My 2021 advice: Stay with châteaux that have a track record, and buy the grand vin-not second wines. It’s offering a wider range, and its allocation of Cheval Blanc is already sold out. The bigger market for en primeur is the UK, says Giles Cooper of London-based Bordeaux Index, which has offices in several global locations, including the US. For a broader selection in the US, check out Zachys and Millesima-USA. Retailer Clyde Beffa of the Bay Area’s K&L Wine Merchants is offering just a handful of wines, while JJ Buckley’s Bishop is snapping up only one-third of the names he bought in 20. Still, in the US there’s not a lot of interest in buying at the moment. (This association of the most important châteaux is behind the weeklong event.) Clearly everyone who came was craving normality, eager to resume attending the fabulous lunches and dinners that châteaux put on to woo buyers and the press. At the end of April about 4,000 of them flew in for the first in-person edition in three years, according to Ronan Laborde, the president of the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux. Merchants decide which bottles to offer their wine-loving customers during en primeur, the region’s annual spring barrel tasting ritual. The 2017s are 7% cheaper now than they were on release, according to global wine marketplace Liv-ex. The idea of futures is to buy at the very lowest price by putting money down for wine still in barrel, then receive bottles of it in a couple of years, when, presumably, it will cost more. Now futures prices for the wines, still quietly aging in barrel, are starting to trickle out from retailers. For The Savory Grape and The Savory Affair, it is about the experience, from “just” a bottle of wine to special events.This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. All this begs the question, isn’t a bottle of wine just a bottle of wine? Jess Granatiero would say no. The Savory Affair team is mostly an in-house operation, but their partners, including Flowers By Semia, The Newport Yachting Center, and Seams Couture, can bring any dream to life. The Savory Affair grew from consulting on wine and food pairings, to hosting social parties, and now includes full-scale corporate events and weddings. She found her customers began asking for help with pairing wine and food for events. These requests led The Savory Grape to a natural evolution in providing the best experience possible for their customers – The Savory Affair. While this is a great goal, Jess says it didn’t feel like a destination, but rather a step to new adventures. To Jess, this means training her staff in the nuances of wine tasting and education, and giving them the confidence and experience to share their knowledge with customers. Jess tells me her goal for The Savory Grape was and is to create a place where beginners and experienced wine connoisseurs alike could have a comfortable buying experience. It’s about the Experience – From a Bottle of Wine to a Special Event. In fact, she recently began inviting customers to go on wine buying trips, taking the personal connection with wines to an entirely new level. Jess says these personal relationships from around the globe give The Savory Grape’s Rhode Island wine aficionados a chance to connect with their wines on a more personal level. These relationships result in a unique selection of wines that can’t be easily found elsewhere. Regular trips to Italy help them build relationships with growers and winemakers. The dedication to finding the best wines leads Jess and Nino to small vineyards around the globe. And while their selection includes high-priced collector’s wines, it also includes a vast assortment of wines under $15. This means your favorite Spanish red might lead you to a great wine from Austria. Wines are stocked not by region, but by body style. This means they do things a little differently. Jess and Nino Granatiero opened The Savory Grape in 2006 to provide a wine buying experience that emphasizes a carefully curated selection of stand out wines from small vineyards around the world. Photo by Scott Indermaur Photography, courtesy of The Savory Grape
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