THIRSTMERCHANTS

Corsica

2011-11-25T17:20:00.001-05:00

A Table A Corse

Last month we took our wine club members to one of our favorite places – to what may be the most exciting region of France today: Corsica! This week we had a Corsican wine dinner at THIRSTBARAVIN with Kermit Lynch. If you're interested in purchasing the wines below, or other Corsican wines we served at the dinner, please contact me at thirstmerchant@gmail.com.





Maestracci Cat

   Currently designated as one of the 27 régions of France, although it is a collectivité territoriale by law, Corsica is a beautiful mountainous Mediterranean island, located west of Italy, southeast of France, and north of the island of Sardinia. It's had a long and turbulent history. The earliest Corisican inhabitants have been traced to about 3,000 BC -- they left behind impressive standing stones with staring faces. Later it was settled by Phocaean Greeks (according to Herodotus, the first Greeks to make long sea voyages), shortly after they founded Marseille, some of whom were winemakers who cultivated vines. However, it was sometime during the Middle Ages, apparently, when Corsica was under the rule of the city of Pisa, and later the Republic of Genoa, that Sangiovese was introduced to the island. Over the centuries, Sangiovese has evolved into its unique Corsican version of the varietal: Niellucciu. 





Lost


  When we visited the Maestraccis, we got lost driving around the majestic Monte Grossu mountain. It was one of those times when getting lost was fun. There were spectacular views to observe and hairpin turns to navigate. But we were also running late for lunch and had a plane to catch later that afternoon!




   Domaine Maestracci is located high in the Monte Grossu foothills, inland from Calvi, in the granite plateau of Reginu, in a microclimate called U Vinu di E Prove – the wine of the Prove. Its unique exposition results in hot and dry daytime temperatures with high-altitude cool nights, all within a short distance from the sea and regular maritime winds. The plateau has been continuously used for vine- and olive- growing for centuries. It was the site of a major olive-pressing mill that supplied a large part of France with its olive oil. In 1945, when the owner of the olive oil mill packed up and moved his operation to colonial Algeria in search of bigger land and greater profits, Roger Maestracci saw a golden opportunity and moved in. The departing olive oil baron left behind a massive concrete structure with walls so thick the air inside stayed cool year round. Originally used to house the mill and the pressed oil, Roger adapted the structure for old wooden casks and concrete tanks and set about replanting vines on the property. Within a few years the domaine established a firm reputation in the area. When it came time for Roger to retire in the early 1980s, he passed along the reigns of the domaine to his son-in-law, Michel Raoust, who still runs the domaine today, along with his daughter, Camille-Anaïs. 




Michel & Camille-Anais Raoust


DOMAINE MAESTRACCI Corse Calvi Blanc ‘E Prove’ Rouge 2007 


 The wines he makes are quintessential Mediterranean food wines. Michel allows the red extended time to age and mellow before release. E Prove Rouge is comprised of about 35% Niellucciu, 35% Grenache, 15% Sciarcarellu and 15% Syrah.  It’s fermented for one year in stainless steel and then raised for another year in large oak barrels (foudres). The wine has aromas of small red berries, spices, liquorice, an ample mouthfeel, with a good balanced, silky dose of tannins. There’s notes of pepper, and hints of blue and black berries, and a touch of menthol. 



For lunch, the Maestraccis served us perfectly grilled zucchini & lamb. Simple farmhouse cooking at its best!






   When you’re in the capital of Corsica, the colorful, picturesque city of Ajaccio, you can’t get very far without seeing the name Abbatucci. Streets, monuments, and plazas carry the name. General Jean-Charles Abbatucci from Ajaccio was a hero of the French Revolution and his comrade-in-arms was another local hero, Napoléon Bonaparte. Step into a wine bar or a restaurant there, and chances are you'll be poured a glass of Domaine Abbatucci. The domaine is run by Jean-Charles Abbatucci, a direct descendant of the General, who has become a local hero of another kind—for providing the local populace with its most sought-after libation.


  Corsicans are proud defenders of their traditions and environment, and with Abbatucci they indulge guilt-free. His wines are certified biodynamic – he follows even the most far-out biodynamic practices to the letter. On his rather large estate south of Ajaccio he maintains a pristine poly-culture ecosystem, with herds of sheep foraging through his vines, groves of olive trees on ancient terraces, and large swaths of untouched forests. His vines come from cuttings of indigenous grapes, sourced decades ago from elderly peasant farmers high up in the isolated and mountainous interior of the island, effectively saving several native varieties from extinction. To keep his vines happy, he’s known to drive his tractor out to his vineyards and play them traditional Corsican polyphonic songs. After the harvest he’ll treat his cellar to the same music as his grapes ferment and come of age. All part of the terroir, he says. Does all this have an actual effect on the wine? Have a taste for yourself and listen to what the wine has to say.


DOMAINE ABBATUCCI Ajaccio Rouge ‘Cuvee Faustine’ 2009

   Jean-Charles’ Ajaccio Faustine Rouge sees no oak. It’s a selection of Sciacarellu (70%), an indigenous Corsican red grape, blended with Niellucciu (30%), hand-harvested at the best possible ripeness levels, and macerated for thirty days. 


  Lovely in the glass, the wine has a cherry robe with ruby reflections. Its nose evokes the maquis (wild Corsican herbs) and its partial Tuscan roots. It's another singular example of a Thirst wine that isn’t big in body but IS big in flavor – lots of texture and a pleasant, long finish. There’s wild blackberries, spice, pepper, discrete red fruits, subtle tannins. Pair it with a charcuterie plate featuring wild boar salumi or lamb with green olives, chestnut cavatelli and pumpkin brown butter (as we did the other night at the wine dinner). We’ve also enjoyed it with pizza with wild mushrooms.

This Month's Wine Club

2011-07-23T12:21:00.019-04:00

Our wine club has been getting more and more members, and garnering greater and greater interest. Each month we do our best to keep it interesting and to use the club to educate and shed some light on the often misunderstood and misused term terroir. Or in other words our aim is to elucidate the impact that specific places within specific regions have on the flavor profile of what we call Slow Wine (the wine equivalent of Slow Food) and the magic that happens when real wines are paired well with real food.

Many of the wines featured in the club are limited and some are exclusive to us. Below is a description of the wines in this month's assortment. If you're interested in joining, or in buying a gift membership, email us @ info@thirstwinemerchants.com or ring the store @ 718-596.7643.

View from Silivio's cellar

This month we have the pleasure of offering you three delicious wines from Piemonte, Italia.

SILVIO GIAMELLO LANGHE DOC FAVORITA “GRATIA” 2010

We were already huge fans of Silvio Giamello old-school Nebbiolos and were excited to have the opportunity to visit him at his small estate last year. We had no idea that he also made a white wine until we spotted a few cases of it on the floor of his cellar and asked to try it.

Like most families in the Langhe, the Giamellos started out with a diverse farm that included small parcels of vines, grain, forest, and pastures where their animals grazed. The bulk of the grape harvest was sold off, but the family made enough wine for their own consumption. This system continued for three generations until the 1950s, when farm life became less profitable and many families left the area to find factory work in the cities. Brothers Luigi and Ercole Giamello stayed but launched a trucking company to supplement their income—the first motorized transportation service in the area—and in their absence their mother took care of the daily vineyard work, wisely replanting much of their land to vines. When the economy improved in the ‘70s, Luigi was able to return to the domaine full-time, focusing more on wine production and eventually passing the reins to his son and daughter-in-law, Silvio Giamello and Marina Camia. This fourth generation continues to make wine the only way they can imagine: all vineyard work is natural and chemical-free, and the vinification techniques are purely traditional.

Silvio’s white wine from a favorite lesser-known varietal indigenous to Piedmont, Favorita, is related to the grape Vermentino. We recently received a small allotment of this wine which is made from vines planted in clay with lime-rich marl on a plot of just .005 hectares (.0123 acres)! We are lucky indeed to have some to share with you. This wine is crisp, with lemon-lime zest, that’s great as an apertivo or with a Piemontese starter like fava bean and goat cheese salad.

LA GHIBELLINA GAVI DI GAVI “MAININ” 2008

La Ghibellina was founded in 2000 by Alberto and Marina Ghibellini, who practice organic agriculture and specialize in the production of high-quality wines that emphasize the typical character of the region. Monterotondo is in the Gavi DOCG—just past the Ligurian border in Piemonte. To get there you can zoom up the highway, in and out of the tunnels through the Apennines, in a great feat of Italian engineering. Or, more leisurely, take the back roads that wind up and over the Apennines to the calcareous hills of Monterotondo.

Alberto and Marina, a husband-and-wife team, believe it is important to understand the texture of Gavi. How it is in bocca, or literally "in the mouth." They believe that too many producers are trying to extract fruity flavors on the nose from the non-aromatic Cortese grape (the grape of Gavi di Gavi). Marina insists that "it's in the mouth where the dynamic part of the Cortese grape is found; where it really creates an interesting texture." If you've ever been tempted to rattle off lots of nose descriptors without a word about how the wines felt in the mouth, this Gavi won't play your game.

The soil conditions at La Ghibellina, the ideal exposure to sunlight, and the climate, is particularly adapted to the cultivation of Cortese, benefiting from sea breezes that blow in from the nearby Mediterranean coast, making the conditions ideal for the production of wines with a firm and recognizable character.

This wine is aged in stainless steel vats with stirring of the lees for 4 months. It has a hint of crème fraiche texture from the lees stirring along with lemon, chamomile, and hints of sambuca flower. If your dish takes a squeeze of lemon at the end, it’ll sing with this wine.

MONFERRATO ROSSO BLENDED BY KERMIT LYNCH 2010

Long before it became fashionable, Kermit Lynch was the first to champion the benefits of unfined and unfiltered wines, which offer a purer expression of fruit and an unadulterated reflection of terroir. Kermit’s conviction has been so strong over the years that he has persuaded even the most hard-headed winemakers to test his theories.

The Kermit Lynch blended Monferrato Rosso cuvée began in a simple trattoria. Dixon Brooke (Kermit’s right-hand man) and Kermit were on their way to Alba when they stopped for lunch. They were served a pitcher of Arneis that pleasantly surprised them and got the address of the producer. When they visited, they tasted several cuvées of Monferrato Rosso before blending and creating this one.

This wine has a smooth earthiness and genuine regional typicity, but also is versatile in pairing with a wide variety of dishes. Grown in sand and limestone soil, the 2010 blend is composed of 55% Barbera, 20% Bonarda, 15% Freisa, and 10% Dolcetto. Kermit says it reminds him of the Piedmontese wines of old.

Spring is Near

2011-01-23T18:55:00.000-05:00

Briefly Contextualizing Nouveau

2010-11-18T10:17:00.011-05:00

The Gang of 13 in Morgon on March 11, 2010

Today, the third Thursday of November, Beaujolais Nouveau arrives and goes on sale. It's a time to celebrate, and be thankful for, the year's harvest. The 2010 vintage in Beaujolais required patience as it was a cool year with the harvest generally three weeks later than normal, which is exactly the kind of year when a vigneron gets to demonstrate his or her stuff. It is also, sadly, the year we lost Marcel Lapierre, who passed away on the final day of the harvest.

We are lucky to represent some of the best Cru Beaujolais. But it is always a pleasure to drink a genuine Nouveau as soon as it lands, and to enjoy for months thereafter. We invite you to come to Thirst tonight and toast the 2010 harvest with us.

Tony Coturri Marathon Tasting

2010-09-12T15:25:00.012-04:00

In the days before Whole Foods wiped out small independent organic grocery stores like Real Foods in San Francisco, I bought Cotturi wines there and at other local health food stores. The wines were like none other I'd had up to that point. And, even now, they're pretty damn inimitable. Tony doesn't gussy up his wines. They are what they are. As is he.

Tony never manipulates his wines. His grapes aren't treated with pesticides, fungicides or herbicides. He doesn't add sulfites, or yeast cultures, or concentrates to boost sweetness or flavor. He doesn't add acids, sugar, water. His formula for making wine is deceptively simple: fermented grapes.

Winemaking runs deep in the Coturri family. Tony's grandfather, Enrico, made wine in Farneta, Italy, which is just outside of Lucca. Enrico arrived in San Francisco in 1901 with ten bucks in his pocket. He found work as a barrel cooper and, in 1906, helped rebuild San Francisco after the Great Earthquake & Fire. During Prohibition, Harry "Red" Coturri, Tony's father, learned from Enrico how to make wine using the traditional methods of the old country. Although Tony has been making wine since 1964, the winery was started in 1979 by "Red," Tony, and his brother Phil. "Dad always said 'never put anything in the garden that you wouldn't put in your mouth,'" Tony says.

Coturri Winery is a family business. A third-generation winemaker, Tony works alongside Phil, who is considered Sonoma's leading organic viticulturalist, and he's schooling his son Nic in the craft of winemaking.

The tasting was scheduled to go from two to five pm. Tony poured until almost eight! People really enjoyed meeting him and tasting his wines. And Tony didn't want to stop sharing his wines with our customers.

Thirstmerchants Wine Club

2010-08-10T08:52:00.006-04:00

The positive feedback about the wines of the month from our club members has been gratifying. It's been fun for us at Thirst to work together to determine which wines to select, to find a thematic grouping, to put together tasting notes and pairing suggestions.

This month we feature the glory that is Chenin Blanc from the Loire, which the locals refer to as Pineau de la Loire. I fell hard for Pineau de la Loire when I first discovered the genuine article at Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant in Berkeley, and read about his discoveries in Adventures on the Wine Route. Previously, I had come across only uninspiring California versions of Chenin Blanc that had none of the finesse of their French cousins. The wines we bought at the KLWM store opened my eyes to the difference terroir can make. Each was distinct, each tasted like the particular place from which they'd come. They were, and are, gamechangers.

This month I hope you have the opportunity to experience a tipping point of your own.

A few Burgundian things...

2010-07-30T09:16:00.000-04:00

Kermit Lynch Beaujolais & Languedoc Tasting

2010-02-17T13:35:00.010-05:00

Last night, we hosted another tasting with winemakers whose wines are imported by Kermit Lynch. For a cold, snowy evening, the turn-out was pretty impressive. Both Ghislaine Dupeuble, representing her family's property, Domaine Dupeuble (which has been making wine in Beaujolais since 1512!), and Cyriaque Rozier, who makes his own wines under the label Les Traverses de Fontanes and is the winemaker for Chateau La Roque (both properties located in the Languedoc), told us they had a great time meeting our "heureux" customers.

The wines were showing beautifully. If you're curious about what exactly Beaujolais is about, start with Dupeuble. Their Nouveau this year is as good as it gets, and it won't be around much longer. Their regular cuvee, which is made from older vines on their property, is THE wine to have on the table with basic bistro-type fare, and seems to get better every year. Cyriaque's wines, are, well, terrific as well, and also great values. His Les Traverses de Fontanes Cabernet Sauvignon showcases Cab fruit, but with real finesse. It was cool to watch a few regular fans of this wine pick it up; then see their reaction when they learned the winemaker was conducting an in-store tasting.

The La Roque white wine we were pouring, Cuvee Clos des Benedictins, a blend of equal parts Rolle (aka Vermentino) and Marsanne, with the remainder Roussanne, raised in half new oak, is a case in point for how and why new oak can be a very good thing indeed. It's a shame it's so often misused to make fake and/or bad wines. The hit of the evening, though, was the wine most people tasted last, La Roque's old vines Mourvedre. Its pepper, spice nose and lovely kirsch, plummy notes impress. Looking forward to having it soon with grilled lamb seasoned with Provencal herbs.

Jacques Figuette, the owner of Chateau La Roque, spent much of the evening eagerly investigating our selection of wines and spirits.

Notes on the first anniversary of doing what I love full-time

2009-11-11T19:58:00.009-05:00

Thirst has been quite a ride! I'm immeasurably happy to be able to do what I love full-time. Though it's incredibly hard work--and there's really no longer such a thing as free time--it's freeing and gratifying to apply my passion for food and wine and make a living. I want to thank each and every one of our customers for supporting our vision to bring Slow Wine to Brooklyn. I've learned that if you dream of a specific future, work hard in the present and make it happen. By being open yet determined, by following our instincts, and trusting our palates, we happily sustain our thirst, and we hope yours too.

Inspiring Thirst: An Evening with Kermit Lynch

2009-10-11T14:47:00.010-04:00

I'm happy to announce a special upcoming event we've put together, in collaboration with Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant and the excellent people at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, INSPIRING THIRST: AN EVENING OF WINE WITH KERMIT LYNCH. It's a benefit for Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and will take place at their magnificent Palm House, BBG's Victorian Steinhardt Conservatory, on Wednesday, October 28th, from 6pm-8pm.

The Palm House at Brooklyn Botanic Garden is located at 1000 Washington Avenue. This is a unique opportunity to meet Kermit Lynch and taste 25 of his wines -- plus a few rare older vintages that Kermit has selected especially for this event from his cellar. Tickets are $40 and are only available in advance here.

Proceeds from the event will benefit Brooklyn Botanic Garden's community horticulture program, GreenBridge. For more than 15 years, GreenBridge has helped neighborhood organizations and schools improve the urban environment through education, conservation, sustainable gardening practices, and creative partnerships.

The South of France, Corsica, Paris

2009-09-30T15:06:00.002-04:00

In the crush of daily business I thought we'd never get to France.

The major highlight was definitely working the harvest with Emanuelle D and Laurent B of Dupéré Barrera/Clos de la Procure. Hand harvesting is incredibly hard work -- but, oh, so rewarding and, ultimately, pleasurable. Laurent and Emanuelle are equally hands-on in the cellar. With them we saw firsthand that slow wine takes vision, a lot of hard work, and patience. The reward is great wine, which is worth all the extra care and effort.

Another highlight for us was visiting several of our Corsican producers: Yves Leccia, Antoine Arena, Domaine Maestracci. We've wanted to go to Corsica for a long time. What a beautiful island!

Will post more about this trip as soon as I can.

Slow Wine

2009-08-22T16:31:00.030-04:00

There's more and more producers claiming to produce sustainable wines -- and wine stores claiming to sell them. But a lot of them aren't walking the walk. We're at a moment when Monsanto claims to be following a sustainable model.

Thirst was founded on the notion that we will sell only delicious wines made as naturally as possible. We search out wines that aren’t on steroids--what we like to call slow wines. Slow wines are the opposite of industrial wines. Industrial wines are mass-produced wines made from high-yielding irrigated vineyards, with grapes grown with herbicides and pesticides, mechanically harvested, engineered with lab yeasts, artificial flavors and stabilizers.

What's a slow wine? It's wine made from vineyards without pesticides or herbicides, and without chemical additives or added flavors in the cellar. Slow wines are made on a small scale from grapes grown in low-yielding dry-farmed vineyards farmed sustainably, organically or biodynamically. Slow winemakers harvest by hand by careful selection. Slow wines aren't made with laboratory yeasts but with ambient yeasts so that the fermented grapes can naturally express themselves and the place from which they come (terroir). New oak barrels, if used, are used judiciously. Many winemakers who take these approaches do so without certification, simply because they believe it's the way wine should be made.

Domaine Faury

2009-08-08T21:40:00.023-04:00

One of the most heartening things we notice as merchants, especially among Kermit Lynch’s producers, is continuity. Philippe Faury, for instance, works side by side with his son, Lionel (they’re pictured on the left). Philippe took over his family's 2.5 hectare estate in 1979. Since then he's expanded it to over 11 hectares. They now have vineyards in Cote Rotie, Condrieu and St. Joseph.

I've always had a particular affection for wines from the Northern Rhone. We especially love Faury's wines and have carried them at Thirst from the very beginning. Domaine Faury's wines are notable for their purity and elegance. We were eager to meet them, and excited to taste their wines, at their property last January.

Our special order of their 2008 Syrah has just arrived. It's essentially a baby St. Joseph meant to be drunk in its youth. The grapes come from young St. Joseph hillside vines and from older vines on the plateau above. Officially, it's classified as a Vin de Pays des Collines Rhodaniennes. It's juicy but a little meaty, with spice and pepper notes. An awesome inexpensive Syrah from the Northern Rhone--where Syrah is King. Great served slightly chilled.

We also have their Condrieu 2006, which is made from Viognier. A good Condrieu is hard to find and, unfortunately, they're not cheap. If you've ever wondered what a Condrieu tastes like, you must pick up a bottle. It's not screwed up, like many are, with new oak. It's piercing, powerfully aromatic. Of it Kermit Lynch has written: " I’ll start with what it is not: woody, cloying, flabby, showily shallow. Here are all the fireworks of Condrieu’s Viognier without it going too far. Stunning."

Their St. Joseph 2006 red is a benchmark Northern Rhone Syrah. The winemaker Steve Edmunds (Edmunds St. John): "[..]when I taste a wine like Philippe Faury’s Saint Joseph, with its textbook rendition of suave Syrah fruit and smoke and that spinetingling perfume of tender berries and violets, I feel a whisper of wildness in it, that presence of not just the human endeavour in that place, and that year, but of something elemental, behind those things, something inviting me to engage with it. Something very hard to name."

Ask About Gramenon

2009-07-26T15:57:00.027-04:00

Domaine Gramenon is located in the Southern Rhone in the heart of Drôme Provençal between Grignon and Nyons. Their vineyards extend over 24 hectares of slopes at 300 meters altititude. It’s one of the few producers that Thirst and Robert Parker both laud.

Gramenon is owned and operated by the charming and inspiring Michelle Aubrey-Laurent, with help from her son, Maxim-François. We were lucky enough to meet them at a salon tasting at their domaine last January. Their wines are featured in the best natural wine bars in Paris and are available at Thirst once again in very limited quantities. Gramenon's wines are always impeccable, pure, vividly colored, and dense, ripe (but not jammy or over-ripe). They farm their vines, ranging in age from young to over 130 years old, organically and biodynamically. They never fine or filter, use only indigenous yeast, and never add things like sugar or acid. Their bottling is unique: they bottle all their wines in late spring before their first summer following elevage with minimal to no sulfur. The soil is mostly calcareous clay with some parcels that have galets roulés and sand.

Newly arrived 2008 cuvées...

Poignée de raisins – "Handful of grapes" made mostly of young vines Grenache. A vin de soif meant for immediate consumption. Delicious slightly chilled.

La Sagesse – a powerful 100% Grenache cuvée that comes from old and wise vines.

Sierra du Sud – a 100% Syrah wine that tastes more like a St Joseph or Cornas than a Southern Rhone red.

Les Laurentides – an old vines blend of Grenache and Syrah that is like no other.

Two of our favorite Rhone producers, Catherine Le Goeuil (Domaine Catherine Le Goeuil) and Michelle Aubrey-Laurent (Domaine Gramenon).

The Brunier Brothers

2009-05-26T17:04:00.053-04:00

The Brunier brothers, Daniel and Frédéric, are the owners of Vieux Télégraphe, in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. In 1998, with partner Kermit Lynch, they purchased Domaine Les Pallières, in Gigondas, which had been owned by the Roux family since the beginning of the 15th Century, the land passing from generation to generation for almost 600 years. The property was in disrepair when they bought it from the last remaining heir, Pierre, who, in deteriorating health, was left running the estate alone, and they have meticulously revived the vineyards and renovated the winery.

The wines? Gorgeous. Taste and you'll immediately understand the greatness of Grenache. Even though both the Pallières and Vieux Télégraphe reds are made primarily with Grenache Noir (Pallières has a higher percentage in the blend), they are each remarkably different, but each delicious in their own right. Whereas Vieux Télégraphe is chewy, spicy, black cherries, Pallières flirts and seduces with its wild strawberry-raspberry fruit. Drinking them side-by-side is an elegant way to grasp the notion of terroir.

Thirst has the 2005 Pallières Gigondas and their ravishing 2008 Au Petit Bonheur Rosé on hand. In fact, we have virtually all of the Brunier Bros. wines in stock, including 05 and 06 Vieux Télégraphe, as well as their fantastic Le Pigeoulet en Provence red and white Vin de Pays wines (currently 06 and 08 respectively).

Beginning with the 2007 vintage, there will be two cuvées of Pallières: "Les Racines," and "Terrasse du Diable," which we tasted early barrel samples of in January.

A Mostly Off Day

2009-05-12T20:38:00.040-04:00

On a rare day mostly off from the shop, Emilia suggested I fire up the grill. At first I resisted. Then I relented. As usual, her instincts were spot-on.

It's a primal pleasure starting a fire and cooking over it. I use natural lump charcoal because there's no unnecessary things added to it like with regular charcoal (such as sawdust, Borax, Sodium Nitrate, starch, limestone). Therefore it doesn't yield awful chemical smells but instead imparts a delicious flavor to whatever you grill. It also doesn't need nasty lighter fluid to get it started (I tend to use just a few old pages of a newspaper). Luckily, I had a big bag of natural charcoal around that I bought last summer, but it shouldn't be hard to find this time of year.

We kept it simple. Burgers, using grass-fed ground beef from Albert Wilkow at the Fort Greene Farmers' Market. Blue Cheese from Pt. Reyes. Terrebrune Bandol Rosé 2006. An assortment of Rick's Picks to garnish.

Simply divine to slow down and linger over lunch outside in the sunshine and talk. Of course we brainstormed about Thirst, but it was so relaxing not to be in the thick of things.

After a rather long winter, and all the rain we've had in May, we really savored this SF-like day.

More Reasons Why Chardonnay Doesn't Suck

2009-04-29T19:41:00.024-04:00

I could live happily on a desert island with a cellar full of François and Antoine Jobard's wines.

In his 11/08 newsletter, Kermit Lynch described Jobard's 06s as "the best I have experienced from Jobard since his 1989s. Why? The vintage itself is opulent and showy. You combine that with the Jobard style—firm, mineral, discreet—and you have the best of all possible worlds. "

You should treat yourself to a bottle of their delicious Bourgogne Blanc 06. It gracefully hits all the classic notes (peach skin, toast, hazelnuts) but the vintage gives the wine a definite voluptuousness.

It's also reassuring to see, with François and Antoine, another example of continuity.

The Vin de Pays des Gaules is Here!

2009-04-17T20:45:00.024-04:00

Emilia and I are long-time fans of Lapierre's wines. We remember when the price for his Morgon was south of twenty dollars. His son, Matthieu, is now working alongside him. They make wine the way it should be made: vinify without SO2 and without adding additional yeasts. They cultivate their vines biodynamically, without weed killers or chemical fertilizers.

Yes, for a long time we've had an obsession with cru Beaujolais. From the time we opened, we sold the Gang of Four, and a slew of other cru (a kind of insane thing when you're operating a small store). There's something so alluring about the Gamay grape. It's hard to beat its versatility and food friendliness. What I love best, though, about the Lapierre wines is their purity.

Marcel & Matthieu Lapierre's Vin de Pays des Gaules 2008 is a true vin de soif (thirst-inspiring wine). It's super refreshing, best enjoyed with friends at picnics and barbeques. Serve it cool. It's a steal at $13.

We discovered the VdP des Gaules at a salon tasting with the Gang of Four Plus at the Lapierre property in January. I wish we weren't in such a rush to make it to the next stop because I could have spent an afternoon there, chatting with Matthieu, eating the delicious home-made food, and drinking the various wines. That's Matthieu on my right.

Amiot & Fils BGO Chardonnay 07 has Arrived!

2009-04-14T18:05:00.030-04:00

The wines from our January trip to France begin to trickle in.

One of our missions is to educate people about the beauty of Chardonnay, white Burgundy in particular. Early on at Thirst I conducted a tasting called "Why Chardonnay Doesn't Suck!" The wines from Guy Amiot & Fils we have in the store demonstrate how much finesse and structure Chardonnay can have. Yes, there's a lot of sucky over-oaked Chards out there, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

(Fabrice Amiot is pictured along with Claude-Geoffrey Thivin from Chateau Thivin at a Kermit Lynch Winemakers tasting at the store last October. )

I adore the supple richness of Amiot's old vines Chassagne-Montrachet, but the price tag isn't for everyone. When we tasted the latest vintage of Amiot's BGO Chardonnay at their property, we immediately became excited at the thought of selling (& drinking) it for a measly twenty bucks. It's delightful--un-oaked, crisp, with hints of limestone--a great Spring/Summer quaffer. It'll be regularly stocked in our personal refrigerator and I suspect, once you try it, you'll do the same.

Indications of Spring

2009-03-31T15:50:00.010-04:00

Henry

2009-03-18T19:15:00.006-04:00

Part of the fun of owning and working in a wine store is all of the awesome dogs and kids our customers bring in. Henry is a big-time fave.

A lot of dogs are excited to enter the store but Henry's entrance is like no other. He usually enters with a howl or two to announce his presence. He's handsome and really sweet. And he sports a mohawk. Here Emilia captured Henry happily licking his chops after being given a treat. If he were a wine, I think he'd be a feisty Regnie.

Lunch with Lulu

2009-03-14T16:57:00.021-04:00

There were so many highlights on our January trip. But THE highlight was meeting and having lunch with Lulu at Domaine Tempier. This was our last view of her prior to our departure. You can see her vivacity.

We learned about Lulu Peyraud, and her late husband Lucien, through two books that remain tremendous influences: Kermit Lynch's Adventures on the Wine Route and Richard Olney's Lulu's Provencal Table. Lucien was instrumental in the ascendence of the Bandol appellation and made Tempier into arguably the best winery in Bandol. I wish I could have met him.

Lulu is legendary for her food, generosity, and gracious hospitality. Meeting her was a dream realized. The reality far exceeded our expectations.

Very Happy Indeed

2009-03-06T21:18:00.023-05:00

Here I'm pictured, looking very happy indeed, with Thierry Allemand. We'd just finished tasting his deep purple, richly textured, gorgeous wines in his small, immaculate cellar.

Thierry is another fantastic producer imported by Kermit Lynch, and another one who didn't come from a family with a history of winemaking. Thierry grew up in Cornas fascinated by the vines and the wines that surrounded him. He worked as a cellar rat and managed to purchase an abandoned vineyard, Les Chaillots, in 1981. His first vintage was 1982. Later, he acquired a plot of old vines, Reynard, from Noel Verset.

His Syrahs are a real treat. Unfortunately his production is very small. Even less of his wines are available than Barral. However, Thirst will be getting some so, if you're curious, inquire.

Didier Barral & Maxime Magnon

2009-02-28T19:49:00.013-05:00

As you're beginning to see, on our January trip we had the pleasure of meeting many of our favorite winemakers, as well as discovering new ones. Here I'm pictured with Didier Barral on my right and Maxime Magnon on my left -- both true practitioners of natural winemaking.

Every year too little of Didier's wines are available. This year unfortunately there's even less than usual. Didier is a great champion of biodynamic farming and biodiversity. He firmly believes that his vineyards first and foremost must be diverse and healthy. His philosophy is that "all living things must be at home in my vineyards" -- and if you go to his website you'll see the evidence. His wines are truly unique: stony schist, Mediterranean sun, no SO2. They have perfume, depth... Get them whenever you have the chance. We have a miniscule amount at the moment at Thirst of three of his cuvees.

Maxime is a winemaker I first came across when he was mentioned by Kermit Lynch in the profile Eric Asimov wrote about Kermit in the New York Times in November 2007. I immediately had to try his wines and, ever since, have had them in the store. He too farms organically and his wines are expressive and fruity -- truly Thirst wines. He started making his own wines about five years ago with no vines and no money, renting vineyards and an abandoned shed. His wines have a definite sense of a place -- Corbieres -- but infused with the spirit of cru Beaujolais (he apprenticed, he told me, with Yvon Metras).

One of My Favorite Young Winemakers

2009-02-27T21:35:00.020-05:00

Christophe Buisson is one of my favorite young winemakers. I hadn't met him before this picture was taken. But from drinking his wines, learning his story, and selling his wines, I felt like I had. I was so excited finally to meet him! Most Burgundian winemakers inherit their vocation and their vineyards from their family. Christophe didn't, but from an early age KNEW he wanted to be a winemaker.

As you can sense, I'm very proud to represent his wines. His Sous le Chateau vineyard is on a slope that's super steep and faces east, which means morning sun covers the entire vineyard. The soil is chalky, which adds delicacy, pungency, character. He uses neither herbacides nor pesticides, and his approach is biodynamic. You must try his wines, which, because they come from a lesser known Burgundian appellation, St. Romain, are excellent values.

Meeting Marcel

2009-02-21T20:41:00.011-05:00

I was particularly pleased to meet Marcel Lapierre and his son Matthieu. We've enjoyed Lapierre's Morgon for a long, long time, and have sold it from the moment we opened, along with all the other Gang of Four producers, and many other cru Beaujolais as well. These are wines that can be relished young but yield special rewards when aged for several years in a good cellar. Marcel is one of the leading figures in Beaujolais and a critical figure in the natural wine movement. It was refreshing to see his son Matthieu's enthusiasm to make wine and spread the gospel. One of the many items we picked up on this trip is their Vin de Pays des Gaules, which I think is going to be a big hit at Thirst this spring and summer.

Back in the saddle again

2009-02-18T19:51:00.012-05:00

Since returning from our wine-buying trip in France I've been too busy to post. The trip was a super fantastic productive tasting marathon--and it felt exactly right. We learned a lot, tasted, tasted, tasted, tasted, tasted ... including many crazy older vintages, met some exceptional winemakers, and found some exciting new wines for the store. I will try to post more regularly and soon will put up pictures...

A Sense of Place

2008-12-12T12:28:00.043-05:00

A wine’s feel, its flavors, is defined by its environment, or terroir, which is the geology of the soil, the topography of the vineyard, the climate. It’s the vegetation that grows, and the food products that are produced and eaten, along with the wines. A good wine brings with it the feel of a place, invites you in to the pleasures of the table, brings people together.

We didn’t inherit this POV. When we first started down this road, we didn’t have a lot of money. We were living in San Francisco, bought food in bulk at places like Rainbow Grocery, shopped at Farmers’ Markets, cooked a lot at home, becoming more and more intensely curious about food and wine. We read cookbooks, read about wine, experimented, drank lots of different wines.

One of the cool things about being an American is how unlimited the choices are. But the number of choices can be overwhelming. And, because there isn’t a food and wine culture, a structure, like one would have, say, growing up in Burgundy, it’s daunting trying to figure things out, how to pair this with that.

Luckily in the San Francisco Bay Area fresh ingredients and good local wines are pretty easy to find. Thanks to people like Alice Waters, California Cuisine is a defined entity. Occasionally, we treated ourselves to a nice bottle, or were given one as a gift. We quickly found we preferred certain varietals and wanted to understand their roots. Which led us to the Kermit Lynch store in Berkeley, which was a revelation, a turning point, in our wine exploration/education. Whereas California wines, like New World wines in general, tend to have over-extracted flavors and high levels of alcohol, greet you like a punch in the face, Kermit Lynch’s traditional French wines are all about finesse and grace.

In the wine-producing regions of Europe, decisions on food and wine pairing fairly effortlessly reflect a sense of place. In America, pairing wine with food comes less naturally. We tend to feel intimidated, or think it’s pretentious, to talk about wine and to think about food and wine pairings. But wine and food are blessings, things to be enjoyed while you learn more and more about them. Maintain an open mind and give yourself the liberty to enjoy the open road.

Time Slows Down

2008-12-06T10:36:00.038-05:00

Being a small business owner, it’s a challenge to take care of all the things that need to be addressed. But it’s a hell of a lot saner now with just Thirst on my plate. In fact, I'm downright freakin' happy.

At the moment I'm particularly juiced about two fantastic cuveés from Maxime Magnon, Rozeta (Carignan, Grenache, Syrah) and Campagnès (100% Carignan from 100-year-old vines) that recently arrived. Maxime is a young, artisanal vigneron based in Corbières. Wow, smell and taste the influence of the Gang of Four, but with a twist. In the glass is Languedoc, and in his talented hands the wines absolutely sing.

If you haven’t visited us, and you’re in or around Brooklyn, New York, stop by and say hello. I think you'll find our selection interesting and thirst-inspiring, and discover some new gems that you won't find anywhere else.

Thankful

2008-11-22T20:46:00.037-05:00

I'm thankful to be able to supply our neighborhood with wines and spirits, to be a part of our community.

I'll never forget working with Emilia in the store Election Day evening, sharing stories about how long people stood in line to vote, how momentous it felt. Most of our regulars were hopeful and eager to celebrate but, after the previous two Presidential Elections, nervous about the outcome -- no matter what the pollsters were reporting. Nor will I ever forget my sense of sheer joy, or the spontaneous expressions of celebration all around me, when Barack Obama was declared the winner.

In NY, freezing temperatures and Thanksgiving go hand in hand. Growing up in Queens, Thanksgiving was a rare day when my father wasn't working in his grocery store. Different members of our extended family owned different holidays. While one aunt and uncle got dreary Yom Kippur, my mom had ownership of festive Thanksgiving. While mom prepared the Big Meal, dad and I would generally spend the morning together. I remember sitting on his shoulders watching the Macy's Parade. On another occasion, a few years later, bundled up beside him drinking hot chocolate on the sidelines of a Hofstra football game, a fierce wind feeling as if it was going to lift me off the ground. This year, Emilia and I will be working. Thirst will open a little early, 10am, and close early, 4pm.

My mom cooked like someone for whom cooking was a chore, tending to overcook things. There were some dishes she made that I found satisfying, like her tunafish salad, but I never saw her read a cookbook. Nonetheless she always made sure we were fed (and, especially, that I, her only son, was well fed). And food, of course, was especially abundant on T-Day when mom cooked fiendishly, stressed out and irritable, especially if my sisters weren't particularly helpful in the kitchen. Meanwhile the adults drank cocktails and joked, all of us hoping the turkey and stuffing weren't dried out. Regardless, when dinner was served, everyone ate heartily, with great relish even, adults at the main table, children at a card table nearby, and compliments were plentiful.

Awe-Inspiring & Unbelievable

2008-11-17T19:20:00.029-05:00

Penguin's in the rear view mirror. My exhaustion dissipates. After sleeping in four days straight, I work out four days in a row. My energy comes back!

What an unbelievable joy it is to sleep in, leisurely read the NY Times, listen to NPR, meander, brainstorm, run errands, focus exclusively on the store.

Thirst has a number of in-store tastings coming up that I'm eagerly anticipating. In the immediate future, we have a Beaujolais Nouveau Celebration this Thursday, Zev Rovine on Sunday, and, wow!, host Amy Lillard from La Gramiere on Tuesday.

Emilia and I are excitedly planning our January wine trip!

And, yes, my birthday wish was granted. Thanks to everyone who made it happen! Our 44th President is a thinker, a reader, one real smart dude! Yay!

The Present I Want

2008-10-28T12:56:00.043-04:00

Less than two weeks before my exodus from Penguin, it feels as if I’m on the brink of Liberation. My last day happens to be my birthday. The only other present I want is President Obama!

The Kermit Lynch Lollapalooza Tasting was an absolute unfiltered blast. Emilia and I were a bit nervous about hosting six winemakers in our little store, but it went off without a hitch. It was great to see so many of our regular customers happily tasting the wines, interacting with the winemakers, and eating the meat and cheeses that Emilia selected.

Afterward we had dinner with the winemakers at Abistro. Everyone there, as always, was warm and hospitable, and the wines were showing great, especially Amiot’s Chassagne-Montrachet, which a number of our customers told us was a highlight (along with Thivin’s Côte de Brouilly). We also sampled a few that aren’t currently in the market that I hope Thirst will soon be able to offer. It was a pleasure again having dinner with Bruce Neyers and catching up with him. We settled on a plan to visit with him in France in a couple of months. I can hardly wait to meet Lulu Peyraud, who has had such a tremendous impact on us, and to taste with Aubert de Villaine!

Near the end of our dinner, which was excellent, especially the plantain gnocchi, Nucomme, who manages Abistro, greeted us looking like a latter-day Josephine Baker. She was made up for a performance she was giving later that evening nearby. I wish we could have checked it out but Emilia’s been fighting the flu and we’d already had a long day setting up the store for the tasting. Next time I have to make it to one of Nucomme’s shows--and you do too!

A Peek into the Life of a Wine Merchant

2008-10-23T16:38:00.016-04:00

Tuesday: The well-attended, festive Louis/Dressner National Tasting/20^th Birthday Celebration. Taste hundreds of mind-bogglingly Real Wines in as coherent a fashion as possible, eat delicious food (thanks, largely, to the M in LDM, Kevin McKenna, I think), meet Joe’s rightfully proud mother (again), linger over the ’88 table, and schmooze with the glittering natural wine cognoscenti. Here’s to another 20 years!

Wednesday: A surprise dinner invite from my favorite contemporary sax player, Bill McHenry. Bill made a convivial Indian feast and regaled and inspired all of us with his wise insights into the human condition. Bill, thank you!

Tonight, from 6-8, Michael Messenie from Savio Soares returns for an in-store tasting. Mike will pour two Mittelrhein wines from Matthieu Muller (an 07 Kabinett Trocken with 8.8 grams of residual sugar and an 06 Spatlese with 101 grams of residual sugar) and a Mosel made by Michael Boch (a Beerenauslese with 161.5 grams of residual sugar). Savio himself is expected to drop by. We’re looking forward to dinner after hours with Savio and Mike -- an opportunity to taste more of Savio’s wines

Tomorrow, Friday, from 6-8, a Kermit Lynch Lollapalooza! featuring Christine Boucard, Domaine Chanteleuserie (Bourgeuil), Claude-Edouard Geoffray, Chateau Thivin (Cote de Brouilly, Brouilly), Olivier Savary, Domaine Savary (Chablis), Marie Zabalia, Chateau Saint Martin de la Garrigue (Coteaux du Languedoc), Fabrice Amiot, Domaine Guy Amiot (Chassagne-Montrachet) and Bruce Neyers, Neyers Vineyards (St. Helena, CA--and the National Sales Director for KLWM). Afterward, dinner with the winemakers and more winetasting!

Change

2008-10-13T15:29:00.012-04:00

Fear rules us too much. Now is the time to embrace change.

I've been working two full-time jobs for two years and I'm more than ready to leave my day job behind. Goodbye corporate boredom! Okay, there are some stimulating things about working in book publishing that I will miss, but I feel as if I was meant to be a wine merchant. And, boy, is it much better to be your own boss, even though running a small business is probably one of the most difficult things one can do. But it can also be one of the most satisfying. In fact, it's been a tremendous pleasure, beyond my expectations, to be able to start and run Thirst with Emilia. Our dialog about Thirst makes it better and truer.

The trick is not to be completely consumed by the store. When my father was a grocery store owner, the city required that he be closed one day a week. Now, that idea seems quaint and distant. It was hard for him to stop working but it might be even harder for me because I'm so obsessed with our products.

This is such an interesting time to live in. Scary, yes, but also a time when there is a sense of hopefulness. We are blessed, too, to have the best customers.