I’ll be in New York City, Upper West side for the month of July. Looking for a few places to check out with a nice selection of wine where I can get lost for an hour or two on a regular basis. I’ll pick up a few bottles to enjoy in our apartment. Also appreciate any restaurant recommendations.
Thanks for the help.
It’s not on the Upper West Side, but Chambers Street Wines is a great store, especially if you are looking for wines with age.
Paul, lots of threads on both topics here. For instance New York City Restaurants - Travel, Wine Tourism, and Restaurants Forum - WineBerserkers. Try the search function, it works well.
Love that search function!
There’s no place on the Upper West Side to compare to Chambers, Astor, Crush or Flatiron, or Sherry-Lehman. Luckily, it’s a quick shoot down to Chambers Street on the 2 or 3 express trains.
Acker Merrill (72nd Street just east of Broadway/Amsterdam) probably has the most serious selection, but you have to decide whether you want to patronize them given their role in abetting Rudy K’s fraud.
Other stores in the area worth checking out are:
67 Wines (confusingly at 68th and Columbus): fairly interesting selection, rather high prices, warm upstairs and warm high shelves on the ground level
Beacon Wines (74th and Broadway): has improved selection in recent years; strong in California and Portugal, and has some good Germans you don’t see many other places
Martin Bros. (Broadway and 107th): an interesting selection but high prices, and the store tends to be warm much of the year, and much of the good stuff is on high (=warmest) shelves
Amsterdam Wine Co. (Amsterdam and 72nd): new, small shop with a very AFWE, non-Parker selection
Gotham Wines (Broadway at 94th): Ownership connection to Garnet on the East Side; not a great shop, but you could survive on their selection in most areas and the prices aren’t bad
Columbus Circle Wines (Broadway at 59th): I stop in regularly because they have decent selection, including wines I don’t see elsewhere-- i.e., the owners care; never the best prices
If you’re on the UWS for the summer, you owe it to yourself to venture up to PJ Wines at ~205th and Broadway. It’s basically right in front of the exit from the terminus of the A train. Huge store, lots of good stuff (along with the beer kegs and rum by the gallon), and the best prices around. Take the 1 train to 168th and transfer to the A train.
New York City probably has more good wine stores than any other city in the US, so I suggest that you go out and explore some of the other alternatives mentioned above. You never know what you will find. I once found a 1922 Madeira at Beekman Wines on Lexington Avenue midtown, an nondescript shop of no particular note. Chambers for older wines especially Italian. Crush for the best selection of German wines and lots else. Sherry Lehman, one of the grande dames of the NY wine establishment, had some perfect provenance old port the last time I was there. And on . . . and on . . . and on. The you can take a drive up north if you are daring (45 minutes) and go to Zachy’s and Grapes, two destination shops in Westchester.
and if you’re walking around the West Village check out MCF Rare Wines on W. 13th St.
John covered all the bases fairly well. This store has been open for only one year and I’ll admit that while I walk by often, I hadn’t gone in until last week. The selection is very unique (good) and there is some stuff with some age on it too. Pricing is slightly on the high side, but I will be digging deeper soon.
Paul - I misread your original query. If you’re looking at places in NYC in general, and not just the UWS, I would add:
Chambers
Astor (very large store, good selection across many categories, doesn’t get enough attention here)
Crush
Flatiron (relatively new, very well chosen wines)
Garnet (an old stand-by with a large selection and good prices)
Sherry-Lehman (deep selection, and not everything is on site in the store; some has to be ordered up)
Morrell (Rockefeller Center location means high prices, but a good selection)
PJ’s (discussed above; well worth the trip uptown)
One other I don’t think has been mentioned so far is Frankly Wines, a couple of blocks from CSW. It’s smaller than most Manhattan studio apartments, but has a diverse and well chosen selection, some of which you’re not going to find anywhere else.
Yes, Frankly has about as high a concentration of offbeat wines per square foot as you’ll find anywhere.
It’s interesting that no one mentions Burgundy Wine Company. I haven’t been in there in years? Has anyone else?
I’ll third Frankly Wines… really great selection of classic and nerdy and Christy is super nice, accommodating and they’re always pouring something when you go… either they have a winemaker in-house or they’re doing some bottle sampling. I met Chris Brockway pouring his wines there and we ended up popping some Richard Leroy while tasting through nearly the full range of Chris’ offerings at the same time. The place may be small, but it packs a wallop!