will City Winery survive in this economy?

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Posted in music | venues on October 16, 2008

will City Winery survive in this economy?

Steve Earle & Allison Moorer @ Judson Church (more by Chris La Putt)
Steve Earle and Allison Moorer

Will City Winery be a hit? The idea that music events and high-end private parties could generate additional revenue convinced Matthew Sperling, managing director of equity capital markets at Jefferies & Co., to become one of the winery's first investors. It was a decision he says he came to ``over many bottles of wine.'' And, of course, he's making his own barrel.

Dorf admits that ``the credit crunch is affecting my nerves.'' One investor has pulled out, and the $15,000 premier barrel category hasn't had any traction in the past three weeks. Still, a third of the barrels have been sold to a diverse group of New Yorkers, from group president of JP Morgan Mutual Funds George Gatch to supermodel Petra and artist Chuck Close.

Dorf is taking no chances. This week he's launching a ``community barrel'' category (about $1,500) for those willing to share with five like-minded strangers. (Think of it as the latest singles opportunity.)

He's also revamping next year's music plans.

``My idea of having Sting appear at a $1,000-ticket concert would have worked six months ago, but the game has changed in the past five or six days,'' he says. Thursday night ``pairing'' events start in January, with Grammy Award-winning Steve Earle and his wife, Allison Moorer, followed by singer-songwriters Suzanne Vega and Marc Cohn. [Bloomberg]

Philip Glass is playing there in March. A video feature NBC did on the venue below...

City Winery on NBC

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Tags: Allison Moorer, City Winery, Marc Cohn, Michael Dorf, Steve Earle, Suzanne Vega

Posted on October 16, 2008 9:14 AM

Comments (6)

wow, who fucking cares. hope this dude congratulates himself to death. that wine isn't even made in nyc. it's just a bait and switch so yupsters and aspiring yupsters can feel like they're doing something urbane and somehow important.

now, i don't have an MBA, but i think that there's and old saying that goes something like "if your business is retarded, people may not want to buy your overpriced shit."

Posted by Anonymous | October 16, 2008 9:33 AM

^^DON'T HATE, CREATE!

Posted by Anonymous | October 16, 2008 10:23 AM

I first read about City Winery in Whoop-Dee-fucking-Doo Magazine.

That channel 4 WNBC clip is unintentionally hilarious.

Posted by Anonymous | October 16, 2008 10:47 AM

dorf is such a douche

Posted by Anonymous | October 16, 2008 11:52 AM

...if you don't know anything about making wine then don't make idiotic statements. of course the wine is made at City Winery - IT IS A WINERY.

Posted by alyson | October 16, 2008 5:27 PM

I personally plan on drinking 270 bottles of wine next year, so perhaps this IS a sound investment. Or maybe I will just go to more art openings. Not sure.

Posted by Aaron | October 16, 2008 9:31 PM