Month: April 2025

Frederick Wildman Grand Tasting NYC 2025

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I’m still going with the trade/industry tastings. On March 26th I attended the Frederick Wildman & Son New York Grand Portfolio Tasting.

Frederick Wildman is a long time, established distributor celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. They have a large portfolio of worldwide wines and spirit.

With such a large portfolio they needed a lot of space to hold the tasting. The tasting was held at the Guastavino’s event space located at 212 East 59th Street on the East side of Manhattan at the foot of the Queensborough (59th St) bridge.

This space is an architectural landmark with soaring Guastavino vaulted tiled ceilings rising two stories.

Guastavino tiles are an arched, vaulted type of construction introduced into the United States in 1885 by Rafael Guastavino. In addition to this event space, examples of these tiled archways can be found around New York City including the Grand Central Oyster Bar and the City Hall subway station. It’s hard to believe that at one time, the city of New York used this space to store garbage trucks.

Wildman’s portfolio is strong with Burgundy and high end California red wines which is where I focused my time.

Some highlights:

2009 Chateau de Camensac (Haut-Medoc): Clear medium purple, ripe red fruit with earth notes on the nose, silky red fruit, dusty, long finish, nice balance.

2016 Chateau Cantenac Brown (Margaux): Clear medium brick, tar and leather on the nose, juicy with crushed stone and green herbs notes nice balance.

2022 Olivier Leflaive Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru du Domaine (Burgundy): Light gold in color, toasty tropical fruit notes on the nose, juicy, toasty fruit finishing with good acidity and lime notes.

2022 Lignier Michelot Morey-St. Denis 1er Cru Les Faconnieres (Burgundy): Clear light purple, crushed red fruit on the nose, juicy red fruit with slate notes, good balance.

2022 Domaine Antonin Guyon Chambolle-Musigny Les Cras (Burgundy): Clear light purple, spicy red fruit on the nose, juicy with leather and stone notes, good grip.

2019 Arkenstone Estate Cabernet Sauvignon NVD (Napa Valley): Opaque black, purple rim, graphite and stone notes on the nose, chewy and chunky sweet red fruit, silky tannins. good grip.

2019 David Arthur Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Three Acre Ranch Pritchard Hill (Napa Valley): Clear medium red, tar, crushed black fruit an roast nuts on the nose, juicy ripe fruit with silky tannins.

2020 Bond Vecina Vineyard (Napa Valley): Clear dark red, sweet tar and roast nuts on the nose, silky red fruit, dusty tannins, good grip.

2020 Harlan Estate Red (Napa Valley): Clear dark red, closed nose of crushed raspberry, silky red fruit ending with dusty tannins.

2020 Arkenstone Estate Red Blend Howell Mt. (Napa Valley): Opaque black, purple rim, toasty crushed stone on the nose, dense and chewy with roast meat notes, silky tannins, great balance.

2021 Persus Alessio (Napa Valley): Opaque black, purple rim, overripe fruit and mint on the nose, juicy, silky black fruit with a good grip and nice balance.

2021 Lithology Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon (Napa Valley): Opaque black, purple rim, dusty, crushed black fruit on the nose, dense, chewy black fruit with graphite notes, good grip and balanced.

2021 Knights Bridge Red Blend Haggerty Road (Sonoma): Opaque black, purple rim, violets and milk chocolate on the nose, tight, dense and concentrated silky red fruit, balanced.

2021 Larkmead Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Solari (Napa Valley): Opaque black, purple rim, coffee and roast nuts on the nose with dense red cherry fruit.

2022 Persus Bryn (Napa Valley): Opaque black, purple rim, crushed red fruit and graphite on the nose, juicy and chunky fruit with silky tannin and moderate acidity.

RNDC Spring Trade Show 2025

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Twice every year, in the Autumn and in the Spring, the distributors of wine and spirits in the three-tier system that we have in New York State have their trade shows. This is where they showcase their products to the members of the hospitality industry.

Depending on the company, this may mean a small, intimate tasting or a tasting in a huge event space to accommodate the dozens, if no hundreds of wines and spirits they have in their portfolio.

On March 25th I attended the Spring trade show for Republic National Distributing Company.

The event was held at The Pool, a restaurant in the Seagram’s Building at 99 East 52th Street in Midtown Manhattan. It’s the site of the former Four Seasons restaurant and yes, there is a small pool in one of the dining rooms.

The distributor represents many wine and spirit companies that were on display this day. They particularly have a nice spirits portfolio with the highlight, in my opinion, was the vertical of vintage Armagnac from Bhakta Spirits that are for sale. They have single vintage Armagnac bottled from 1990 to 1946. It was an amazing experience to sample them.

Some of what I sampled:

2017 Forman Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley): Clear medium red, sweet tar on the nose, silky dark fruit with dark chocolate notes, great structure, long finish.

2018 St. Supery Vineyards Estate Elu Red Blend (Napa Valley): Opaque dark red, purple rim, sweet tar and roast meat on the nose, chewy, silky dark fruit with stone notes, great balance.

2018 Merryvale Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley): Opaque dark red, purple rim, sweet smoke and black cherry on the nose, concentrated fruit with black olive and white pepper notes, nice structure.

2018 Marquis de Caceres Gran Reserva (Rioja): Opaque black, brick rim, crushed red cherry on the nose, chewy black fruit ending with firm, silky tannins.

2019 Forman Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley): Clear dark red, sweet tar and red cherry on the nose, silky red fruit with green herb notes, great balance.

2021 Duckhorn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley): Opaque black, purple rim, closed nose of sweet black olives, chewy milk chocolate fruit with crushed stone notes, nice balance.

2021 Clos du Val Yettalil Red Stags Leap District (Napa Valley): Opaque black, purple rim, sweet tar on the nose, chewy black fruit with graphite notes, good balance, long finish.

2021 Black Stallion Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Sam Jasper (Napa Valley): Opaque dark purple, purple rim, nose of sweet crushed red fruit, concentrated black cherry fruit with slate notes, dusty finish, great balance.

2021 Hobbs Family Winery Pinot Noir Eola Amity (Willamette Valley): Clear medium purple, red tar on the nose, tight red fruit with green herb notes, firm tannins.

2022 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape (Rhone): Opaque dark red, brick rim, closed nose of roasted nuts, chunky, tight dark fruit ending with dusty, crisp tannins.

2022 Clos du Val Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley): Opaque dark red, purple rim, tar and green olives on the nose, juicy red fruit with green herb notes, crisp finish.

Chateau D’Yquem Vertical Tasting NYC

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On March 18th, I attended the first annual Platinum brand portfolio tasting of importer and distributor Misa NY & NJ. As part of the tasting, they held a seminar for the wines of Chateau D’Yquem which I was fortunate enough to attend. The event was held at an event space at 33 West 19th Street in Manhattan.

Sauterne is an iconic sweet dessert wine and along with another sweet white wine, Barsac, is produced in southeast Bordeaux.

The wines are made using the Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle grape varietals. A distinguishable characteristic of these wine is that they are produced after the grapes are infected with a fungus, Botrytis Cenerea also called Noble Rot. The fungus shrivels the grapes and concentrates the sugars and flavors. The best wines have a balance of sweetness and acidity.

At the top of the pyramid when it comes to Sauterne are the wines from the 400 year-old Chateau D’Yquem which many consider make the greatest sweet wine in the world. They pick the grapes by hand with multiple passes through the vineyard.

At the seminar these are the wines served:

2016 “Y” D’Yquem: 75% Sauvignon Blanc 25% Semillon. A rare dry white wine from D’Yquem, Clear light gold with green tints, sweet grass and lime notes on the nose, juicy chewy white fruit with green herbs, balance acids and tannins.

2022 Chateau D’Yquem: 80% Semillon 20% Sauvignon Blanc. This vintage is the current bottling released on the week of this tasting. Clear dark gold, sweet peaches on the nose, nice balance of fruit an acidity.

2015 Chateau D’Yquem: 75% Semillon 25% Sauvignon Blanc: Clear dark gold, ripe vegetal nose, chewy canned peaches on the fruit, getting cardboard flavors.

2010 Chateau D’Yquem: 87% Semillon 13% Sauvignon Blanc: Clear dark gold, green herbs and peaches on the nose, thick with good acidity.

2005 Chateau D’Yquem 80% Semillon, 20% Sauvignon Blanc: My favorite of the vertical, clear dark gold, tree bark notes on the nose, chewy and silky with good acidity.

La Paulée Burgundy Verticals Tasting NYC 2025

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La Paulée began as communal banquet for growers and their workers in Burgundy around the region of Meursault, France.

In 2000, Daniel Johnnes brought the concept to New York City and this event was the 25th anniversary of La Paulée New York City. This year the event was also held in San Francisco and Tennessee.

It’s the premier Burgundy event in the city with several days of lunches, (expensive) dinners, seminars and tastings. The three walk around tastings consisted of the Grand Tasting which is their signature event where they poured the most current vintage of Premier Cru and Grand Cru wines, the “Off Grid” tasting which featured more accessible (and not crazy expensive) Burgundian wines, and the third event was the Verticals tasting which showcased older vintages of Premier and Grand Cru Burgundy wines.

I was lucky enough to attend the Verticals tasting on Friday morning. This was a great opportunity to experience some of the most famous wines of the world with some age to them. Only with this caliber of wines will you bring out dedicated wine drinkers to an event with an 10am start time.

The pinot noirs of Burgundy are the template of what every wine maker in the world that grows pinot noir strive to emulate.

They are some of the finest wines of the world but, in my opinion, also some of the most challenging wines to appreciate. A wine region like Bordeaux is pretty consistent but when it comes to Burgundy, even with the great Domaines, the wines can be hit or miss many times. Many of the wines I sampled this afternoon were difficult to drink with the high acids and high tannins that many of them showed, even in the older vintages. In any case, it still was a great experience.

The tasting was held at Second in the Eventi Hotel at 851 6th Avenue in Manhattan.

Some of what I sampled;

White

2018 Joseph Drouhin Montrachet Grand Cru “Marquis de Laguiche”: Clear light gold, tropical fruit notes on the nose with juicy peach notes, great balance with a long finish.

2018 Pierre Girardin Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru: Clear light gold, light toast notes on the nose with crisp toast note on the fruit.

2022 Pierre Girardin Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru: Clear light gold, big, toasty nose, chewy, toasty fruit, nice acidity.

Red

1999 Domaine Faiveley Corton Grand Cru “Clos des Cortons Faiveley”: Clear medium brick, warm ripe fruit on the nose, dusty leather notes and green graphite on the finish, crunchy tannins.

2006 Domaine Dujac Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru “Aux Combottes”: Clear light brick, cigarette smoke, dusty tar and green herbs on the nose, cherry red leather fruit ending with mouth coating tannins.

2009 Domaine Simon Bize Savigny les Beaune 1er Cru “Aux Vergelesses Rouge”: Clear light brick, barnyard red fruit on the nose, chewy black licorice fruit with silky big tannins.

2009 Domaine Simone Bize Savigny les Beaune 1er Cru “Aux Vergelesses Rouge”: Clear light brick, barnyard and red fruit on the nose, chewy black licorice fruit with silky, big tannins.

2012 Domaine David Duband Latricieres-Chambertin Grand Cru en magnum: Opaque brown, tar, mint and graphite on the nose, chewy milk chocolate fruit, firm, silky tannins.

2012 Domaine de Montille Beaune 1er Cru “Les Greves”: Clear light brick, barnyard on the nose, tight red fruit with leather notes, tight and tart.

2016 Domaine Didier Fornerol Cote de Nuits Villages “La Rue des Foins”: Clear light purple, slight toast and barnyard on the nose, chewy red licorice fruit, very firm tannins.

2016 Domaine Georges Mugneret Gibourg Clos Vougeot Grand Cru: Clear light brick, smoke and sweet red leather on the nose, tight, chewy fruit with some earth notes, big tannins.

2017 Domaine Hudelot Noellat Vosne Romanee 1er Cru “Les Suchots”: Clear light brick, dirty ripe fruit on the nose, chewy black licorice fruit, silky tannins, long finish.

2017 Domaine Denis Mortet Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru “Lavaux Saint Jacques”: Clear light brick, sweet earth and tar on the nose, chewy sweet fruit, silky tannins and graphite notes on the finish.

2018 Domaine Derey Freres Fixin “Les Clos”: Clear light brick, closed nose of sweet candy, cooked vegetable notes on the fruit, silky tannins.

2019 Domaine Simon Bize Savigny les Beaune 1er Cru Aux Vergelesses Rouge: Clear light brick, barnyard nose, juicy red fruit with earth notes, balanced finish.

2019 Domaine Faiveley Corton Grand Cru “Clos des Cortons Faively”: Clear light purple, dirty violets on the nose, juicy, chewy leather red fruit, nice balance.

2019 Domaine Didier Fornerol Cote de Nuits Villages “La Rue des Foins”: Clear medium purple, barnyard and dark chocolate on the nose, chewy fruit with roast nuts and smoke on the finish ending with good acidity.

2019 Domaine Yvon Clerget Clos Vougeot Grand Cru: Clear light brick, barnyard and graphite on the nose, chewy raspberry fruit ending with graphite notes and silky tannins.