A Wine Shop With a Spare Look, Aiming to Spare the Planet

by Florence Fabricant
September 14, 2005
Scott Pactor, a former accountant, took a wine course and became an aficionado. Then he turned professional, working at restaurants like Balthazar. Now he has his own shop, Appellation Wine and Spirits, at 156 10th Avenue (19th Street) in Chelsea. He sells some organic wines and others produced with sustainable farming practices and a minimum of herbicides and pesticides. Biodynamic wines, produced according to factors like the earth's rotation and the sun's position, are another important category in this spacious, spare shop, which has 225 labels priced from $7.99 for a sparkling rosé from Spain to $165 for a 1996 Hermitage by Chapoutier. When his refrigerator is installed he will carry wines without added sulfites, which must be kept cool; (212) 741-9474.