A Wine Journey Beyond France

Please join me at Arvine, a new restaurant I recently discovered in the West Village. With its modern, casually chic vibe, Arvine serves vibrant American cuisine alongside creative, innovative drinks in a relaxed yet energetic setting. We’ll be featuring a curated selection of wines from Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United States.

Here is a link to Arvine's menu:
Arvine Menu

Just a reminder of our usual rules:
** The cost of this event is $65 and is for the cost of the wines only.

NOTE: Meetup has started charging a "Partner Fee" that is above and in addition to the listed price of the event. It is annoying and confusing, but there is nothing I can do about it. It comes to approximately $4 more for each RSVP. You will see this charge when you complete your rsvp and pay for the event. MEETUP+ members are exempt from this charge.

You will also have to pay the cost of your food (plus 33% for tax and tip). Please order at least two courses (i.e. a main dish and either appetizer or dessert) for your dinner. There are very few restaurants that allow us to bring our own wine for a Zero corkage fee. We must be good guests to encourage the restaurant to continue to be generous to us.

Please read and understand the group's cancellation policy. If you take spot, then cancel, and no one else takes the spot, you will not receive a refund or credit. No refunds or credits will be given for no-shows or late cancellations (unless someone else takes your spot). All cancellations are subject to a $6 service fee. Please use public transportation - NO DRINKING AND DRIVING!

The Wines:

2022 Peter Lauer Unterstenbersch Fass 12 Riesling, Saar, Germany - The 2022er Unterstenberg No. 12, as it is referred to in the central part of the label, is a dry wine (with 8 g/l of residual sugar) made from fruit picked in the similarly-named prime Lieu-Dit forming the south-southwest facing, front part of the original Kupp hill (at the foot of the hill). It has a beautifully complex and smoky nose of candied lime, grapefruit zest, smoky bacon, ginger, almond, yuzu, and white flowers. The wine is superbly playful and refined on the palate, where some light creamy and juicy elements make for an appealing touch. The finish is beautifully spicy and herbal and already fully dry. (Mosel Fine Wines, Issue No. 66)

2017 Vega Sicilia 'Pintia', Toro, Spain - WA 94, Toro (almost) didn't suffer the frost of 2017 that decimated Ribera del Duero, and in that early harvest, the grapes for the 2017 Pintia were picked between September 6th and 17th trying to keep the freshness and acidity. They also did a softer extraction, reduced the percentage of wine that went through malolactic in barrel and used less American oak for the élevage, trying to achieve a more elegant wine. Still the wine is ripe, juicy, round and powerful at 15% alcohol, with a mellow palate with a pH of 3.9 and 4.5 grams of acidity. The wine matured in new and used oak barrels for 12 months. It feels quite fresh and harmonious, not showing any heat, not as fresh and atypical as 2016. It keeps the poise and the balance and has abundant but fine tannins. These wines repay time in bottle, and even if approachable now, it should get better with time. It's like a refined version of the 2015. A triumph over the adverse conditions of the year. 204,240 bottles, 6,720 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in May 2019.

2019 Tenuta Argentiera 'Argentiera' Bolgheri Superiore, Tuscany, Italy - WA97, What a beauty and what an incredible leap forward to excellence. The 2019 Bolgheri Superiore Argentiera shows depth and wide shoulders with soft plushness and impeccable fruit. The full-bodied wine is dialed up on all levels from perfumes, intensity, mouthfeel, texture and freshness. This bottle should hold past the 20-year mark.

2019 L'Aventure Cote a Cote Red, Paso Robles, USA - WA96, The 2019 Côte a Côte is stunning this year, made up of 34% Grenache, 34% Syrah and 32% Mourvèdre. It has alluring, savory-tinged scents of blood orange, tar, aniseed and dried flowers with an undercurrent of spicy accents. The palate is ultra classy and pure, with fine, pixelated tannins, uplifting acidity and slowly opening layers of perfumed fruit that drive the very long finish. (EB)