Now you can find muscadet, rosé — and just in time for fall, a gamay — in forty ounce bottles under screwcap at Wines By Nature in Wading River. It’s the only place you can find them in Suffolk County, according to store owner George Eldi.
Made by French winemaker Julien Braud in the Loire Valley, the bottles are distributed in the United States by sommelier Patrick Cappiello under the label Forty Ounce Wines.
“It’s very bright and juicy, like a Beaujolais,” Eldi said. “But it has a savory back finish.”
“It’s going to rock your world during Thanksgiving,” he added.
For those who don’t understand the allure of the 40 ounce bottle, first, an explainer. For certain millennials and generation X-ers, forty ounce bottles of malt liquor, sold cheaply at gas stations and convenience stores, were a drink of choice in their younger years. So picking up a 40 ounce bottle carries a sense of nostalgia. Not to mention a 40 ounce bottle has 1.5 times more wine than a traditional 750 ml bottle.
Cappiello’s bottles (read more about him in this Vine Pair story) have grabbed the attention of various national publications including Food & Wine, Thrillist and Time. And although the package may seem like gimmick, Eldi notes that it’s a tasty bottle.
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“It’s super unique and it strikes a chord in people’s memories,” Eldi said. “It overdelivers for its packaging.”
The rosé has been on the shelves since Eldi opened in July, but at press time he had only about five bottles in stock. He plans to carry the red and muscadet through fall.
Consumers appear to embracing the alternative packaging trend. Consider that Bridge Lane wine canned a trial batch of rosé this summer and sold out of the 1,000 can run within three weeks.
Eldi recommends serving the gamay chilled. It sells for $14.99 in the store. Only 4,800 cases were made, according to Food & Wine.
