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A Yurt in New Paltz, Another Octopus-Themed Wine Accessory and Marathon Sunday

Plus: our Halloween wine pick, a song we listened to on loop for 5 hours, our cartoon of the week, and a few other bits we loved this week.

October 31, 2025

Hello! Thanks for being here. We appreciate you. It’s been quite a few days. We just wrapped filming the pilot for our first video series on Monday, we’re still recovering from all the lamb and wine we drank in a yurt in New Paltz the other week and we enjoyed a bring-your-grandma-to-work day with a quick trip to Vermont to visit Camila from La Moñtanuela and Deirdre from La Garagista, who not-so-coincidentally are the winemakers joining our upcoming panel event on the 5th.

In this week’s newsletter, we’re sharing two stories: one that dives into how vineyards are being quietly snatched up for just a little bit of money and a Halloween-themed, cartoon-centric article.

Outside of that, the NYC Marathon is this weekend and it’s easily one of the best days of the year here. Plus: we found an octopus wine pourer to match that extravagant Bergdorf’s decanter we shared a few weeks back, tossed in a Halloween wine recommendation and sprinkled in a few other bits along the way.

Enjoy, and thank you for reading!

Are Burgundy Vineyards Really Selling For 30 Million Per Hectare? Yes, They Are.

Burgundy’s most coveted vineyards are quietly changing hands, as global billionaires snap up Grand Cru and Premier Cru plots at record prices. What was once the heart of artisanal winemaking is increasingly becoming a playground for financial speculation.

What Monsters Would Drink If They Drank Wine

It’s Halloween and we’re a wine publication, so a wine pairing guide is perhaps expected. But we do things a little differently at SWURL, so here’s a speculative pairing guide for the undead, the cursed and the delightfully deranged.

La Chope des Artistes x Win Son Restaurant

Clovis and Superfly Mob from over the pond in Paris will be taking over Win Son with a very special wine takeover alongside a 5-course dinner menu. If you’re not interested in the dinner on Sunday, they also have an a la carte menu option the following evening.

  • Who: La Chope des Artistes

  • When: Sunday, November 9th and Monday, November 10th.

  • Where: Win Son Restaurant, 159 Graham Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

  • Reservation link: here!

Magnums & Mimosas Marathon Party at With Others

One of the best days in New York is coming up this week: the New York City Marathon. If you’ve never been here for it, it’s when the city is filled with energy and immaculate vibes. We don’t usually spend our Sundays watching people run for fun but this is the exception. And With Others, the wine bar perfectly situated on Bedford Ave in Williamsburg, just happens to be in the ideal spot to throw a party for it.

  • When: Sunday, November 2nd from 10am — 2pm

  • Where: With Others, 340 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

  • More information here!

We’ll let Rob Martinez’s original video do the full storytelling, but here’s the short version: tucked away in New Paltz is a farm that even locals living houses away somehow miss, where you can get together a group of friends and sing karaoke (or listen to their default song on repeat for hours on end), play cards outside on one of their portable-foldable tables, and have yourself a very unique lamb roast and all around special day.

We went with a group of around 17 people and had a yurt reserved for the entire day. Between wandering the property, meeting the chickens and geese (at least the ones that wouldn’t run away), and seeing some of the biggest pigs we’ve ever laid eyes on, it was the kind of day you already start thinking about doing again. Apparently their booked out for the year so godspeed.

A few photos below from the day that hardly serve it justice 👇️ 

These are the kinds of text you should never say no to

Based on that text alone, we figured the occasion called for a magnum of 2013 Château le Puy we’d been saving

The 35lb lamb in question

The not so tiny pig we named Elvis

And last but not least, the yurt featuring Genghis Khan

“And for reds tonight we have a cab francenstein or a chilled boojolais.”

Other News & Other Stuff & Other Reads

  • A product we love and think you’ll love: Ok ok, we previously shared this insanely expensive octopus decanter, and now we’re eyeing this stainless steel octopus wine pourer (don’t worry, it’s PETA-friendly but this week’s newsletter certainly is not).

  • Halloween wine recommendation: Do we like Bordeaux? Do we hate Bordeaux? Do we love Bordeaux? Let us know after you try this blend of Cabernet and Merlot from a very exciting biodynamic winemaker from…. yes, Bordeaux.

  • A newsletter worth subscribing to: Right on Franklin. It’s on Substack and it’s one we’re loving. Food, culture, guides, great writing. Give it a read.

  • The Sunday SWURL: our newest newsletter in the works. We’re adding an “Ask SWURL” section so if you’ve got any SWURL or wine-related questions, feel free to reply to this email. We’ll either answer it ourselves or phone a friend.

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