NEW ADDITIONS
Check out this space for the latest & greatest wines recently added to our already
stellar selection
September 2020
*Six New Bordeaux 94 pts or higher (RP):
Chat. Grand Pontet 2016 (94+ RP) Only $50
Chat. La Gaffeliere 2016 (95+ RP) Only $110
Chat. Monbousquet (93+ RP) Only $90
Chat. Pape Clement 2016 (96 pts RP) Only $150
Chat. Pontet-Canet 2016 (98 pts RP) Only $215
Chat. Rieussec 2015 (Sauternes) (95-97 pts RP) Only $45
*Paul Lato Cali Rhone Blends scoring up to 100 pts!
Paul Lato "Space Cadet" Rhone Blend 2017 (97 pts RP) Only $95
Paul Lato "il Padrino" Syrah 2016 (100 pts JD) Only $115
Paul Lato "Ma Jolie" Chardonnay 2018 (96 pts JD) Only $65
*Six New Bordeaux 94 pts or higher (RP):
Chat. Grand Pontet 2016 (94+ RP) Only $50
Chat. La Gaffeliere 2016 (95+ RP) Only $110
Chat. Monbousquet (93+ RP) Only $90
Chat. Pape Clement 2016 (96 pts RP) Only $150
Chat. Pontet-Canet 2016 (98 pts RP) Only $215
Chat. Rieussec 2015 (Sauternes) (95-97 pts RP) Only $45
*Paul Lato Cali Rhone Blends scoring up to 100 pts!
Paul Lato "Space Cadet" Rhone Blend 2017 (97 pts RP) Only $95
Paul Lato "il Padrino" Syrah 2016 (100 pts JD) Only $115
Paul Lato "Ma Jolie" Chardonnay 2018 (96 pts JD) Only $65
1/13/20
Twelve Rules for Following Proper Etiquette at a Wine Tasting:
1 – Limiting your alcohol consumption at a tasting is critical. Therefore it’s always best to get properly sh*tfaced before arriving.
2 – Never spit at a tasting. For one thing it’s disgusting; for another it makes a mess on the floor.
3 – The ideal number of wines to try at a tasting is 10—unless, of course, say, 60 wines are on offer in which case you should sample all five dozen. Anything less would be just plain RUDE.
4 – When sticking your wineglass out for a pour make sure to hold it at a near horizontal angle. That way the poor smuck can’t judge how much is being poured and is more likely to overfill your glass. Suh-weeet!
4a – If an insolent pourer at a tasting asks you to hold your glass upright (“…you moron”) pretend you don’t understand English.
5 – Doctors drink a lot of wine. If you happen to run into one at a tasting make sure to hit them up for some free medical advice.
6 – Wine tastings are great places to network. If you forget your business cards ask your interlocutor if you can borrow her lipstick and cocktail napkin. As an alternative, ask everyone at the tasting you’re even remotely attracted to if they’d like to go out for “small plates” afterwards. Who knows? You just might get lucky.
6a – If they happen to be married insist that their spouse is welcome to come along too.
6b – If someone takes the bait, pause dramatically, pat your pockets and say, “Christ! I forgot my wallet again!”
7 – If you’re at a tasting where no rose’s are being served, ask for a pour of red wine at one table and a pour of white at another and then slosh them together. Voila! A tasty rose’!
8 – If, later on in the tasting, you’re worried about slurring your words, restrict yourself to wines consisting of only one or two syllables. Such as: “Tha’ 'un…”
8a – Always point when asking for a pour of a particular wine. God knows most of ‘em are unpronounceable.
8b – Avoid French wines at all costs.
9 – If it’s a charity event featuring a “celebrity guest” make sure you always suck up to them and claim you watch their weather forecasts nightly on the five o’clock news.
9a – Even if, in truth, they kinda f**ked up that hurricane track last storm season. And what are you ever gonna do with all that plywood you bought at The Home Depot, anyway? Be sure to bring this up during your awkward chat.
10 – Standing immobile at one particular table sampling wine after wine after wine is inconsiderate to the horde of other anxiously awaiting guests. So every now and then turn around and say you’re almost done.
10a – Never apologize. No matter how new the carpet is.
11 - If the wine tasting benefits some charity or other, walk up to the front door like you own the place and claim you’re “staff.”
12 – Be sure to arrive at wine tastings extra early. Bottles are often lined up on the tables already and that way you can guzzle them while no one is looking.
12a – Drinking straight from a wine bottle, while frowned upon, is expeditious.
13 – BONUS! – If “finger foods” are being served, be sure to dress in extra baggy slacks, carry a huge purse or wear cargo pants.
13a – Or simply carry around a plastic shopping bag with you.
13b – When you leave a tasting tell the person at the door that the wine glass you’re stealing happens to be the same one you brought with you. If they remember you—run!
11/21/19
FWSW v. That Big Box Store on Dale Mabry – IT’S NO CONTEST!!!
We just received in the mail the 2019 holiday catalog for that big box store on Dale Mabry (you know the one). It’s a nice publication—slick, glossy, colorful.
There’s just one problem. Of the 13 still wines in their catalog that we also have on our shelves (I did not count a wine if the vintage was different) Fine Wine & Spirits Warehouse on Gandy had lower pricing on 12 of them! That’s right, we were cheaper on 12 out of the 13 wines we have in common!
The aggregate savings on those 13 bottles, if you bought them from us, was $87.92. That works out to an astonishing average savings of $6.76 per bottle!!!
So folks, you can make that long drive up Dale Mabry and spend your hard-earned cash on a chain store’s premium wines, or you can stay local, buy them from us and save money. Lots of money.
$eems to me like a pretty easy choice.
10/27/19
Some thoughts on “sluttiness”. This entry is in response to a sidebar to an article in The Somm Journal (a wine trade mag) where the editors worried over whether a winemaker's description of his wine as tasting slutty should be censored. I invite your comments to my email response to the mag. Click on 'Contact' above.
-I once had a gay work colleague in New York who referred to a male ex-friend of his as a “slut”; who says that the term applies strictly to women?
-Wine reviewers are constantly calling wines “sexy”; should this word be censored from their columns because it’s offensive to, say, virgins? Nuns? Eunuchs? The otherwise celibate?
-Lisa Perotti-Brown of The Wine Advocate often refers to highly rated wines as “intellectual”. What the f**k does this mean? (Oh, sorry, did I just offend someone?) And isn’t this dubious designation potentially offensive to true intellectuals? I mean, if you were a Nobel Prize winner in physics how would you feel about being compared to a glass of fermented grape juice?
-I used to host Sunday night wine tastings where one of the regulars, whenever confronted by a wine redolent of a barnyard, described it as smelling like “ass”. Should I have banned him? For being potentially offensive to people with sanitary posteriors?
-The fact that your publication considered censoring Mike Etzel of Beaux Freres for commending one of his wines for “its sluttiness” is concerning in the extreme. Etzel demeaned no individual or group of individuals. It was not an instance of “hate language” in any way, shape or form. It was not extremist or threatening. It was not directed at any human being (or even a dog, cat or goat) but, for christsake, at a particular cuvée of his.
-The editor who wanted to censor Etzel has scant appreciation of the First Amendment, its intentions or the ramifications of its gradual suppression. I have a question: How did such a person get to be an editor for a publication in the United States of America?
-And oh by the way, editor: some women and men ARE sluts. You’ve probably known a few in your life. Go pour yourself a glass of Pinot and get over it.
Twelve Rules for Following Proper Etiquette at a Wine Tasting:
1 – Limiting your alcohol consumption at a tasting is critical. Therefore it’s always best to get properly sh*tfaced before arriving.
2 – Never spit at a tasting. For one thing it’s disgusting; for another it makes a mess on the floor.
3 – The ideal number of wines to try at a tasting is 10—unless, of course, say, 60 wines are on offer in which case you should sample all five dozen. Anything less would be just plain RUDE.
4 – When sticking your wineglass out for a pour make sure to hold it at a near horizontal angle. That way the poor smuck can’t judge how much is being poured and is more likely to overfill your glass. Suh-weeet!
4a – If an insolent pourer at a tasting asks you to hold your glass upright (“…you moron”) pretend you don’t understand English.
5 – Doctors drink a lot of wine. If you happen to run into one at a tasting make sure to hit them up for some free medical advice.
6 – Wine tastings are great places to network. If you forget your business cards ask your interlocutor if you can borrow her lipstick and cocktail napkin. As an alternative, ask everyone at the tasting you’re even remotely attracted to if they’d like to go out for “small plates” afterwards. Who knows? You just might get lucky.
6a – If they happen to be married insist that their spouse is welcome to come along too.
6b – If someone takes the bait, pause dramatically, pat your pockets and say, “Christ! I forgot my wallet again!”
7 – If you’re at a tasting where no rose’s are being served, ask for a pour of red wine at one table and a pour of white at another and then slosh them together. Voila! A tasty rose’!
8 – If, later on in the tasting, you’re worried about slurring your words, restrict yourself to wines consisting of only one or two syllables. Such as: “Tha’ 'un…”
8a – Always point when asking for a pour of a particular wine. God knows most of ‘em are unpronounceable.
8b – Avoid French wines at all costs.
9 – If it’s a charity event featuring a “celebrity guest” make sure you always suck up to them and claim you watch their weather forecasts nightly on the five o’clock news.
9a – Even if, in truth, they kinda f**ked up that hurricane track last storm season. And what are you ever gonna do with all that plywood you bought at The Home Depot, anyway? Be sure to bring this up during your awkward chat.
10 – Standing immobile at one particular table sampling wine after wine after wine is inconsiderate to the horde of other anxiously awaiting guests. So every now and then turn around and say you’re almost done.
10a – Never apologize. No matter how new the carpet is.
11 - If the wine tasting benefits some charity or other, walk up to the front door like you own the place and claim you’re “staff.”
12 – Be sure to arrive at wine tastings extra early. Bottles are often lined up on the tables already and that way you can guzzle them while no one is looking.
12a – Drinking straight from a wine bottle, while frowned upon, is expeditious.
13 – BONUS! – If “finger foods” are being served, be sure to dress in extra baggy slacks, carry a huge purse or wear cargo pants.
13a – Or simply carry around a plastic shopping bag with you.
13b – When you leave a tasting tell the person at the door that the wine glass you’re stealing happens to be the same one you brought with you. If they remember you—run!
11/21/19
FWSW v. That Big Box Store on Dale Mabry – IT’S NO CONTEST!!!
We just received in the mail the 2019 holiday catalog for that big box store on Dale Mabry (you know the one). It’s a nice publication—slick, glossy, colorful.
There’s just one problem. Of the 13 still wines in their catalog that we also have on our shelves (I did not count a wine if the vintage was different) Fine Wine & Spirits Warehouse on Gandy had lower pricing on 12 of them! That’s right, we were cheaper on 12 out of the 13 wines we have in common!
The aggregate savings on those 13 bottles, if you bought them from us, was $87.92. That works out to an astonishing average savings of $6.76 per bottle!!!
So folks, you can make that long drive up Dale Mabry and spend your hard-earned cash on a chain store’s premium wines, or you can stay local, buy them from us and save money. Lots of money.
$eems to me like a pretty easy choice.
10/27/19
Some thoughts on “sluttiness”. This entry is in response to a sidebar to an article in The Somm Journal (a wine trade mag) where the editors worried over whether a winemaker's description of his wine as tasting slutty should be censored. I invite your comments to my email response to the mag. Click on 'Contact' above.
-I once had a gay work colleague in New York who referred to a male ex-friend of his as a “slut”; who says that the term applies strictly to women?
-Wine reviewers are constantly calling wines “sexy”; should this word be censored from their columns because it’s offensive to, say, virgins? Nuns? Eunuchs? The otherwise celibate?
-Lisa Perotti-Brown of The Wine Advocate often refers to highly rated wines as “intellectual”. What the f**k does this mean? (Oh, sorry, did I just offend someone?) And isn’t this dubious designation potentially offensive to true intellectuals? I mean, if you were a Nobel Prize winner in physics how would you feel about being compared to a glass of fermented grape juice?
-I used to host Sunday night wine tastings where one of the regulars, whenever confronted by a wine redolent of a barnyard, described it as smelling like “ass”. Should I have banned him? For being potentially offensive to people with sanitary posteriors?
-The fact that your publication considered censoring Mike Etzel of Beaux Freres for commending one of his wines for “its sluttiness” is concerning in the extreme. Etzel demeaned no individual or group of individuals. It was not an instance of “hate language” in any way, shape or form. It was not extremist or threatening. It was not directed at any human being (or even a dog, cat or goat) but, for christsake, at a particular cuvée of his.
-The editor who wanted to censor Etzel has scant appreciation of the First Amendment, its intentions or the ramifications of its gradual suppression. I have a question: How did such a person get to be an editor for a publication in the United States of America?
-And oh by the way, editor: some women and men ARE sluts. You’ve probably known a few in your life. Go pour yourself a glass of Pinot and get over it.