‹— New Arrivals - GraWü 2020 —›

We recently welcomed a number of new 2020 bottlings, as well as more stock, from our favorite Alto-Adige producer, GraWü. Some of you have been lucky enough to taste them, possibly even with Dominic Würth, the estate’s proprietor and winemaker. He was visiting the States during the November wine fair season and had a blast pouring his bottles and sharing the stories.

Pinot Grigio 2020 (re-stock)
This wine’s color is mesmerizing enough to delight any drinker. A gorgeous Ramato with lean red fruits, herbal complexity, and the perfect pitch of acidity.
$20.50 FL, $19.50/3 cases, $18.50/5 cases

Ambra 2020 (re-stock)
An example of GraWü’s commitment to PIWI grapes. This skin-contact hybrid bottling is aromatically stellar, with citrus and grassy freshness. The palate has generous weight and great acidity.
$23 FL, $22.50/3 cases, $21.50/5 cases

Chourmo 2020
Mostly Chardonnay with a dash of Pinot Bianco A new addition to the GraWü line. Skin-fermented for a month, this bottle is very well structured, with hearty orchard fruit and wonderful mineral zip. Dominic’s new take on Chardonnay.
$26 FL, $25/3 cases

Pinot Nero 2020
This vintage has more plump red fruit than the 2019, but shows the attractive earthiness and dark minerality of its predecessor. Hanging above it all is a wonderful flavor of orange peel.
$27 FL, $26/3 cases

GT.O 2020
Don’t like Gewürtztraminer? This bone-dry version will change your mind. It skin-fermented, with 30% stems, this is an articulated but layered wine, with well positioned flavors of stone fruit, citrus, and salt.
$28 FL, $26.50/3 cases

‹— Welcome David Hatzopoulos  —›

Introducing and welcoming David Hatzopoulos (aka IG:  @davethestave) to our family! David  joins us from the other side of the wine trade, after years of experience working for some of the most influential retailers in the country - Chambers Street Wines and Union Square Wine & Spirits. He is a kindhearted and well-spoken Brooklynite with admirable passion for wine, especially from Alpine regions, which is at the heart of our portfolio.

He will be slinging Living Wine bottles around NYC, so give him a shout at 201-563-1002 or email him at david@living.wine.

‹— Introducing New Producers —›

The Living Wine portfolio is growing. We started looking for new collaborations with growers from all corners of the world and will be bringing some exciting wines in the upcoming months. 

Weingut Ploder-Rosenberg

Ploder-Rosenberg is a well-established estate in Vulkanland Steiermark (a sub-region of Styria), focusing on biodynamic farming and PiWi (fungus-resistant, hybrid) varieties since 2005. Manuel Ploder took over the estate from his parents in 2011 and today all wines fit under the natural wine category, and over two-thirds of the vineyards are planted with PiWi’s.

With his partner, Selina, and still with the help of his parents, he’s adopted a slow approach to winemaking. Wines are spontaneously fermented, macerated with the skins, matured in mix of clay (qvevri, amphora) and oak, for at least 18 months before bottling. Wines are then bottled unfined and unfiltered, with low or no SO2.

These wines are on their way to the US, as we speak and will arrive by year end.

Weingut Karl Schnabel is another Austrian addition to our portfolio. It is also located in Styria, but on the Sausal mountain known for its schist, rather than limestone, marl and volcanic soils found in the rest of the region. Unlike Ploder-Rosenberg, but also many other producers in the region, the Schnabels focus on red varieties (Blaufränkisch, Pinot Noir, Zweigelt).

Karl, with his wife and three sons, runs the family estate. Their vineyards span over 5 hectares on steep slopes of the Sausal. The steepness, coupled with siliceous and slate soils provide ideal conditions for drainage. This is important in Styria, which is the dampest wine region in Austria. 

Yet, the Schnabels are champions of biodynamic farming. They promote diversity on their land, creating environments for wildlife and flora to naturally thrive. To be sensitive to the ecosystem, all labor is done by hand and simple tools. In the cellar, all fermentation is done with natural yeasts, wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered, without added SO2.

Wines from both Weingut Karl Schnabel and Weingut Ploder-Rosenberg will be available in the beginning 2023. Both are incredibly special producers; their arrival has been anticipated by many professionals in NYC and beyond. Please give us a shout if you’re interested in getting to know these wines better and we’ll make sure to reach out to you as soon as stock is available. You don’t want to miss these!

‹— New Living Wine Website. —›

Give our new website (same address, https://living.wine) a try! Thanks to the power of Vintners.co, it is better than ever. Check out the full range of our producers and browse their wines.

If you make a Vintners account for your business (2-minute signup here and it is free), you can access trade pricing, get the real time inventory, and even order straight from the site or ask for an allocation on an incoming shipment. Soon you’ll also just have to go there to make a payment.

Visit living.wine

‹— Living Wine Suggestions for Thanksgiving —›

We are excited for the upcoming holiday season, kicking off with Thanksgiving next week. Our portfolio is a great resource for wine pairings, whether you need a blockbuster turkey wine, or something special to share with your family. Here are some of our top picks:

Abbazia San Giorgio - Cloé 2020
Perfect light red, almost rosé-like wine to cover the entire Thanksgiving meal, this is a crowd-pleaser no doubt. The quantities are limited. Nerello Mascalese with a dash of Zibibbo.
$25 FL, $24.50 / 3 cases

Cantina Giara - Primordio Primitivo 2019
A monumental red from Puglia, this is on the heavier side, perfect for the main course to balance the rich flavors of gravy and stuffing, but still juicy enough not to overpower the turkey.
$17.5 FL, $16.5 / 3 cases, $15.5 / 5 cases

De la Soif - Rouge 2021
Give this idiosyncratic red slight chill and embark on the journey of the “glou glou”, which will have your guests asking for more after each sip. Whole cluster Carignan with Barbera juice.
$25 FL, $24.50 / 3 cases

Montebruno - Pinot Noir Crawford Beck 2012
This might be the most special wine in the Living Wine portfolio at the moment, and just a perfect match for those who want to have a truly great American wine for their Thanksgiving dinner. This 2012 “library release” is still showing amazing freshness, but with all the complexity that comes with aging. 100% free-run Pinot Noir.
$27 FL, $26 / 3 cases, last 7 cases!

Thibaud Capellaro Slope - Zero 2021
For those who would like something a bit more funky, this is a blend of Syrah (70%) and Viognier (30%), which is still very clean and shows enough complexity to keep you intrigued.
$21 FL, $20 / 3 cases

‹— Fall Wine Fairs in NYC —›

Like we mentioned above, Dominic from GraWü flew into New York for a long anticipated visit. He was welcomed so warmly at LaRina, in Fort Greene, where he hosted a BTG takeover. He also enjoyed his night talking to diners at Have & Meyer, in Williamsburg, where his wine was featured for the evening. The true enthusiasm for the GraWü label could be felt at both venues.

Also, GraWü was one of three producers we were proud to promote at the Karakterre Wine Fair. The other two producers, both from Styria in Austria, were Schnabel and Ploder-Rosenberg. Eva Schnabel was here for the event and impressed visitors with her family’s zero-SO2 bottlings. A family member of the Ploder-Rosenberg estate, Jackie, poured for her winemaking cousins who couldn’t make it to the fair. A day after, Dominic was at the Orange Glou Wine Fair in downtown Manhattan. He had a great time at the event and poured many of his skin-contact hits for eager attendees. To finish it up, all three estates were featured at the Peripheral Wine Fair in Hudson, NY.

We would like to thank all organizers for having us and our growers. We love supporting our customers and friends. If you would ever like to collaborate with us or one of our growers, please do not hesitate to contact us.