By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER EAST SIDE — You don't have to take out a second mortgage on your home anymore to buy a bottle of fine wine from Sotheby's.
With its brand new on-site wine store, the auction house hopes to bring in customers who would not typically attend one of its pricey auctions, a spokesman for Sotheby's said.
Prices at the store, which sits off the lobby at Sotheby's 1334 York Avenue location, range from $13.95 to more than $1,200.
"We keep ourselves in good wine," said Eli Rodriguez, manager of the retail wine shop, of the store's staff-selected collection. "It's all highly curated growers that we've gotten to know over the years."
The relationship with vineyards around the world means that Sotheby's is also the exclusive New York retailer of certain wines, Rodriguez said.
Unlike their fine wine auctions, which focus on collectible and cellar wines, the retail store offers more immediately drinkable wines, he said.
"We also, as wine consumers, are looking to take home wine every day," Rodriguez added.
Rodriguez and Jamie Ritchie, president and CEO of Sotheby's Wine, said they tweet and Facebook the wines they're drinking every month.
Among the pair's selections for the next two weeks is a 2005 Chateau Franc Couplet with a non-negotiable retail price of $13.95.
So what's the difference between a $14 bottle of wine and one that costs a month's rent?
Like buying real estate on the Upper East Side, it comes down to location, with more expensive wines coming from older and better tended vineyards, Rodriguez said.
Sotheby's wine store is open Monday through Friday between 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and until 6 p.m. on Saturdays.
