Vintry Wines – a swanky addition to a winey part of NYC
So if a sleek wine shop opened in the arcade under the new Goldman Sachs building, you’d expect it to have oversized bottles of first growths and Napa cabs, right? Well, Vintry Wine and Spirits has plenty of trophy bottles, but it also has some reasonably priced and very drinkable ones.
Nestled among the magnums and imperials on the sleek shelves are the wines of Arianna Occhipinti from Sicily, Ar.Pe.Pe in Valtellina, and Chateau Thivin from Beaujolais among the shop’s 2,500 bottles. Clearly whoever assembled the selection thought about serving the area’s residents as well as the Masters of the Universe in the tower above. And that decision fell to Michael Martin, general manager, who told me that most of the purchases thus far have been between $20 and $40 a bottle–although one customer did buy a $2,000 bottle on whim on his way to the register. One of the store’s owners, Peter Poulakakos, comes from a fine wine background as his father owns Harry’s Steak, which has a lengthy wine list.
Customers who care to probe the shop’s inventory can talk to the staff or tap on one of the iPads mounted throughout the swanky shop. Mike told me that he’s most proud of the Champagne and Burgundy selections, and they are particularly deep, with many grower Champagnes (though the only Selosse is the Initiale!).
But there’s one wine that customers won’t find here: Yellow Tail chardonnay. Time for those who want it to get familiar with Chablis…
Just across the West Side Drive in Tribeca are three other stores that are also worth noting: Chambers Street Wines, a national leader; Frankly Wines, the most charming 300 sq. ft. wine shop in Manhattan; and New York Vintners, which has many events with winemakers among other charms. This area gives the locals plenty of choice and makes it wine destination neighborhood for the rest of us.
Vintry Fine Wines, 230 Murray Street (West Street), Battery Park City, (212) 240-9553, vintryfinewines.com
On February 12th, 2012 at 2:56 pm ,Winepine wrote:
There are still alot of people at Goldman Sachs on a budget!
I love how sleek the store’s ambiance is.
On February 13th, 2012 at 3:56 pm ,Emily wrote:
I just became a new reader to your blog, I love what you write about. The way you write about wine makes the information very approachable to someone who is just looking to learn. I am curious though, what grape variety do you think will be most popular this winter?
On July 8th, 2012 at 4:48 pm ,Susan B wrote:
I went to Vintry Fine Wines today since I remembered your post and I was in the neighborhood. I totally disagree with your assessment of this shop. The prices of wines that I was familiar with were much higher than in other stores such as Astor Wines. In addition, I was almost warned off buying a bottle of Occhipinti Alter Ego because it is an unusual wine and instead of trying wine from a producer I know it would be better to buy wines in a style that I know and like. I was quite taken aback. Who buys only things they have tried a million times? How would anyone who is not in the business learn about wine and, in the words of Gary V, “expand your palate” if you only bought wines in a style you already knew and liked. In that neighborhood, I much prefer Chambers Street Wines and Frankly Wines.
On October 18th, 2012 at 2:42 am ,Wino wrote:
I have to disagree with Susan B. here. How many stores are willing to warm a willing customer that a wine is potentially bizarre, which is the case with the Occhipinto wines? Their advice sounds friendly and wise, as opposed to some hippie shop that will sell you any brett bomb or re-fermenting tree-hugger wine because it’s the cool thing to do. That’s especially true if they don;t know you as a customer yet.