Musings of a Wine Maven

My Favorite Seasonal Window Display in New York City

by Jerry Clark

I no longer wait in that endless line to meet Santa at Macy’s flagship store on Herald Square in Manhattan, but I do indulge in other seasonal delights in the city. Good friend and wine importer Jacques Navarre joined me in the Apple recently. Beginning at Saint Pat’s under the lights, we crossed Fifth Avenue to see the giant tree and the skaters at Rockefeller Center, followed by the famous department store windows, including a peek at Saks’ windows (always stunning during the holidays).

In the morning, we headed down to the Village for brunch.  My daughter, a brief resident of the city, recommended Jack’s Wife Freda on Carmine Street, with a warning it was tough to get a table (but we were successful that particular morning). Well fed, Jacques and I made a left turn exiting the restaurant and immediately faced the window display of a wine shop that almost took my breath away. It was a beach scene featuring the rosé wine of Château La Gardonne, an AOC Côtes de Provence grower! My improving, but still hard to completely shed, curmudgeonly views on rosé as an all-season wine stopped me dead in my tracks.

OK, I thought, this is the final proof that I am one of the last to get it. Were I the window dresser at the shop, Spirits of Carmine, a selection of bubblies would dominate the display with a hint that one can never have too much of this New Year standard. I feel certain that the owner of La Gardonne would agree with me—that château is owned by the legendary Champagne house, Vranken Pommery Monopole. Instead, this message here is “think Caribbean” and even if you will not be traveling south anytime soon, you can still get the effect with a bottle of rosé.

For me, this is clearly the most provocative window display of the season…and I confess that all this past week at home, a glass of rosé was on the coffee table as I started a late afternoon fire.

8 Comments

  1. I love rose, Travel in particularly, but I also have trouble buying into the any time of year thing except for using them as aperitifs. Merry Christmas!

  2. For a month in the Carib right now I would even drink Vitalis Hair Tonic (very alcoholic I’m told).

    • Given this frigid start to winter I am with you 100% on being in the Caribbean. But I draw the line at drinking Vitalis, though I once saw someone take a swig straight. Ouch!

  3. Love the window, Jerry – not only is it elegant and tasteful, it is tasty, too!

  4. Hah, you ol’ curmudgeon. Thanks for posting that. Would love to have strolled with you throught the streets of NY. Homesick.

  5. Pam,
    I spent 24 hours in Manhattan mid last week and as chance would have it walked past the same wine shop on my way to a movie theatre nearby them. They have replaced the balmy view of sun and sand with a Champagne display. I miss the other, as only yesterday snow descended on our CT home for an hour. As I write this its 45 degrees. Still, of late we are drinking mostly rosé to imagine a different Spring.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.


*


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

UA-53855671-1