De Vino, wine shop on Clinton Street

Recently there have been several articles about new/improved wine shops in New York.  Dr. Vino did one, as did Eric Asimov.  (Actually, Asimov has done several.)

These shops all share one pleasing characteristic: no screaming shelf talkers or scores posted in gigantic numbers. And the owners and their employees actually know about the wine they are selling.  I (finally) visited one such wine shop today. 



De-Vino is located on Clinton Street in the now ultra-hip Lower East Side.  It's been open a bit less than two years.  The owner, Gabrio Tosti, has put together a small but well-selected stock of wines.  Most of these wines are Italian, as you might expect when the owner is from Rome, and the prices range from about $10 a bottle on up. 

It looks to me as though Gabrio's stock is in the middle to upper-middle range of price, if not quality.  The quality trends a little higher, I think, because he favors wineries that are well-regarded as opposed to those that are big on marquee value but not so big on the price/quality ratio. I can tell you that I found more interesting small-producer wines in De-Vino than in several larger shops.   

A couple of pleasant surprises were well-priced wines from Albino Armani, Stefano Accordini (including a very well-priced "Il Fornetto" Amarone for $150 -- I've seen it locally for $195), and a number of terrific producers from Friuli-Venezia Giulia.  Search the De-Vino site.

In my current outcast state (pecuniary anyway), I asked Gabrio to pick a red and a white for tonight's dinner.  I specified the "best red and best white for the money." 

What did he select?  A $12 Bibi Graetz Casamatta 2005 Toscana IGT -- Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Trebbiano.  It's chilling in the fridge now.  No doubt there will be a "quickie" about this in a couple of days.

And the red?  None other than a sentimental favorite from Valpolicella -- the 2004 Classico from Stefano Accordini ($11).

Aside from Gabrio's knowledge and selection, another great advantage of going downtown to his shop is that you're in the thick of one of the hottest restaurant scenes in New York.

And no, in case you were wondering -- Gabrio is not an advertiser on this site.