Friday nite is party nite @ ABC Wine Co.

Avenue C in Alphabet City was once a drug-infested, crime-ridden wasteland.  

Now it's a wine-soaked party zone for the young and lovely.  

That was the impression, anyway, as I poured and talked up my wines at Alphabet City Wine Co. last night.  Maybe it doesn't hurt that the shop has a sitting area with comfy chairs and sofa -- sort of a Central Perk with vino. (Sometimes I had the feeling that Ross and Rachel and Chandler and so on were going to walk in at any moment.  Or their kid brothers and sisters.  The couch in the pic is not in ABC Wine Co., by the way.)   

The foot traffic was intense between 7 and 9 especially, and people were lined up at the tasting table and the cash register.  We blew through a lot of Domenico Selections wine, not to mention the brisk business in those other wines (bah!) that a regular clientele had come to know and love.  

Below: Strappo explains it all

As the evening went on, I noticed that my pours were getting a bit more generous and that no one was spitting.  After a while, almost no one was pouring any out, either.  Not "tasting."  A free and effective way to get a head start on partaying.  

I mentioned here what we'd be tasting.  The clear hit of the balmy evening -- one of the few so far this spring -- was the sole white wine in the bunch, this Soave.  Couldn't keep enough cold bottles in the fridge.  

A good time was had by all, as they say, and I await an immediate reorder. (AHEMMM.)  

At this moment it's foggy and dreary again.  I wonder what it's going to do to the airline schedules.  I can more confidently guess what it's going to do to white wine sales today.