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I learned to love wine in the early 90s, tasting in the kitchen of Art and Bunny Finklestein in their then tiny, hand-built Judd’s Hill Winery in Napa.

We would hang out at the table in the morning, wine, bread and cheese spread about. I knew immediately that I had found a connector through wine to passionate people who loved the land, the process, the grape and the perpetual reflection that making and loving wine brings to a community of people.

I was smitten.

Roll the clock way way forward. We are in Racines in TribeCa pre-opening Stephane Tissot dinner on Chambers Street, not down some windy dirt road east of Napa.

Seven or so years after pursuing wine as a passion through my travels and blog, theLocalSip project and a dedication towards a natural approach to wine, and to the environment and food in general.

IMG_5624This post is a hug to David Lillie, a friend, the co-owner of Chambers Street Wines (with Jamie Woolf), and Racines NYC (with Arnaud Tronche) which will open in a week.

It’s a heartfelt thank you for arriving at the pre-opening dinner to find a menu with my name on it, a seat waiting, and a sense of belonging to the beginning of something new.

It’s a sharing of my long affair with the Jura, a deep respect for Stephane Tissot and a thrill at finally meeting him.

I’ve blogged on Stephane’s wines numerous times.

Every year I take a bottle of either a Poulsard or Trousseau to Tulum, Mexico on vacation, take a picture of me drinking it in a hammock and post it. We bonded over this at the first handshake of the evening.

It’s a sense of real pleasure to see my good friend Wink Lorch have her book on Jura Wine out, highlighted at the event, and her stature as an expert in this area truly appreciated. And some satisfaction of my own little role in helping to get her Kickstarter campaign going and introducing her to my NY wine community. You can buy the book here.

And it’s a celebration of New York, of natural wine, of a community of people—many that I know and respect like Pascaline Lepeltier, Camille Riviere, Sev Perru, Chris Struck who were at the event and to co-owner Arnaud Tronche, and Frederic Duca, the chef,  whom I trust will become friends..

Tribeca needed a place like this. Not a wine bar, but a restaurant with a core sense of wine as prime. I’m betting that Racines will be it.

Screen Shot 2014-04-13 at 7.56.13 AMI haven’t tasted the menu yet—I know it will be as crisp and natural and delicious as the wines will be.

I haven’t seen the wine list, but that is a slam dunk with David as the curator and a promise on the best selection of wines without sulfur added.

I don’t have a sense of the place although the attention to detail in the design is perfect, down to acoustical absorbing ceiling tiles. But when people like Pascaline from Rouge Tomate are working for the joy of it at the party, the community is already there.

It just feels right.

And to gloat a bit about the wine at the dinner!

The 1990 Vin Jaune was just amazing—nuts, and ginger, and a balance between acidity and fruit that time really enabled. The Trousseau in Amphora—never been tasted before in the states—was an unstressed, as naturally flavorful, as easy on the palate and alert on the senses as any Trousseau I’ve drunk.

And—a nudge to David and Arnaud—that no matter how popular Racines becomes, I’m hopeful that there is always a bar stool open for me at the corner. I’ve already moved a handful of meetings in May there before I know the schedule.

See many of you there.

 

IMG_4745David Lillie, c0-0wner Racines

IMG_4774Sev Perru, Stephane Tissot, Camille Riviere

IMG_4848Arnaud Tronche, co-owner Racines

IMG_5628Camille, Stephane, Sev, ‘The Book!’

IMG_4836Pascaline Lepeltier from Rouge Tomate

IMG_4804Chris Struck & Arnaud Tronche

IMG_4698Frederic Duca, Chef at Racines

IMG_4718Camille Riviere, Riviere Wine Selections

IMG_4855Eben Lille