First edition

Hello, I'm Brooklynguy. I grew up in Manhattan but I've lived in Brooklyn for the past 10 years, and I'm never going back! I love Brooklyn. I also love wine. I love experiencing wine with other people who are also curious about wine. I love tasting, thinking about, reading about, and learning about wine.

I will share my experiences with wine and food, and I promise to try to add some sort of value - this will not simply be a diary of what I drink and eat. I will offer opinions, recommendations, and ask questions, and I hope to stimulate you to try a new wine, or a new food/wine pairing, or tell you about a great wine shop, or to let you know about where to find something particularly tasty to eat.

And to be completely honest, I want to participate in Wine Blogging Wednesdays, the brilliant community wine tasting started by Lenn at Lenndevours. from what I can tell, only wine bloggers can participate. What a wonderful way of sharing wine thoughts and tasting experiences with a community of interested people!

I have no financial interest in anything food or wine related. Anything I write about I share because it means something to me, and it might mean something to you.

For starters...I want to tell you about a wine shop I love in brooklyn. If I were forced to choose one and only one wine shop in Brooklyn to visit, it would be Prospect Wine Shop, hands down. Amy, the manager who actually chooses the wines they carry, truly loves wines that express some sort of character, something that identifies them as unique. Sure, you can get a California Chardonnay or an Aussie Shiraz, but a Brooklynguy like me can find some real treasures there too, off-the-beaten-track stuff. Here are two examples:

If you like Loire Valley sweet wines, at Prospect Wine Shop you can buy a bottle of 1998 Domaine Des Baumard Quarts de Chaume for under $40. Try finding this wine at another store...or look on an auction site like Winecommune and you'll see that this price is usually about $60. I bought one bottle and I haven't had the occasion to open it.

On Sunday I stopped by Prospect to buy an inexpensive red wine to use in braising the short ribs I will serve tonight at our September Wine Dinner (more on that tomorrow). But who doesn't need wine while cooking? I emerged with a bottle of sparking red wine made by Alain Renerdat from Bugey (pronounce the "g" like a "zh"). This bright and fruity sparkler is packed with red fruit - sour cherries and strawberries. There is also something slightly dusty, earthy on the finish. It is definitely off dry, and probably best for a single glass as an aperitif, or with some sort of smoked fish appetizer, hopefully on the deck. For 17 bucks I felt like I got my money's worth. And at only 7.5% alcohol, I could make my way through the whole bottle over 4 hours of cooking and not get too whacked out.

More on Prospect Wine shop soon. I have to prepare for tonight's wine dinner.