A FINE NY WHINE
Demand corked for locally made vino
Even a good thing for New York is turning to sour grapes.
The state is the fourth-largest wine producer in the US after California, Oregon and Washington, but city vinophiles are hardpressed to find a homegrown brand on liquor store shelves stacked with bottles from Europe, Australia and the West Coast, a Post inspection found.
“We don’t get [many] calls for it,” Soho Spirits & Wine owner Vito Massulo said of New York wine. The 44-year wine seller added, “You only have a limited amount of space, so you have to have what the people want . . . . New York wines, while they’re good — some of them are very good — they don’t have the cachet or the history of wines from Europe,
California even.”
Park Avenue Liquor Shop owner Eric Goldstein, who stocks a few regional wines like Wolffer Estate from Long Island’s East End, confessed he feels “like there might be — I don’t want to say a stigma on New York wine — it’s just not top of mind. It’s not thought of, period.”
Cheers for tourists
He and other wine merchants, such as Astor Wine & Spirits buyer Lorena Ascencios, said it’s mostly tourists who buy New York wine. The state’s wines are typically stocked only in specialty stores, like the massive Astor wines in Manhattan’s East Village, where there’s a rare full section of regional labels, and a few restaurants like Gramercy Tavern.
The state’s 400-plus wineries are typically smaller than those from European or California powerhouses, and the products tend to be more pricey — and in many cases, aren’t promoted or sold by distributors, local sellers said.
Although the quality of New York wines, particularly from the Finger Lakes region, has improved in recent decades. the reputation hasn’t caught up with buyers.
One Finger Lakes vintner said his wines are more appreciated in Europe, where he exports.
“In London, people think our wine is super hip,” said Kelby Russell, owner of the Red Newt winery in upstate Hector.
Meanwhile, New York regulators have blocked efforts to market and sell regionally grown wine, one wine bar owner complained.
Ollie Sakhno, owner of the Keuka Kafe, a wine bar and restaurant in Forest Hills, Queens, said about 40% of the wine he offers is from the Finger Lakes area. But the state Liquor Authority rejected his application for a shop to sell more regional wines due to opposition from nearby liquor stores that carry few local brands.
“It’s a very rigged system. I was shot down. I thought there would be more enthusiasm for selling New York wines,” Sakhno said.
Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin, the GOP candidate for governor who represents the wine-making East End, said policy makers have to “totally reimagine” how to promote local wine and other beverages by providing tax incentives to market the products.
Hazel Crampton-Hays, a spokeswoman for Democratic Gov. Hochul, said Hochul “has invested millions to promote and market wineries [and] cut red tape to help wine producers open and expand.”