Slope Cellar Blogs

 AUGUST GRAPEVINE

2010

Greetings Wine Club member,

It must be August because Prospect Park looks like a tinder box and tomatoes and corn taste the way nature intended.  Get ‘em while they’re hot at the Greenmarket at the Prospect Park (15^th St.) entrance at Bartel Pritchard Square (which is in fact a circle).  The Greenmarket is open on Wednesdays, 8 – 3 through October. 

The other marker that we are in the dog days is the end of the Celebrate Brooklyn shows.  Saturday, August 7^th is the final show of this fine series and the Daptone Review featuring Ms. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings should be a doozey.  We’ve been waiting all summer to get our groove on, and we hope to see you there. 

TASTING SCHEDULE

Cheese for our tastings is paired and generously provided by our neighbors at GRAB Specialty Foods

Saturday, August 7th

5:00 – 7:30

Cheap & Tasty

Friday August 13^th

6:00 – 8:00

Chairman’s Reserve Rum

Thursday, August 19^th

6:00 – 8:00

Siembra Azul Tequila

Friday, August 20^th

Look out!  Tequila again!!

Saturday, August 21^st

5:00 – 7:30

New Selections from Polaner

Friday August 27^th

6:00 – 8:00

Brinley Gold Rum, naturally flavored and delicious

WINE CLUB WINNER

Sarie Abney, quit saying you never win anything.  You just won a $25 gift certificate from the July Wine Club drawing.

SHAMLESS PLUGS

Neighborhood writer/performer and Slope Cellars regular Michele Carlo would like to invite the entire world (or all who love Patty and Co.) to the launch party/signing for her book, FISH OUT OF AGUA: My life on neither side of the (subway) tracks, (Citadel Press)  a memoir about growing up as a freckle-faced redheaded Puerto Rican in an Italian/Irish neighborhood in New York City back when a slice of pizza cost fifty cents. For more info, go to: www.michelecarlo.com

Watch a (short) trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?V-c7FnSEK3W0c


Come to the launch parties/signings:
BROOKLYN: TUESDAY, AUGUST 10th, 7pm-9pm
FREE drinks & snacks; including my world-famous Triple X Coquito!
Powerhouse Arena, 37 Main Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn
www.powerhousearena.com

MANHATTAN: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25th, 6:30-8-30pm
Hosted by H.R. Britton, with FREE drinks & snacks; including my world-famous Triple X Coquito!
Lower East Side Tenement Museum, 97 Orchard Street, off Delancey Street
www.tenement.org

Cheese and Wine pairing SMACKDOWN!  Formaggio Essex & Ben Hagen of Slope Cellars VS Saxelby Cheesemongers & Steve McAghon of September Wines.  For info visit BITTERSWEETSOURSALT@GMAIL.COM

We love our new neighbors, the Thistle Hill Tavern on the corner of 7^th Avenue and 15^th Street.  Happy meats and fabulous cocktails.  We are so lucky!!

Cheers!

Slopey

Slope Cellars

436 7^th Avenue

Brooklyn, NY  11215

(718) 369-7307

JUNE 2010 GRAPEVINE

Greetings Wine Club member,

The first benchmark of the summer, Memorial Day, has come and gone.  In Prospect Park, that means the “all you can eat garbage buffet” is open for dogs.  And at the Prospect Park Bandshell the second benchmark of summer is about to occur.  That would be the opening night of Celebrate Brooklyn.  This year, Norah Jones kicks off the season with a free show on Wednesday, June 9^th. 

We here at Slope Cellars are big supporters of this world class summer music festival which takes place annually in our collective backyard.  And yes, the shows are free.  However, there appears to have been a blip in our economy and the big corporate sponsors just aren’t coming through with their support.  And so it’s up to us individuals to show the love.  Please visit the Celebrate Brooklyn website at bricartsmedia.org/celebrate to view the line-up for the 2010 summer season.  Individuals who become “Friends” and “Family friends” receive special perks like reserved seating and admission to the fabulous “Friends” tent. 

CELEBRATE BROOKLYN/BLUE PUNCH

This year, Slope Cellars will augment these perks with a perk of our own.  For individuals who become “Friends” we will give you one blue punch on your Wine Club card.  For those joining at the Family level, we will give you two blue punches. 

TASTING SCHEDULE

Cheese for our tastings is paired and generously provided by GRAB Specialty Foods.

Saturday, June 5^th

5:00 – 7:30

Look out!  Rum!!!

Thursday, June 10^th

6:00 – 8:00

Gordon Macphail Scotch

Saturday, June 12^th

5:00 – 7:30

Tequilla

Saturday, June 19^th

5:00 – 7:30

TBD

Friday, June 25^th

6:00 – 8:00

Spainish Wines – Ole!

Saturday, June 26^th

5:00 – 7:30

Wines from the South of France

SHAMLESS PLUGS

P.S. 107 Tasting Benefit

Friday, June 4^th at the 9^th Street YMCA Roof Garden, Slope Cellars will be sponsoring a tasting of over 40 wines from around the world.  Attendees will be able to purchase wines for delivery, and in lieu of our usual 15% case discount, a 20% discount will be donated to P.S. 107.  For more information, visit www.PS107.org

Prospect Park YMCA

357 9^th Street (btwn 5^th and 6^th)

6:30 – 8:30

$25 in advance, $30 at the door

Loser’s Lounge Tribute to Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys

Joe’s Pub, June 10, 11, 12.

"taste"

New series of hand-crafted wine/cheese tastings hosted by Ben Hagen (Slope Cellars) and Brooke Little (Formaggio Essex). Starts off Monday, June 21st (8pm) at Grand Opening (139 Norfolk St, NY, NY) with a geeked-out focus on Northern Italy's bountiful deliciousness. A limited number of seats are available. Email ben@slopecellars.com for more info.

Cheers!

Slopey

Slope Cellars

436 7^th Avenue

Brooklyn, NY  11215

(718)369-7307

10th ANNIVERSARY, PART II

Greetings Wine Club member,

Last Saturday, March 27th was 10 years to the day that Slope Cellars opened for business.  It took approximately 6 weeks to pull up the linoleum floor, take down the bulletproof glass and flush down the remaining inventory.  We celebrated this milestone by offering  a vertical tasting of Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf-du-Pape (2005, 2006 and 2007) and we were honored to be serenaded by some of the divas of Opera on Tap.  Thank you, Annie Ricci and Scott Rayburn for raising your beautiful voices amongst the bottles.  And thank you to all of our Slopey friends who came down to wish us well.  Tears flowed like wine and wine flowed like, well, wine.

In the March edition of the Grapevine we acknowledged many of the people who have been instrumental in the 10 year journey from green new business to seasoned booze slingers.  However, much like an Oscar winner who forgets to thank their spouse, we neglected a couple of key people.  First and foremost, we would like to acknowledge the enormous contribution of David “Pink” Pinkard.  In addition to being an extremely educated food and wine guy, Pink has been our key computer guy and has saved the store from going down in virtual flames too many times to count.  We would also like to send a shout out to Bridget Joseph, who now resides back in her home town of New Orleans, but once danced on our sales floor with grace and style.   Lastly, we often see people stop on the street to admire our windows.  Ruby Randig is the creative force behind their fabulousness.

Here’s to the next 10 years.  Cheers!

WEBSITE

We hope you’ve had a chance to visit the new website.  Ben and Chris are blogging away and many of our groovier bottles are listed in the online store.  It’s a work in progress, so check in from time to time.  You’ll be sure to see new things.

WINE CLUB WINNER         

“Why am I receiving this email?” you may ask.  That was the trade for the Wine Club card that gives you your 13th bottle for a buck.  And then there’s the added bonus of the drawing from the redeemed cards, which Gunnar Sjursen will be enjoying this weekend.  As the winner of the drawing, he will be awarded a $25 gift certificate.

TASTING SCHEDULE

Cheese for our tastings is paired and generously provided by our lovely neighbors at GRAB Specialty Foods.

Friday, April 2nd

6 – 8

Loco Linda Torrontes and Malbec

Saturday, April 3rd

5:00 – 7:30

Savio Soares pours from his acclaimed portfolio

Friday, April 9th

6 – 9

Tito’s Vodka, the 6 times distilled phenom from Texas

Saturday, April 10th

5:00 – 7:30

Get ready for Rose! Peter Ross from VOS will introduce some of the first gems of the season

Friday, April 16th

6:00 – 8:00

Look out!  Mezcal!

Saturday, April 17th

5:00 – 7:30

Rudy – his rudeness – has new Austrians and Burgundys to try

Friday, April 23rd

6 – 8

We are honored to have Marc Ollivier of Domaine de la Pepiere pour his fantastic Muscadet (and it’s Ben’s birthday!!!).

Saturday, April 24th

5:00 – 7:30

Suzanne Reynolds pours from the great Vision Wines book

Friday, April 30th

Look out!! Rum!!

SHAMELESS PLUGS

CELEBRATE BROOKLYN

Norah Jones will open the Celebrate Brooklyn season on Wednesday June 9th.  Remember last year and how fun it looked in the Friends tent during the Gala  and the after dance party?  Become a friend this year and join us for a spin on the dance floor because you get free admission to the after party!    For more information visit www.bricartsmedia.org.  

LAMBIC

Steve Moses will be performing with Lambic at Goodbye Blue Monday, Friday night at 9:00PM.  1087 Broadway, Bklyn NY  11221-3031, (718)453-6343.

Steve says, “It would be really fun if you came”. 

LOSER’S LOUNGE

Tribute to Paul Simon at Joe’s Pub, April 15 - 17.  loserslounge.com.

EASTER HOURS

It’s one of the few days of the year that we close early but...

Sunday, April 4th

Noon - 4:00PM

Please plan accordingly.

Cheers!

Slopey

Meet one of my wine heros, Northern Rhone vintner extraordinaire Eric Texier (in his cave in Charnay):

Wine explorer/lover/scientist/geek Texier makes wines from both the northern and southern regions of the Rhone Valley. He vinifies naturally, meaning no manipulation (added laboratory yeast, enzymes, etc.), preferring instead to let the grapes speak for themselves, telling stories of the soil and sun of each harvest. I learned so much from this man it blew my mind. We've carried his wines at Slope Cellars for a long while now but my impression of him was only of a harried man pouring wine for a crowd at industry tastings. No love. Well, so much for impressions - this man embodies wine love. I often meet winemakers who seem to mostly drink their own juice. Not Eric. He constantly speaks of tasting/drinking others' wines (just poke around Wine Disorder, for those geeks reading this, and you'll see evidence of this - including reports of his sulfite-tester). This curiosity propels him to push boundaries and explore new terrain. We were given a tour, in fact, of a newly rediscovered A.O.C. called St. Julien (Northern Rhone, not Bordeaux), which Texier is leasing to make Syrah and Cinsault-based reds. Here's a pic of vines and a cross-sectional view of the uber-stony soil (micro schist, marl) in St. Julien:

We previewed wines from this organically-farmed soil - a 2009 St. Julien Syrah from 80-90 year old vines which was gorgeously lush and olivey with thick sweet tannins, and a 2009 Cinsault from vines just as old which was generously fruity with a meat, herbal, stony background - these vines are the most northerly Cinsault plantings in the Rhone.

One of my favorite bottlings of Eric's is his Brezeme, one of the northernmost villages in the Cotes du Rhone appellation. This wine delivers from vintage to vintage - the 2007, which is currently in stock, is so generous and supple but unmistakably Syrah (black olive tapenade, pepper, purple fruits). Here is a picture of the vineyard, which has an impressive unobstructed pathway to the Alps, providing cool respite from warm daytime temperatures (I've rarely encountered a bottling of the basic Brezeme which was above 13% alcohol, a dreamy scenario for a region known to produce highly-alcoholic wines):

Look for other bottlings of Eric's beautiful wines to grace our shelves in the near future...