Free Ice

If you find yourself in New York, staying in a hotel not far from East 57th Street, and you decide you need some wine, because you are not the kind of person who will pay $35 for a half bottle of Chardonnay out of the mini-bar, I suggest that you wander over to Sherry-Lehmann, and buy yourself two bottles of a nice Sauvignon Blanc, and tell the salesperson that you are staying in a hotel, and that there is no room in the tiny refrigerator, because it is full of the afore-mentioned half bottles of very expensive wine, and when he offers to put ice in the box, do not stop to think "what could he mean, put ice in the box?" and accept his gracious offer.

Because when you finally open the box several hours later, you will discover that he has lined a two-bottle-sized corrugated box with a very sturdy plastic bag, and has packed ice all around your two bottles of wine, and rolled up the plastic bag, and sealed the box well, and it is just like a private little ice bucket for your Sauvignon Blanc, and really, there isn't anything better.

Yes, I did this last week.

Incidentally, Sherry-Lehmann has a reputation for being a high-end, to the carriage trade, hoity-toity wine seller. The fact of the matter is that it is perfectly possibly to find perfectly nice bottles of wine on their website for under $10 a bottle, and - if you live in the right place and buy a case or two - the shipping is free. Actually setting foot in the store was slightly bewildering and felt a little like going to Mecca, but the ice in the box was such a perfect gesture and one you'd never get if you were shopping on-line. Bricks and mortar, for the win!