Didier Barral & Maxime Magnon

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

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 herbicides 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

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

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

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

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

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.