Report: Someone stole the entire $300,000 inventory from Taste Wine Co. on 3rd Avenue

Back on Jan. 19, we noted that Taste Wine at 50 Third Ave. between 10th Street and 11th Street looked closed (photo by Steven from Jan. 16). The windows were papered up and the inside appeared to be empty.

This apparent closure came just two months after the wine shop reopened under new ownership. By early February, the retail listing was online at RIPCO.

Now comes word, via the Post, that someone made off with the shop's entire inventory.

Per the story in the Post, which came from an anonymous police source, the owner was last inside the shop on Jan. 8, and he filed the police report this week.

The owner told police Tuesday night that when he was last at the Taste Wine Co. ...  on Jan. 8 all of the inventory was in place.

Prior to that date, the business had been closed for several months, he told authorities.

Stolen were 1,000 bottles of wine, 1,000 bottles of liquor and 125 wine dispensers, machines designed to serve and preserve wines at the right temperatures, the source said.

The total value was estimated at $300,000.

Last spring, previous owner Gary Landsman was hoping to sell the 5-year-old business as he continued to help raise awareness of Canavan, the fatal genetic disease that his two young sons have. 

He closed the shop in May ... he and his family were expected to travel to Dayton Children's Hospital in Ohio later in 2020. 

It is not immediately known who took over the business. 

Taste Wine returns as Taste Wine on 3rd Avenue

From the EVG tipline: Taste Wine is back open at 50 Third Ave. between 10th Street and 11th Street.

As we reported back in the spring, owner Gary Landsman was hoping to sell the 5-year-old business as he continued to help raise awareness of Canavan, the fatal genetic disease that his two young sons have. 

He and his family were expected to travel to Dayton Children's Hospital in Ohio later this spring. 

Meanwhile, it appears that he was successful in finding a buyer for Taste Wine. After renovations in the past month, the shop reopened last week. 

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Owner of Taste Wine leaving the business to help save his young sons Benny and Josh

Owner of Taste Wine leaving the business to help save his young sons Benny and Josh

You've likely noticed the for rent sign hanging at Taste Wine on Third Avenue between 10th Street and 11th Street.

It went up in early March ... followed shortly by another sign — a heartfelt letter from owner Gary Landsman that details his family's fundraising efforts to help find a treatment for the fatal genetic disease that his two young sons have.



The letter reads:

I launched Taste Wine Co back in 2015 with much excitement.

Earlier that year I married Jennie, the woman of my dreams & with her support we built a beautiful store, hired a great staff and loaded up the store with great wine and spirits. The future was bright!

The store experienced growing pains, but we were committed to making it work.

Then, about two years after we opened we learned that our first born son, 1 year old Benny, and his two-week old brother Josh both had a fatal genetic disease called Canavan. I was in denial & wouldn’t allow myself to think about what the doctor told us; that our sons will never walk, never talk and live a short and challenged life.

While still attempting to make Taste Wine Co successful, my wife and I launched a public campaign to raise money to #SaveBennyAndJosh. We found a researcher with 20+ years of experience who’d been working on a cure who believed she could treat my boys. The problem? We needed to raise LOTS of money.

My family is now working tirelessly to raise the final $1.8M needed (above the nearly $4M raised so far), to pay the remaining costs (due over the next 90 days) and treat our boys. If all goes well, the experimental gene therapy to treat their Disease will take place at Dayton Children’s Hospital this May/June.

This ordeal has reinforced a belief that much as I cherish the business and my customers (many of whom have become good friends), family must come first.

And so I’ve made the decision to give up the business.
We hope someone will want to take it over, but we realize that might not happen. As such, you may notice fewer products in store and special sales we’ll run to help sell as much of our inventory as possible.

We hope you’ll continue to buy your wine and spirits at Taste Wine Co. as we go through this transition and figure out what comes next.

To my loyal customers and friends, I thank you with all my heart for your years of support. It is time to be with my family. Wishing you peace, health and happiness.

Yours, most sincerely and appreciatively,
Gary Landsman

Landsman's time with the shop is winding down this week, and there are sales: 20-percent off all bottles of wine (minimum three-bottle purchase) and 10-percent off spirits. Hours: Noon to 6 p.m. today through Friday.

Landsman told me that he remains hopeful that he can sell the business before taking the family to Dayton Children's Hospital in Ohio later this spring. (If he can't find a buyer, then he'll be forced to closed.)

"There are three parties that seem serious about purchasing the store, and keeping things going, which our customers have let us know they would love to see happen," he said. "After [this] week, I'll likely come in a bit to try and close things out, but my goals at this point are to sell everything we have left in stock and consummate a deal with one of the prospective buyers."

You can read more about the campaign to save Benny and Josh — as well as others with Canavan — at this link.

Taste Wine Co. celebrates first year in business

Taste Wine Co. is having a 1-year anniversary celebration from 4-8 p.m. today at 50 Third Ave. between 10th Street and 11th Street. There will be giveaways, refreshments and, of course, wine tastings, per the Facebook invite.

"Most new businesses don't make it a year, but every month we've had has been better than the last so we'd love to celebrate that with our neighbors," Gary Landsman, founder of Taste Wine Co., told us via email.

Previously on EV Grieve:
More about Taste Wine, coming soon to 50 Third Ave.

More about Taste Wine, coming soon to 50 Third Ave.

Back in December we noted that a new wine shop was in the works for 50 Third Ave. near East 10th Street.

Gary Landsman, the proprietor of the incoming Taste Wine, shared more information with us about the shop that he hopes to have up and running this spring.

About Taste Wine:

"The store will have a relatively small selection of wines. We don't think it makes sense to overwhelm people with choice — choosing which wine to buy can be difficult enough. We also intend to have a pretty comprehensive tasting program so people can try their wines much like we try on clothing. And we will have a wine tasting room in the back of the space where we will hold nightly and maybe even twice-per-night wine education/appreciation sessions."

About his background:

"From about 1999-2002, I was a part-time NYU business school student. I was trading stocks, and felt pretty empty inside. I got out and spent some time in the restaurant world where I fell in love with wine. Finally, in 2006, I sublet my apartment and went to Israel where I worked a harvest season at a small boutique winery in the Judean Hills. After the harvest, I went to Napa where I worked at a larger 'custom crush' facility through the winter.

I came back to NYC in 2007 and … I ended up getting a job in sales with a wine distributor … then after selling wine for a couple of years I was recruited by some new wine industry friends to help out with marketing for a wine importer/distributor.

But opening a place where consumers could comfortably find wine that suits them has been my dream for several years now. So I left my job at the end of 2013 and have been working on this project ever since."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Biomed Drugs & Surgical Supply Co. closing on 3rd Avenue