About Us
Philosophy
Our goal is a simple one: to connect passionate producers making honest, authentic wines with equally passionate customers. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel, take ourselves too seriously, or revolutionize the business (unless someone invents a totally new kind of alcohol- in that case we're totally all over that). We're proudly plying a trade filled with a rich history that dates back millennia. Achieving our goal comes down to building strong personal relationships with three important groups: our customers, our producers, and our employees (hopefully we'll get those soon). It’s pretty simple really. Carefully select producers for the long-term, make sure your employees are happy, and go above and beyond what customers, both in the trade as well as individual consumers, expect. As far as a wine philosophy goes, you'll be disappointed if were hoping to find a grand, dogmatic manifesto here. The only thing we are dogmatic about is demanding the absolute highest quality in all our wines, regardless of price.
That’s not to say we don’t have our own strong opinions on wine, as we do, but we realize that wine is far too complex to break down into black and white issues and have learned that pretty much every time we think we know something to be certain, a wine will come along and shatter whatever notion we had. In short, we try to keep an open-mind while staying true to what we believe in. Also sometimes we can get too caught up in the details and forget to see wine for what is should be on its most basic and fundamental level: something meant to bring people together, rather than apart, and bring happiness to those who consume it.
So what is it that we do believe in one might ask? Well here we will give you a mini-manifesto, wine or otherwise. Thing we love: high acidity, minerality, balanced alcohol levels, quirky, off-beat, and oft-overlooked wines that make the wine world such an interesting place, traditional winemaking that preserves the ways of the past as well as young upstarts eschewing modern agricultural practices and daring to be different. Many of these new winemakers are simply returning to the ways of their grandparents and we think that’s awesome- always listen to your grandparents, they know what’s up. Other things we love: oysters, soup dumplings, BLTs, and the Cincinnati Bengals (Eric at least). Things we don’t love: the overuse of new oak, the prevailing overripe style of wine that lose all sense of place, overly-manipulated wines, and the Pittsburgh Steelers (Eric again on that one). We are big believers in wines being made with as little manipulation as possible. This means natural wines, organic wines, and biodynamic wines, certified or otherwise. This, again is a pretty simple concept- we’ve found time and time again that producers working this way make wines that taste better. ’
Our Team
Eric Clemons
Eric got an early start in the wine business at the age of 19 working at a Finger Lakes winery and a retail wine store in Ithaca, New York while attending the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. There Eric took every available class related to wine and was quickly hooked. Upon graduation, he went to work for Michael Skurnik Wines, one of the nation’s best importer/distributors, where he became the youngest sales rep in the company’s history at the age of 22. After nearly ten fun-filled and successful years at Skurnik, Eric left to start Coeur Wine Company in 2013. When Eric’s not working, he’s watching his hometown Cincinnati Bengals, traveling & eating, and probably feeling guilty that he’s not working. He lives in New Jersey (he’s still coming to terms with this after being a New Yorker for 10+ years) with his amazing wife Christina, their two sons, and their extremely lazy miniature Dachshund.
Misaki Reinoso
Misaki joined Coeur Wine Co. in summer 2018 as the first full-time office staff to help manage day-to day operations. Originally from Japan, Misaki came to the States to attend a school and it was not until she arrived at New York City several years later that she found love for wine. From there, prior to joining Coeur, she has worked as a sommelier at Corton, a buyer at Astor Wines & Spirits, and most recently a Senior Business Development Associate at Massanois Imports. Misaki still possesses the drive when she left her country 16 years ago; the desire to explore new and exciting – and she is grateful to find that in both where she lives and what she does.
Amanda Smeltz
Amanda Smeltz has been a sommelier and wine buyer in NYC restaurants for over 13 years; the pandemic helped nudge her to the import and distro world, where she’s now enjoying close relationships with winegrowers, farmers, and Coeur’s magnificent team of colleagues. Amanda’s other passions are literature, art, history, and friendship.
John McCarroll
John McCarroll is the author of Land of Dissidence: Moroccan Schemata of Power, Colonial Ethnography and the Western Sahara. He also writes and podcasts about wine.
Gabe McNeil
Last summer, Gabe toured 3,000km of French countryside on his trusty old Cannondale, La Poderosa, receiving a veritable education in its many wines. He estimates to have eaten over 150 baguettes, making him the self-described authority on wine/baguette pairings in the tri-state area.
Hannah Miller
Hannah joined Coeur Wine Co in 2019, and is lucky to be a part of this band of hooligans that masquerade as wine professionals. She was born and raised in the Willamette Valley, which was not only a magical place to grow up, but sparked her love of wine and the great outdoors. After many years in restaurants and wine retail, she found herself on the sales side, and has loved being inside the wonderful Venn diagram of winemakers, buyers, and guests. She lives in Brooklyn, has an iconic chihuahua named Stevie, and is very proud of her vegetable garden.
Kate Miller
After working in the restaurant industry throughout college, Kate made the jump to wine retail at 22. Bouncing between NY (her love) and Massachusetts (her home) for a few years, she finally settled in the Hudson Valley in 2015. In addition to talking about wine, she's always happy to discuss the finer details of Tiki drinks, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and pro-wrestling.
Mariel Goddu
Mariel’s relationship to food, wine, and revelry go all the way back to her childhood growing up in a busy 200-year-old inn on the coast of Southeastern Massachusetts. There, she worked her way through every front of the house position including but not limited to: resident pianist, logo designer, delivery person, and bouncer to pesky sailors before settling in as bartender. She moved to New York City to pursue visual art and directing for theater while continuing to work at bars and restaurants to help pay for her love of…bars and restaurants. Eventually, her passion to learn more about wine led her to beverage direction, creating wine lists, and leading teams to shape an amazing experience. Most recently, Mariel was the Beverage Director and GM at Swine in the West Village. Like art, she’s found that around a special bottle of wine, people share an experience that is alive, unique to them, and connected to something bigger. Mariel lives in Jersey City with her husband, Danilo, whom she snagged from behind a bar, where they can be found cooking for friends, sharing wine on stoops, and loving their nights and weekends!
Thomas Crowley
• What is your idea of perfect happiness? A full cupboard/refrigerator as the blizzard of the century rages outside. • What is the trait you most deplore in others? Cruelty, followed by willful ignorance and obliviousness. • What is your greatest fear? That the milk has gone sour. • What is your greatest extravagance? Moustache wax. • What is your current state of mind? Bemusement. • What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Fiery passion. • On what occasion do you lie? When presented with the opportunity to amuse those within earshot. • What do you most dislike about your appearance? No issues, except for those (now extremely rare) occasions when I under-slather the SPF 70 and sustain a mild burn. • Which living person do you most despise? Same one as you do. And same one as almost every person I know. • What is the quality you most like in a man? Kindness, and the ability to laugh at oneself. • What is the quality you most like in a woman? Ditto. • Which words or phrases do you most overuse? Probably a tie between: "Keep that under your hat." and "Locally-sourced, small-batch, artisanal data." • When and where were you happiest? 30 June 2012. New Paltz, NY. • Which talent would you most like to have? Invisibility. • If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I would like to require less sleep than I do. • What do you consider your greatest achievement? Esquire declaring me one of the five "Best Dressed Real Men" of 2007. • If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? The Aurora Borealis. • Where would you most like to live? London, Rome, or Stockholm. Preferably with the option of yachting between the three cities, every couple of months. • What is your most treasured possession? My metabolism. • What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Most MTA subway platforms, these days. • What is your favorite occupation? Getting lost in Green-Wood Cemetery. • What is your most marked characteristic? High-end listening skills. • What do you most value in your friends? Their wicked senses of humor. • Who are your favorite writers? Salinger, Orwell, Wilde, O'Connor (Flannery). • Who is your hero of fiction? Zooey Glass. • Which historical figure do you most identify with? T.E. Lawrence (that's right — "of Arabia".) • Who are your heroes in real life? Banksy. • What is it that you most dislike? Saxophone solos. • What is your greatest regret? Agreeing to answer any of these questions. • How would you like to die? Buried alive in mashed potatoes or guacamole. • What is your motto? "A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood.” — General George S. Patton
Amy Gironda
Amy Gironda LoCrasto came to NYC in 2000 to get a degree in acting from NYU. She spent a decade working in the service industry while she pursued an acting career. Happily, she found her way into sales in 2016 (with importer WineMc2) after working for many years at Vinegar Hill House in Brooklyn, where she honed her wine skills. Wine has shown her the world; and in return, she’s schlepped it all over the city. Amy loves run-down botanical gardens, all species of bacon, egg & cheese sandwiches, hedge mazes, Christmas, and leaving bobby pins all over the apartment. If all wines were sparkling, that would be A-OK with her. Currently, she lives in Brooklyn with her dreamboat husband Frank, and their tube-shaped dog, Loaf.
Keir Ryan
If one were to blend Colorado and New York, Sade and Mariah Carey, Frasier and King of the Hill, Chipotle and Chobani, authentic Japanese matcha and totally inauthentic iced chai from Starbucks, Barbera and Grüner Veltliner, a low ranking middle American public high school and Juilliard, the Twilight films and the Madea Films, a violent hatred for olives and blue cheese, an even more violent hatred for wasabi and celery, the colors black and green, morning rain and late night fog, cats and more cats, method acting and soulful singing, film writing and light bending photography, west coast skiing and hockey, Aries sun and metal dragon, raspberries and passionfruit, uni and otoro, a crush on Kristen Stewart and Rihanna, and a stronger crush on Jeff Boomhaur and Prince Zuko, the ensuing creation would be Keir Ryan Teeter. Having become life long friends with Coeur’s Director of Operations Misaki Reinoso while working together at the Japanese-French fusion restaurant Mifune New York and Sushi Amane, Keir joined the team at Coeur as an Operations Associate in the fall of 2022. With no previous knowledge of wine, Keir fell in love with the infinite dimensions of complexity wine can create and continues to maintain his curiosity for the unearthed emotions each wine brings to the table (especially the youthful charm of northern Italian reds and electric charisma of Austrian whites).
