That article sounds realistic. You can't buy wine in supermarkets. You had 2,700 stores in NYC where you could have bought all the wine you wanted.

A lot of people also buy wine through the mail.

Well . Donna you´re from there so I can´t deny it´s true hahahaha but , honestly , I have a nose for wine shops ( believe me ! ) And there was nothing obvious around the Bleeker Street district ... Mmmmm Maybe my "nose" was too cold from the December air hehehehehe .
We order a lot of our wine in the UK through mail order too .. But here in Spain ( as you know ) It´s available everywhere , in every shop , and the store owners are often so knowledgable about them .
When I was last in Sevilla , I wanted to buy some traditional Manzanilla as well as a bottle of wine from Andalucía . The little old guy kept me there in his small store for a good 15 minutes going through what was good and , surprisingly ( considering he was selling it ) , what was not so good . I ended up buying a good Manzanilla and a bottle of wine for about 8 Euros I think !
The only problem was that he was too short to reach the Manzanilla and I was concerned about him going up a ladder . Being a foot taller than him I grabbed the bottle . That always makes me nervous as I had the unbelievably embarrasing experience of dropping a bottle of ( good ) wine in an average sized supermarket in Madrid ... it just slipped . A bottle of wine exploding on a hard floor sounds like a bomb ! I was the centre of attention . Security arrived . I offered to pay , but he said " don´t worry these things happen " I was as red as a tomato !

Which manzanilla did he recommend?

It's easy: Manzanilla comes from Sanlucar de barrameda, so you want to find one with that D.O.. The Manzanilla is a fortified wine (as are all Sherries) & I'm not sure if such wines have a D.O.
Just buy one from Sanlucar and drink it very cold (w/mejillones or boquerones or a similar tapa). In Madrid, VillaRosa on Plaza Santa Ana used to have it from the Baril, the best Manzanilla I have tried.

I actually don´t remember exactly the name , Donna . But it was very dry and very good . Thanks for the explanation Eddie .. I´m not that well informed ( though better now ! ) about Manzanilla .. and I´ll be trying a glass at your recommended place in Pza Santa Ana .

Iv'e been told by people who know better than me that La Venencia on calle Echegaray is the best place for sherry in Madrid .

I like that street ( echegaray ) .. Very narrow and shabby , but interesting . I think the best sherry ( Jerez ) I ever had was with MM at a Suma Flamenca event . We were surrounded by some very famous flamenco stars at an " event party " . They had a guy in his typically smart Andalucian suit pouring a "fino" from the barrel then from a ladle way up high above the sherry glass . I have a great photo of that .Really expert stuff . Delicious ... and the food was wonderful ( tapas ) .

I was just wondering which manzanilla the little old man recommended. I've tried all the best known ones.

I had a bottle of La Guita in my apartment when I was recently in Sevilla. When it was time to leave to get my plane to Madrid, I had about a big glass worth left in the bottle. Not wanting to waste it, I poured it into one of those small individual plastic orange juice bottles that was empty. I figured I could drink it on the plane.

Wouldn't you know that my bag was opened in security, and they zeroed right in on that little bottle all the way down at the bottom of the bag. The inspector said I had to drink it right there. As I started to sip it slowly, a police officer who was there figured out what it was. He said I could sit down and drink it. He stood there with a big smile on his face watching me drink La Guita from an orange juice bottle.

That´s hilarious !!!!!!!!!!!! You just made my day !