Six newcomers have entered the top tier of 11 wine stores in the Zagat Survey’s 2008 guide to New York City Gourmet Shopping and Entertaining.

The US$14.95 paperback, released today, is a companion to Zagat’s influential ‘New York City Restaurants’ guide. It provides ‘Gourmet shopping’ evaluations, descriptions and location information.

The highest-scoring best overall merchant was Moore Brothers, which specialises exclusively in small French, German and Italian producers. A hair’s-breadth behind was Bottlerocket, whose 365 wines are grouped by food-matching categories. Both were founded in 2006.

The other leading newcomers are Manhattan’s Le Dû’s Wines and Crush, as well as LeNell’s and Red, White and Bubbly, both in Brooklyn. All four were founded in the last 6 years.

The remaining merchants are old standbys – Sherry-Lehmann, which, after 73 years on Madison Avenue, moves to Park Avenue soon, Morrell and Company, Burgundy Wine Company, Italian Wine Merchants and Vino.

The 2008 guide rates 54 stores. A number of newcomers, especially in Brooklyn, have been started by young investors passionate about niche wines.

Written by Howard G Goldberg in New York

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Howard G Goldberg
Howard G Goldberg
Decanter Magazine, Food & Wine Writer

Howard G Goldberg is a wine writer and critic based in New York City. He made his name writing about wine for The New York Times, where he worked for 34 years. He has written various books on food and wine, including Prime: The Complete Prime Rib Book and All About Wine Cellars. He compiled The New York Times Book of Wine – a collection of the publication’s best wine articles.