The original idea behind this piece was to describe to our customers and potential customers how we go about selecting the wines and spirits that make it to our floor and shelves. But as you will read a little later on, in doing this I came to a eureka moment of self-realization.

A big part of what makes the store special is that we taste everything prior to purchasing. We do this so we are in a position to answer customer questions in an informed manner.

Almost daily, wine salespersons, winemakers, winery owners and wine importers make their way to beautiful downtown Hartsdale and meet with the owners and me.

I taste whatever wines they present with specific instructions that they do not tell me the price in advance.

I taste the reds first and the whites second. This is in opposite order of what most people do, but it’s a tradition I learned in Burgundy. If the whites are vivid and exciting after following the heavier reds, then I know they are exceptionally flavorful.

I use a journal and utilize short hand codes. One star is a wine worthy of the store; two stars are wines that deserve serious consideration and three stars are wines that, if the pricing is right, are automatic buys.

When I taste, I rarely make buy decisions based on the styles I prefer.  I evaluate the wine in technical terms. Is it balanced? Does it taste like the grape that it is based on? Does its taste reflect the region from which it was grown? If it’s a well-made wine, I will give it stars even though it is not something I personally would buy for myself. There are many different palates and I want our store to feature every possible style so that our customers will find numerous wines that please their tastes.

As I taste, I write short descriptions that help me remember months later what style the particular wine had. I keep it brief, for example: “Lush, full bodied, red fruit forward.” Lastly, I write down the price I think the wine should sell for.

If I give a wine two stars and I think it should be priced at $17.00, and the salesperson tells me it’s a $12.00 wine, then I have a no-brainer buy decision.

If the price is $18.00, I pass… even though I loved it.

The strict criteria are: Quality and value. -- The wine must be excellent (in its price category) and it must taste beyond its price point.

During the process of composing all this, it occurred to me that somehow I have reached a point in my life where I actually get paid to spit wine in a bucket.

Because there are so many wines to taste, from 10:00 to 6:00 daily, I have to use what is referred to as either a dump bucket or a spit bucket. To actually drink so much wine would be venturing into a dark place I never want to experience.

There have been days where I tasted over 100 wines. Even on a slow week, it’s about 10 wines a day.

We are across the street from the Hartsdale train station and every day I see a parade of commuters come and go. They are going to Manhattan office buildings and working long, probably stressful hours. And here I am spitting wine into a bucket. Work, work, work, work!

It is bizarre when you think about it. Wine professionals come into the store from far away places such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, France, Italy and California and essentially all they are doing is standing around me as I spit their wine into a bucket.

I have spit in front of Marquises and Barons. I have spit in front of farmers, retired sports stars and millionaire winery owners.

I have been flown to France and Switzerland where I spat wine inside Chateaus dating back to the 1600’s under portraits spanning several generations.

I spat on the floors of cold, damp cellars and in penthouse suites at great hotels such as The Plaza and The Waldorf.

However, I have never been foolish enough to spit from a New York City subway platform.

As the Talking Heads’ lyric goes: “And you may ask yourself, well… how did I get here?”

I wish I had a really good answer. It’s not as if I hold a degree in enology, or have sommelier certification and certainly I am not a Master of Wine candidate. So what are my qualifications? 

Basically I have a passion for it. I have been drinking and collecting wine for over twenty years and somehow, in the course of those years, I was able to experience it at the highest levels.  It is my “educated” palate that has taken me to the point where all I need is a wineglass and a spit bucket in order to make a living.

And so I savor the following quotation:  “Find something you love to do and you'll never have to work a day in your life.” (Harvey MacKay)

I heartily recommend this philosophy to everyone… but keep in mind; I’ve already cornered the spitting market.

--Steven Fox