ShopEatDrink

Sample sales are legendary, at least in the fashion world. The venerable wine glass company, Riedel, jumped into the fray with its first sample sale ever in New York City. I had the good fortune of being in NYC on sale day. Chelsea Market was the location, and I arrived a little more than 30 minutes early, and was 5th in line. By the time the doors opened, more than 50 people had cued up.

The calm before the storm:

What we found – boxes and boxes of glassware and decanters. If you were looking for the Riedel Amadeo decanter, this was the place to get a deal. Most prices at up to 70% off retail.

Also saw a lot of “tasting sets” with varietal specific glasses. I snapped up O Chardonnay glasses and tubes of the O Cabernet/Merlot glasses. I lost out on the last box of champagne flutes. There were also a lot of the Vinum and the Tyrol series of glasses. I calculated most of the glasses going for less than $10 per stem.

Within the first hour a lot of the merchandise had already been cleaned out (they did replenish stock daily). The line to check out was growing and growing. The crowd, mostly 20 to 40 somethings. Would have been nice to have carts or baskets but instead had to juggle all the boxes of glassware. At one point we heard the crash of glass breaking.  The four-day sale attracted about 10,000 people; a set of six Vinum Cab glasses and decanter were the most popular item ($106.50).  The O series glasses (stemless) just about sold out too, and I certainly contributed to that!

This sample sale was organized by The Prive´, and they hold many high end sample sales. I’m told they plan to hold a second Riedel sample sale in NYC this fall.  To find out about this and future sales, sign up at their website: https://shop.theprive.com/ I’ll also post info as I get it here.

Over the holidays I discovered a cool line of wine glasses. Made by Accademia Luigi Bormioli in Italy. This set of six nice and big crystal glasses are the Cabernet / Super Tuscan glasses from the Esperienzi line. The look is really modern, with the graduated base.  Guess what I paid? $36 for set of 6.  Very reasonable.  Like Riedel, there are glasses for specific varietals and stemless glasses too.  I have a few Riedel sets at home, so it will be fun to do a tasting between the two (I had to ship the glasses from the store I found them in South Carolina).  Will let you know how my taste test turns out once I get the glasses.   Oh and the glasses are diswasher safe too.

Have you finished your Christmas shopping?  Most of us will wait ’till the last minute.  Thought a few more wine gift ideas would be helpful.

The hottest wine accessory, gadget…Vinturi.  It is a wine aerator that you use while pouring a glass of wine. That means it acts like a mini decanter -  it gets air into the wine and opens up bouquet and flavors. It is a two-handed operation. Uncork the wine, hold the Vinturi over the glass and pour. You’ll hear a sucking sound — that’s the wine being aerated. Best for red wines, but can be used for white wines too.  I’ve seen wineries use it in their tasting rooms so what you taste is the true wine.Comes with rubber stand and a travel pouch and retails for about $30.  You can usually find this at a wine shop, or you can order online.

I did my own taste test on a Cotes du Rhone that was really tannic.  The wine, once it passed through the Vinturi, was much softer and drinkable, where it wasn’t before.

Another gift idea — Govino wine tumblers.  Plastic wine glasses get a bad rap, but these are really cool. Govino glasses look like a famous stemless brand, but won’t break, can be used again and are recyclable.  There’s an indention for your thumb that makes the glass easy to hold [although I recommend holding by top of glass when you swirl so as not to warm the wine up too much].  One set is 4 in a box that retails for about $12,  and again you can find at most wine shops or online.