollars’ retail. The store itself, has a rustic look with brick walls and barrique type (wood) shelves. The inside is beautiful and feels as though you are walking into the storing or fermenting section of an actual winery. They have over 6 sections of regions that provide so many varieties of grape and shelved from least expensive to most expensive. Some of the regions inside were labeled France, Argentina, Chile, Spain, California of course and many more. Upon entering, I was greeted by the employee Marissa. I explained to her that I was here on an assignment mission and that I would need some of her expertise to answer a few questions. One of my first initial questions I had asked was “Where does the wine come from? Is it made here? She quickly responded and told me that distributors come to the wine store and they buy the quantity they need, specifics and region based items. Marissa rally knew her wine knowledge, solely, because she works there, is a wine consumer herself and studies wine. I asked her if she would be interested in becoming a sommelier and she chuckled and answered that she thought about doing it. However, her history knowledge would need to need to increase a tad more. I was told I could take photos in the winery and that I did. Absolute beauty of the setup with all the wines. The only downfall of the winery is that they didn’t necessarily have a “shelf talker” in the sections and that they keep their private back area open next to other regions and I witnessed the GM taking a nice snooze. It was funny but also very unprofessional, especially, if the stores’ traffic was busy and on demand. Vintage Harlem keeps their most expensive wines in this miniature black wine fridge with a lock and key and is opened when specifically asked. I couldn’t take a picture of the fridge cabinet, but I was able to see their 2013 Chateau multi red grape blend that was a grand total of one-thousand, five-hundred dollars. I knew wines ran high in price but I was so intrigued to try. Although, I didn’t, Vintage Harlem does in fact, allow wine tasting before purchase. And that is a huge part in wine selling because more than likely you’re inclined to purchase a wine or two that you tasted because you know for a fact that you like it! Vintage Harlem was absolute awesome experience and since it’s located in my neighborhood… I told Marissa that she’ll be seeing more of me for sure.

Red Wine from South Africa Region… Didn’t know wine was made here

“Shelf Talker”

Sparkling Red Wine from Autralia – Picture from Vintage Harlem Website

Red Wine From Spain – Vintage Harlem Website

Thirst Wine Merchants, Park Slope

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On the quiet strip of Greene Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn, I took a step into a hole in the wall wine shop. Now don’t be mistaken, Thirst Wine Merchants is a humble wine retail store but, it doesn’t at all lackluster. Thankfully the manager at Thirst, Noah, was enthusiastic and supportive of my learning experience. Noah let me roam around and was open to many questions. As I explored the store I recognized that Thirst Wine has some weaknesses but mostly positive attributes.

Initially when you walk in, it was clear you had to study wine to understand the order in which wines were displayed yet, it was still slightly confusing for me. I noticed I was looking for some PDO’s and DOCG’s to recognize where certain wines were derived from yet I couldn’t find any. After a while of roaming I finally asked Noah in what order was the retail shop organized. The shop is organized by country so from France to the New World, and from the New World  to Portugal and New Zealand. Most of Thirst’s Wines were designated from France. French wine occupied almost half of the store. That can be a disadvantage if you came in looking for a wider variety you wouldn’t get that here. However after speaking with Noah, he told  me that the ethics of Thirst is to source sustainably and organically. Being that viticulture and vineyard maintenance is expensive, many vineyards don’t practice organic growth. Organic practices can be expensive on their own, as well as risking product loss from harmful pests. This is the reason why this particular wine shop’s selection is precise. Not many vineyards fit their qualifications. This is an attribute to wine culture because it supports sustainability and small wine businesses. Also as a result of supporting small businesses, most of the European wines aren’t under PDO or PGI at this retail shop. However, with an educated manager like Noah, it thankfully became easier to understand. I was amazed by Noah knowing the in’s and out’s of the shop so I asked him how did he learn about wine culture and he introduced me to the WWOOF program (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). Prior to working at Thirst, Noah was a loyal customer there. Being inspired by their organic wines, he decided to study them himself  through this program. Luckily Noah was placed in a Vineyard in Italy and worked alongside amazing farmers who were generous in helping him understand viticulture more thoroughly. Now as manager at Thirst, he continues to pay it forward in organic culture.

This is a Sparkling White Wine from The Czech Republic. Pet Nat, the producer, used Malvasia grapes from the region of Moravia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a Pinot Noir from New Zealand in the region of Martinborough. I did not know much about New Zealand nor it’s regions. This red wine comes from the producer Cambridge Road Vineyard and goes for 44$

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a Muscat sparkling wine from Australia. I thought it was interesting because it had a lot of sediment at the bottom. The Manager informed me that some fine filtration practices aren’t organic so sustainable wineries leave that step out. It adds additional texture to the wine.

Thirst Wine didn’t have many signs or shelf talkers so I decided to choose a wine that was meant to catch the eye. This German wein from Rheingau is a Pradiskat wine. It’s level is Spatlese. This bottle goes for up to 50$ on the market and is a hard find.

 

Retail Beverage Shop Analysis

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Taking my first steps into this wine shop, it was just as I imagined it too be. Solidified wood throughout the floor, dimmed lighting targeting each angle, and a strong scent of fruit and open wine bottles scattered throughout the store.  What wine shop was this?  It was Slope Cellars, located on 436, 7th Ave, Brooklyn.  The reason for me choosing this location was not only because it was an 8 min drive, but because the neighborhood is known for spending there Sunday afternoons sipping on a high-quality bottle of red wine.

Luckily for me I had a chance to speak to the manager, who presented me with one of his most sold red wines from Spain.  This wine was “Guimaro Riberia Sacra Vino Tinto.”  I asked him “what makes this wine sell so much”, he stated how it mixes well with spicy food and tacos, and in this area, people love tacos.  This red wine from Spain is a 2016 vintage, located in the region of Galicia.  The bottle comes with a natural cork, and the taste is known to be silky with a heavy aromatic smell.  A smell of pure red fruits and heavy spices.

 

Guimaro Riberia Sacra Vino Tinto

Next up was a very antique and tasty sparkling wine.  This sparkling wine is “Wiston Estate Blanc de Blancs.”  It is a 2010 vintage and located in the appellation of England.  The manager stated how it is a Chardonnay grape variety that pairs well with seafood such as crab or lobster.  He also stated how it attracts a lot of customers since it’s known as a very traditional wine style with an alcohol content of just 12%.  This sparkling wine gives off an aroma of apples and quite a few pastries, which even had me thinking of buying a bottle.

Wiston Estate Blanc de Blancs

Last but not least is a red wine from the region called Bandol which is located in Provence, France.  I did not recall this being one of the top wine regions in France, which came as a shock to me.  It put me in shock because the manager presented this wine as one of his top selling wines, and by coming from a region I haven’t heard of, was a bit surprising.  This wine was “Domaines Chateau Romassan Bandol.”  I was told the reason this wine was sold so much is because how affordable it was for such a high-quality wine.  The manager stated how this wine is worth every penny due to their mix grape variety.  Grape variety such as Cinsaut, Grenche, and Mourvedre, having an alcohol content of about 14 percent.  Paring with most greens, and veggies, “Domaines Chateau Romassan Bandol” is known as an everyday wine.

 

Domaines Chateau Romassan Bandol