Federal Wine and Spirits is a great little wine store in downtown Boston. We went there last weekend, as part of Allison‘s anniversary gift for me. I wanted to find a nice bottle of 2000 Bordeaux, and they are among the few places who have it (or can source it reasonably).
The 2000 Bordeaux is already a legendary vintage among winos, and the bottle are becoming harder to get unless you’re willing to buy a case (or more) or deal with long waits.
At the store we met up with Len, one of their managers. We had a great 45-minute conversation while browsing their cellar and while he was retrieving some bottles from their original cases. Cool guy, very knowledgable, very helpful, not too salesy.
We ended up getting one of the aforementioned 2000 Cos D’Estournel, a couple of 2005 Bell Clarets (the link is a PDF), and a 1998 Louis Jadot Beaune Clos des Ursules for an interesting red that’s ready to drink now.
If you’re looking for a fairly special or rare bottle of wine, this is a good store to try. If they don’t have it in-house, they can get it for you, and fairly quickly, too.
Yoav Shapira's Personal Blog 