Market-Timed Wine

Feeling squeezed by the falling stock market? Wine prices, which loped along in sync with flush times, may now feel like a stretch. The Bar of the Four Seasons Hotel, for example, charges $32 for a flute of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Champagne. But thankfully for anyone whose wallet is suddenly feeling thinner, there are top-tier dining venues in the city where wine pricing is considerate.At Jean-Georges (1 Central Park West, between 60th and 61st streets, 212-299-3900), for example, there’s always at least a trio of wines by the glass at just $9. Wine director Bernard Sun has held that single-digit price despite the enfeebled dollar, which makes European wine even pricier. “It’s been a struggle, but keeping a glass of wine on the bar menu at under $10 is one of the things I’m proudest of,” Mr. Sun said in a telephone interview last week. The current $9 choices, all French, are intriguingly offbeat as well as easy to drink. There’s a full-flavored white from Lirac in the Rhône Valley; a light red made from the little-known trousseau grape in the Jura Mountains, and a sweet but not cloying, golden Monbazillac from Bergerac that would go splendidly with foie gras. By the bottle, there’s a smooth, $32 Napa Valley house red wine called III Somms (pronounced “threesomes”) Amitié. “We’d have the base blends FedEx’d in overnight, and we’d tinker until we nailed the balance of smoothness and earthiness,” Mr. Sun said, of the selections.Just a few blocks south of Jean-Georges, and sharing a similar park view from its east windows, is the city’s pacesetter in keeping wine prices friendly: Landmarc at the Time Warner Center (10 Columbus Circle at 58th Street, 212-823-6123). As at the bistro’s original TriBeCa branch, no wines are served by the glass here. Wine director David Lombardo believes that it’s preferable to open a fresh half bottle rather than serve a glass from what may be yesterday’s wine. Many of Landmarc’s half bottles go for hardly more than the by-the-glass prices elsewhere. Notably, there’s Pascal Jolivet’s racy Sancerre at $16 (it’s $32 for the full bottle). An astonishing value in magnums (double-sized bottles) is Château La Fleur Peyrabon 1999, a mature claret from Bordeaux’s most prestigious commune, Pauillac, for $55. Sometimes, Landmarc sells wine cheaper than retail, as it does with Australia’s greatest wine, Penfolds Grange. The 2001 vintage is $300 at Landmarc — $50 less than at Quality House Wines and Spirits, a store on Park Avenue.At the venerable, ever-classy Gotham Bar and Grill (12 E. 12th St., between Fifth Avenue and University Place, 212-620-4020), wine director Michael Nelson told me, “We used to be known for having the newest and hottest wines.” Translation: Price-be-damned wines reigned. Now, to partner Gotham’s $31 prix-fixe lunch, Mr. Nelson offers an eclectic list of 20 wines, divided between whole and half bottles — all priced at $31. Meat-eaters might choose a half bottle of Domaine Les Pallieres’ spicy Gigondas 2004. By the full bottle, I’d go for the elegant Capannacce Rosso della Maremma 2000 or Abbazia di Novacella’s Sauvignon 2004, a zippy wine from the Italy’s Südtirol.If you’re near Lincoln Center, the new Bar Boulud (1900 Broadway at 64th Street, 212-595-0303) is mindful of tough times, with fifty wines priced less than $40 and a scattering for under $30. Nothing goes down so easily with Sylvain Gasdon’s wonderful charcuterie, in fact, than the least expensive red on Bar Boulud’s list, Domaine l’Ameillaud’s lively, chewy blend of syrah, grenache, and carignan, vintage 2005 from Vaucluse, at just $20.Certain restaurants beckon canny bargain hunters on certain days. Uptown, the new, Latin-inflected Hudson River Café (697 W. 133rd St. at Twelfth Avenue,212-491-9111), for example, cuts the price of its entire wine list in half on Tuesday evenings. On a particular day of the week each month, Fleur de Sel (5 E. 20th St. at Fifth Avenue, 212-460-6100 a tiny, atmospheric French spot, halves the price of the priciest wines on its list. On Thursdays in April, all California and Italian bottles priced at more than $200 are half-price. And if you’d like to drink a trophy bottle or two from your own cellar in a restaurant setting, head for Drew Neiporent’s Tribeca Grill (375 Greenwich St., between Harrison and N. Moore streets, 212-941-3900) on Monday nights, when corkage fees are waived. Just remember to tip your server as if you’d paid for the wine.

Market-Timed Wine

Market-Timed Wine

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