THE SMARTER WAY TO BUY WINE

Launching this week, Vitis is a flash-sale wine site that packs a punch. Each day Vitis will have up to four sales of amazing wines at prices from 30% to 70% off.

Boasting an incredible tasting team including two Masters of Wine, the experts at Vitis are determined to make selecting easy. Tasting and vetting each wine, they also include a little history on their featured selections as well as the ideal recipe and cheese pairing.

A very special friend introduced us to the deliciousness that is Heavy Water over the weekend and we thought it was just so fantastic we had to share. The bottle is chic, the sip is very refined and the high.. well it's perfect. Vodka connoisseurs we are not,  we like to think of ourselves as the discerning kind. This vodka is fabulous. Available at MORRELL and ASTOR.

Summer hit full force this week (“Where are my shorts? Where did I hang that cute dress I bought at the end of August?”). It’s time to think about eating outside, dusting off the grill, cocktails with umbrellas and, of course, summer wine.

I called my friend Roberta Morrell, of the perennially chic MORRELL WINE in Rockefeller Center to ask for her advice on what wines to stock up on for summer entertaining. She came up with a brilliant selection, heavy on rosé, which is exactly right. Rosé wine has become hyper trendy in the last few years, because it’s light and delicious for summer. As a result, winemakers have been producing more and more interesting types of rosé.

After I received Roberta’s suggestions, I realized that the mixed case of wine would be a fabulous gift for a weekend host (“so much better than a piece of china” said Roberta).

Be sure to sign up for the email NEWSLETTER of Morrell Wine; Roberta has free tastings all the time, usually from 3 to 6PM, and always featuring dynamic winemakers themselves.