ComfortWinery.com

'Locals' Wine Bar in Geyserville, CA

Carolyn and Diane (a transplanted New Yorker) have operated Locals, a great wine-tasting & wine retail business, together for years and introduced thousands of wine lovers to Sonoma artisinal producers:   Lost Canyon, Ramazzotti, Peterson and Hawley (to name a few!).   Over the years there have been too many fine producers on display at Locals to list in one post -- but many of the wines have shown up in these tasting notes...

If you're looking for a day-trip from San Francisco, or a stop on the northern side of Sonoma's wine country, make the trip to Geyserville, kick back and discover some great "small" producers!

Bin 55 Wine Bar in San Francisco

Daphne Zepos launches Essex St. Cheese Co. website & blog

Daphne, owner of Essex St. Cheese Co., is one of the most knowledgeable cheese professionals on the planet, and now she is finally sharing her wisdom (on her blog and retail site).   She is a fun lady and an expert at pairing wine with all foods (but especially her beloved cheese)...

Taylor & Norton Wine Merchants

Wine shops like Taylor & Norton in Sonoma are a joy to find -- retailers who are as interested in high end wines as their customers (instead of high inventory turn-over and high margins) are few and far between...    In wine stores that cater to the masses, it is fun to find a diamond in the rough -- but at Taylor & Norton it's tough to find anything but diamonds in the store; it's the kind of store that you'll learn more about wine every time you visit.     Greg Taylor was knowledgable and friendly, and after 20 minutes in the store it was clear to me that I'd better check out with the four or five gems I found before I found myself getting into the quicksand that was all around me in this fantastic store!

Sonoma Wine Shop

The Sonoma Wine Shop, located right on the plaza in downtown Sonoma, is a mix between retail store, wine club and tasting bar.   They have a great selection of small California producers (over 90% of their inventory is Cali producers) and they have a surprisingly large number of mature bottles (10+ years of age).    They store large amounts of wine on premise, so there's not much risk of contamination due to improper storage (a common problem in wine shops in places like NYC).  Definately worth a stop if you're in the area wine tasting...

Crush Wine & Spirits on Manhattan

Crush is a cool wine store (153 E57th St) that is roughly organized by varietals.   They have a locked room in the back of the store with the collectable bottles.   I was very impressed with the selection (across all price ranges) and the layout of the store -- and the staff was knowledgable and helpful.

 

Comfort Winery named a Top 50 wine blog (based on Google's algorithm)

It's always fun to be recognized; this ranking of wine blogs is based only on Google's algorithm (it's not a subjective measure of quality).    It will be interesting to see if we can move up from here...  

Thanks to the thousands of you who read this blog regularly!

Berry Bros & Rudd Wine Merchants

Looking down the list of wine retailers I've written about and recommended, there are none in the league of Berry Bros & Rudd.  The business dates back to 1698 (when the Berry brothers primarily sold coffee and tea) and it sits next to the royal residence at St. James that housed Napolean III (in exile) -- the palace links to the store and several other buildings on the street via once-secret underground tunnels.   Interestingly, the store is not heavily stocked, but it is expertly stocked (and they have a larger storage facility off site).   Many of the absolute finest wines from the world's top wine growing regions are for sale here, many of which are extremely difficult to find anywhere at retail (i.e. on my last visit I purchased a 1945 Dow Port and a 1998 Vega Sicilia 'Unico').  There are still original floorboards in the store (see photo, below), and the history in this building is palpable.

 

Oak & Steel Fine Wines and Spirits in Manhattan

Oak & Steel is a beautiful little wine store at 1776 Broadway near 57th Street in New York City.   They have an impressive array of wines from around the world -- most of them from smaller producers.   Their champagne selection is excellent.   They also have a wine gadget that I'd never seen before -- a Wine Well which chills a bottle (or two) of white wine in six minutes!   This is a great device for small stores or small restaurants with limited refrigeration.

Crossroads Wines & Spirits

There's something about the gritty nature of 14th St in downtown New York City that is antithetical to the idea of good wine.  Crossroads is between 5th and 6th Avenues on 14th, and while the exterior leaves much to be desired, the selection inside more than makes up for it.     They have an extraordinary selection of French and American wines, many of which are properly aged, and all of which are reasonably priced.   My concern is that they store the wine in the store, and there is not proper cooling to deal with the summer heat...    So caveat emptor, but it's definately worth a look if you're in the neighborhood.