Italian wine lovers, here is a rare chance to raid the wine cellar of what was recently the fanciest Italian restaurant in the United States.
The New York restaurant Del Posto is auctioning off its wine cellar online on July 24 and 25 through auctioneer Hart Davis Hart. Most wine auctions focus on essentially the same famous names from Bordeaux and Burgundy. In this online auction, of the 29,400 bottles for sale, 13,755 are from Barolo. There are full cases of Barolos from good vintages, from famous wines like Giacomo Conterno Monfortino to single-vineyard wines from lesser-known producers that Del Posto co-owner Joe Bastianich just liked.
There is one huge caveat: Hart Davis Hart does not ship wine within the US. If you win a bid, you must either pick it up at their Delaware warehouse, or have it shipped internationally. That's enough to keep me from bidding, but if you live in Tokyo or near Delaware, you're in luck.
Del Posto opened in 2005, as what former Eater critic Bill Addison called "the pinnacle of [Mario] Batali and Joe Bastianich's Manhattan restaurant empire". Addison also called it "the country's most opulent Italian tasting-menu restaurant".
Del Posto is currently closed but, in the only question that Bastianich would answer, he told Wine-Searcher: "We are uncertain about what the future will be."
What we do know is that he had one magnifico wine cellar.
"Joe had a lot of personal relationships so he was able to source wines directly from them," said Marc Smoler, Hart Davis Hart's senior vice president of client services. "The cellar, it's not just the trophies and the big names. It's also the next tier of Italian wines that you don't often see. Joe got to taste and he met the producers and he bought things that they loved. And they didn't just buy a bottle or two; they would buy five cases."
Just a few of the treasures I spotted in the auction catalog: Cantina Mascarello Barolos back to the 1960s, with one bottle from the 1950s; Ornellaia back to 1997; Sassicaia back to 1979; Quintarelli back to 1983; Gaja Barbaresco back to the 1970s; a smattering of Biondi-Santi among a large contingent from Brunello di Montalcino; Masseto back to 1994, with a lot of large-format bottles.
There are also some big French names, including Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, JL Chave and Dom Pérignon.
If you are an Italian wine fan, you might find something more affordable, such as a six-pack of 2002 Gravner Breg Anfora that is only expected to cost $320-$480, for example.
To me, this is one of the big draws of this auction. Even though it's international and people can bid online, the big names will draw the big money, so there are certain to be bargains in some excellent wines that the world's ruling class hasn't yet had an assistant describe to them with a PowerPoint.
"To say you can get a full case of Barolo from a great vintage for $600 a case ... you can't get this stuff at retail," Smoler said. "Even beyond the treasures, there is unbelievable wine at every price level. These are not wines that you can just go to your local retailer or an online portal to get. These are wines you had to go to a restaurant to get."
Wine counterfeit expert Maureen Downey told Wine-Searcher that Hart Davis Hart has "the single best record in the wine auction world for both not working with questionable sources and thoroughly, knowledgeably screening bottles. They are the gold standard for authentication and provenance vetting in wine auctions."
A lively backstory
Del Posto attracted some controversy in the last decade because of Bastianich's former business partner Batali, a celebrity chef who had a quick and harsh downfall. In 2012 their company B&B Hospitality Group settled a lawsuit by 117 restaurant staff members who claimed the organization had skimmed a percentage of their tip pools.
In 2017, Batali was fired from B&B after four women publicly accused him of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct. Target stopped selling Batali's pasta sauces. The Las Vegas Sands Corporation forced the group to close its three restaurants in Las Vegas in 2018.
In March 2019, Batali sold his shares in B&B – including Del Posto – to Bastianich. In May 2019, Batali was charged in Boston Municipal Court with indecent assault and battery; he pled not guilty.
Bastianich has not been charged in any incidents.
In 2019, after buying out Batali, Bastianich issued a statement which read in part: "While I never saw or heard of Mario groping an employee, I heard him say inappropriate things to our employees. Though I criticized him for it from time to time, I should have done more. I neglected my responsibilities as I turned my attention away from the restaurants. People were hurt, and for this I am deeply sorry."
In May 2019, New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells re-evaluated Del Posto, which a prior critic had given the Times' top rating of four stars in 2010. Wells wrote: "Del Posto is ... the grandest and most expensive restaurant in New York where women are in charge of everything you eat," a new development.
He also wrote: "Del Posto has in recent years picked up a reputation as a restaurant for one-percenters ... the stockpile of Champagnes includes some lock-and-key stuff, and should you require a Barolo costing between $2000 and $4000, one will quickly be added to your bill. But among the 3100 or so Italian labels ... are more marked from $60 to $75 than I can count. Piemonte is a place to hunt, and Friuli, and the Valle d'Aosta, for starters."
And now you can hunt in the auction! Check out hdhwine.com for details. The auction will be live on the internet; you can bid in advance or as it happens. Good luck, and if you do successfully pick up a case of great Barolo, don't forget who told you where to find it.
July 21, 2020 at 07:00AM
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