When visiting Sea Grape Wine & Spirits Shop located at 512 Hudson St, New York, I came across two employees that were working there at the moment. Mark who has been working at Sea Grape for an year and a half. And Joti who has been working at Sea Grape for 3 years. Unfortunately the manager had just walked out upon arriving. But Mark and Joti were able to provide me with an abundance of information they have learned from their Manager. My very first question was, What’s new? Mark immediately guided me towards Portuguese Wines. Portuguese wines are one of the most newest wines they carry and are seasonal. They have wines great to drink during the summer and red wines that are great to drink in the winter due to their deep rich notes. Another new wine is Orange wine. He explained the rather complex vinification of Orange wine to me. Orange wines are oxidized which is the opposite of what we want to do during vilification. He said it is different, it is new and it is non traditional, something their customers are constantly looking for. Sea Grape are always rotating their stock with new wines to try. There’s not a single wine that has been there for too long. My second question was what’s the competition like and is there any challenges Sea Grape faces? Joti immediately said that Sea Grape does not focus on competing with other local wine shops. He confidentially pointed at the ceiling with their logo, and said that Sea Grape has been here since ‘89 making them one of the oldest well known wine shop in the area. Not only is Sea Grape one of the oldest wine shop, they taste each and every wine that are being sold in their shop. Sea Grapes focus is to sell natural wine from small local vendors and vineyards. Mark then stated that his manager in fact faces challenges. One challenge he comes across often is wether selling a wine or not. The manager often has to put his preference and bias opinion aside which can be hard for him. Although he might love a wine from a vendor, he highly considers what his customers might like or think. My third question was, what is your bestseller? Their all year-round best seller is a rose, Vrac selling for 11.99$. Lastly do you study wine? If not how did you end up selling wine? Both Joti and Mark do not study wine. They know a lot about wine because they learn a everyday from their Manager. According to them his palate for tasting wine is godly. But after talking a bit about my major, both Joti and Mark absolutely love wine and are considering to study wine. Overall Sea Grape Wine Shop was a great experience and open to all my questions. They were able to educate me further about new trends and foreign wine.

Sea Grape Wines and Spirits
512 Hudson St, New York 10014

Shelf Talker
“This Malbec is in need of a Good Home”

Red Wine from Spain 
Gran Cerdo: Organic Red Wine from Rioja,Spain
Grape Variety: 100% Tempranillo

Sparkling Wine 
Schilcher Frizzante: Sparkling Rose from Steiermark, Austria
Grape Variety: Wildbacher

Red Wine from foreign region
Casa de Mouraz Dao: Organic red wine from Portugal
Grape Varieties: Touriga-Nacional, Tinta-Roriz, Alfrocheiro, Jaen, Água-Santa, Tinta-Pinheira and Baga