A Q&A with Saratoga’s Resident Wine Expert
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Kathleen Willcox is a Saratoga Springs-based freelance wine writer with bylines at Wine Enthusiast Magazine, Wine Business Monthly, Food & Wine, Wine Searcher, and The Drinks Business, among many others. She’s also the author of the wine-centric Substack “Good + Tasty” and co-author of the book “Hudson Valley Wine: A History of Taste & Terroir.”
In other words, Kathleen knows a thing or two about juice.
Saratoga TODAY sought Kathleen’s expertise on the best local wine lists, shops, and vineyards. We were also curious to find out how she ended up at a Champagne tasting event at Versailles, mostly because we were jealous.
Q: What are your top picks for the best wine lists in Saratoga Springs?
A: There are several excellent ones, but I am particularly fond of Bocage and Kindred!
Q: What are your favorite bottle shops in the Saratoga area?
A: I absolutely love Sage Wine & Spirits. Owner Jes Rich has an excellent selection of New York, domestic, and international wines. Jes also prioritizes sustainably produced, independent, artisanal wines that truly reflect time and place.
Q: What are your favorite wineries in New York?
A: That is so hard. I’d say, for the old guard: Dr. Konstantin Frank. (The team there pioneered vitis vinifera and methode champenoise sparkling wine in the Finger Lakes.) For the newer wineries: Apollo’s Praise. If you see their Riesling or Cabernet Franc anywhere, grab it. A very talented young couple (Kelby James Russell and Julia Rose Hoyle) is behind the winery, and I’m inspired by their passion for making authentic, low-intervention wines, often from tiny, manually harvested blocks in their vineyard.
Q: What are the latest and greatest trending wines right now? In other words, what could I order to impress a sommelier?
A: Albarino!
Q: Have tariffs impacted wine imports in the U.S.? If so, what has the impact been?
A: It definitely has. We all see the impact of inflation and general economic confusion at the gas pump, at restaurants, and in the grocery store, and it’s the same thing for wineries. While consumption of wine is declining worldwide, the cost of business is going up, and their margins are getting ever thinner.
Q: I couldn’t help but notice you visited Versailles recently for a Laurent-Perrier Champagne event. What did you do there and how was the experience?
A: I loved it. I am low-key obsessed with the era of the Sun King and the French Revolution, so the opportunity to tour Versailles, check out the grounds, and get a deep dive into the history was priceless. Both the Sun King and Laurent-Perrier share a similar philosophy when it comes to creating things of beauty. In a nutshell: nature is almost perfect, and with human ingenuity, it can be made better. At Versailles, that meant using engineering and a new way of thinking about farming to create complex and harmonious garden spaces, cultivating fruits and vegetables (even oranges) for the first time in Northern France, and generally creating one of the most beautiful places on earth. (And yes, walking through the vast, ornate rooms of Versailles, I did understand some of the motivation for the Revolution too. The palace embodies gorgeous, gilded excess.) Laurent-Perrier, meanwhile, aims to craft transcendent Champagnes through careful farming and production practices that go far beyond what is generally done. Their Grand Siècle Champagne, for example, is the only Champagne that combines three separate vintages with the goal of creating the “perfect” vintage. Iteration No. 27 (blend of the years 2015, 2013, 2012) is about to hit the shelf in the U.S., and it is a perfect example of the Champagne House’s vision.