Grape Collective

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there. Although at Grape Collective every day is Mother’s Day.

Gundlach Bundschu Winery Gewürztraminer in Two Bottles: Decanting Drama "When people talk about outstanding Gewürz from California, you’re likely to hear the names of two family-owned wineries: Navarro Vineyards and Winery in the Alexander Valley in Mendocino and Gundlach Bundschu. We consider Navarro’s Dry Gewürz a unicorn wine and we do our happy dance when we find it. We’ve been fans of Gundlach Bundschu for so long that, more than 20 years ago, we visited the winery, bought a bottle of its Kleinberger (which it doesn’t make anymore) and had a picnic with it right there." Dorothy Gaiter John Brecher https://grapecollective.com//gundlach-bundschu-gewrztramin

The sun is out, that means it is time to pop some pét-nats! With these bubbly wines becoming increasingly popular, we thought we would give you a run down of what pét-nats are and how they are made. Pét-nat is short for pétillant naturel, meaning naturally sparkling. Normally, our favorite sparkling wines like Champagne and Cava are made by fermenting grapes into still wine, and then inducing a second fermentation in the bottle by adding yeast and sugar. As the yeast... consume the sugars they produce carbon dioxide, which makes the wines bubbly! Pét-nats, on the other hand, are bottled during their first fermentation, keeping all of the carbon dioxide in the bottle as the wine is fermenting. This makes pét-nats delightfully fizzy, and allows each bottle to be a unique experience. We have a great selection of pét-nats at our Broadway location right now including the ones you see here! Great options from the Finger Lakes, the Loire Valley, and even Slovenia! Come by and check them out!

Thoroughbred, and Thoroughly Delicious: An Interview with Bill Cromwell of PinhookBourbon "Our founder was a sommelier for a long time, so we started to look at whiskey a little bit more like wine, where the grain that we’re distilling with, the oak that we’re aging in, the temperature in Kentuckyall these things are going to fluctuate year to year, so the whiskey’s going to inevitably show differently." https://grapecollective.com//thoroughbred-and-thoroughly-d

Bumped into John Martini of @anthonyroadwine at @unsqgreenmarket - lovely #fingerlakeswine #drinklocal

New Wine Club 3 Pack for May! Today was a great reminder of how much the weather can vary in the Spring and that you should be prepared accordingly with a variety of great wines! Our new Wine Club picks can help you stock up for the sunniest days outside and the rainy nights in. Ranging from a crisp Austrian Grüner Veltliner, to a light and chillable Gamay Noir from Sonoma Coast, to the concentrated but elegant Rosso di Montalcino from Tuscany. Come check out the great deal you can get on this 3 pack at the Broadway Location!

Nebbiolo in the Alps: A New Generation Helps Chart Valtellina's Renaissance "Valtellina is one of the wine world’s most extreme and challenging locations. The terraced vineyards there face south, basking in uncommon amounts of sunlight in the valley that runs east to west." Dorothy Gaiter John Brecher https://grapecollective.com//nebbiolo-in-the-alps-a-new-ge

New York Winery Feature: Red Tail Ridge Red Tail Ridge is a winery in the Finger Lakes that doesn’t shy away from some experimentation. They approach winemaking with creativity, exploring the potential of different grape varieties and winemaking techniques in the Finger Lakes region. You can learn more about Red Tail Ridge in the interview Experimentation in the Finger Lakes: Nancy Ireland of Red Tail Ridge on the Grape Collective site! If you are looking to try somethin...g different from the Finger Lakes, you should check out this fun and fizzy Red Tail Ridge Pint Noir Pet Nat! Here is the description of this wine from Red Tail Ridge "Pétillant Naturel (pét-nat) actually refers to the winemaking process used to produce this fizzy wine. The process is non-interventionist and ancient. Fermenting juice resulting from an indigenous fermentation is captured, during the primary fermentation, in bottle. Each bottle is a unique, ecological riff on the juice and its occupants. Hence there can be tremendous variation in sweetness, mouthfeel, appearance, aromatics and flavor from bottle to bottle." This would be a perfect bottle to pick up for Open Local Wine Day tomorrow! Come by and check out our awesome New York wine selection!

@nycrestaurants explores @domainesalbertbichot from Chablis to Beaujolais - check it out at GrapeCollective.com banner by @piersparlett

Finger Lakes Riesling The Finger Lakes are best known for their beautifully aromatic and wildly acidic Rieslings. Here are three Rieslings from the Finger Lakes we love from amazing producers who have been leading the way in advancing the viticulture and winemaking practices in the Finger Lakes. Here are some exerpts from our interviews with these winemakers discussing Riesling and Finger Lakes wine: Fred Merwarth, Hermann J. Wiemer Winery - Ithink Riesling is special and a... very good indication of what we can do here, because if you grow the plants right, they show a true sense of placeThe true identity of the Finger Lakes, people talk about the acidity, and I think that it's the balance of acidity with its ripeness. The other part is having such differences from one site to another site. Thomas Pastuszak, Empire Estate Winery - We launched the wine project with the specific intent that there's not enough people drinking Finger Lakes wine and there's not enough people drinking dry Riesling. Riesling as a varietal has planted itself as the flagship varietal for the Finger Lakes in terms of white wine. Kim Engle, Bloomer Creek Winery - If I had to give up everything else, I would grow Riesling and make Riesling wine. If you haven’t tried Finger Lakes Riesling, you should definitely pick up a bottle for Open Local Wine Day on April 10th! The wines shown here are available at our Broadway location! You can read more about each of these wineries in the articles on our online Grape Collective Magazine! #openlocalwine

New York Winery Feature: Anthony Road We love the wines from Anthony Road and we think their Rosé of Cab Franc and Pinot Gris would be perfect to enjoy in the nice Spring weather this week. We are featuring New York winemakers this week in preparation for Open Local Wine Day this Saturday, April 10th. So make sure to pick up your favorite New York wine from us by then! Anthony Road is a producer in the Finger Lakes that makes high quality wines on Seneca Lake. In addition to... making beautiful Rieslings, they have experimented with growing many other grapes. We love their Pinot Gris and Rosé of Cabernet Franc, which are currently available at our Broadway Location! You can find out more about Anthony Road and their experiments with Riesling and other grape varietals in our interview with them on the Grape Collective Magazine website! The Pinot Gris is dry and light bodied with bright citrus, floral, herbaland nutty flavors. A lovely example of the Pinot Gris style! The Rosé of Cab Franc has wonderfully juicy aromas and flavors of watermelon, cherry, strawberry, and orange with a lingering minerality. #openlocalwine

April 10th is Open Local Wine Day, so all week we are going to share some information with you on New York wines! There are several winemaking regions in New York State including the Finger Lakes, Long Island, Niagara Escarpment, Lake Erie, and the Hudson River Region. We have a wide selection of wines available from the Finger Lakes and Long Island so here is a brief overview on these regions! The Finger Lakes: ... The Finger Lakes are a group of lakes in upstate New York named after their semblance to fingers. These lakes were formed by glaciers receding at the end of the last ice age, leaving 11 lakes and glacial soils in the region. The lakes are actually what allow the grapes to grow in this region so successfully. They help moderate the temperatures of the vineyards, insulating the vines in the winter, and cooling them in the summer. The Finger Lakes are most well known for their Riesling. These wines can be made in dry, off dry, or sweet styles, and offer lovely aromatics and high acidity. In addition to Riesling you can find great Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir from the Finger Lakes! Many producers are now experimenting with different grape varieties and winemaking styles, so we can expect great things to continue to come from this region! Long Island: The end of Long Island is divided into two forks, most of the winemaking occurs on the Northfork and has been designated as the Northfork AVA. On the other side there is The Hamptons AVA. The Atlantic Ocean plays a big role in the climate in this area, helping moderate the temperatures in the hot Summers. The Atlantic Maritime climate in this area is often compared to that of Bordeaux, and many of the grape varieties seen in Bordeaux are very successful in Long Island. There are some really great examples of Merlot and Cabernet Franc coming from this region, but you can find a lot of other great wines here too! This week we will feature some of our favorite wines that we offer from New York State and spread some love to our local wineries in preparation for Open Local Wine Day! We are looking forward to sharing some amazing New York wines with you. #openlocalwine

Warren Winiarski’s Aha moment - the new column by @dottieandjohn at grapecollective.com banner by @piersparlett

Warren Winiarski’s ‘Aha!’ Moment With Nathan Fay’s Homemade Wine Winiarski compares his time at Souverain and Robert Mondavi Winery to climbing ever-taller peaks. They were my guided lesser peaks, and Ivancie was my attempt at a solo. Column by Dorothy Gaiter John Brecher https://grapecollective.com//warren-winiarskis-aha-moment-

Getting to Know Marvelous Montecucco: Interview with Giovan Battista of Basile Organic Farm by Lisa Denning https://grapecollective.com//seeing-montecucco-through-the

Santa Cruz Mountains and Drew Huffine of Trail Marker Wine Co "We wanted to work with mountain fruit, we wanted to find undersung sites and really bring them to people; this was a desire to create wines that were beautiful, that presented the terroir and individuality of their sites." -Drew Huffine by Jonathan G Bomberg https://grapecollective.com//santa-cruz-mountains-and-drew

Matrot Burgundy: In the Sixth Generation, Daughters Take Charge "As winemakers we are obsessed with quality and we are aware that we are very lucky to take care of such beautiful terroirs. Indeed the terroir of Burgundy is amazing and you cannot find it anywhere else on earth." Adèle and Elsa Matrot column by Dorothy Gaiter John Brecher https://grapecollective.com//matrot-burgundy-in-the-sixth-