Highly regarded WINE BAR

July 23rd, 2008

As reported in my previous post, I did in fact make it out to a wine bar tonight. Said wine bar is technically located in the West Village, but it is just North of trendy Tribeca – and it definitely had a trendy aura to it.

The good: the staff was really great. I was a pain in the ass as I often tend to be (unintentionally) at wine bars, yet the staff was warm, patient and very cool. The two people behind the bar that helped out were also quite knowledgeable, and definitely NOT pretentious. Oh yeah, and the place had great stemware!

wine server

The bad: well, there was no “bad” per say. But if I had to complain about anything Read the rest of this entry »

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Secrets of a successful wine bar

July 22nd, 2008

Those of you who know me or who have been reading the blog for any period of time know of my infatuation with wine bars.  Since returning to NYC from Napa, at the advice of several amazing wine industry mentors, I have been frequenting NYC’s wine bars.  All part of my journey, a journey I hope never ends, to train my wine palate.

Wine evaluation

A quick post tonight in anticipation of a visit to yet another wine bar tomorrow night. The wine bar I will be going to tomorrow night is very well regarded.  It has received positive press, and has had positive things written by patrons online.  I look forward to checking this relatively new place out, hopefully enjoying a glass or two of wine, and passing my own judgment.

As to the title of this post, “secrets of a successful wine bar” – I was speaking with a restaurant consultant today.  The topic of wine bars came up and he let me know that he believes there are 3 essential factors Read the rest of this entry »

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Bargain Wine Shopping

July 20th, 2008

I just finished reading an interesting article in the San Fransisco Chronicle online “Pro’s Guide To Bargain Shopping“.  The author of the article Jon Bonne’ had 3 sommeliers buy a weeks worth of wine at an average of $10/bottle & report their finds back to him.  The results were mixed, but what I found most interesting about the article were some tips for finding these bargain (AKA CHEAP) wines.

Cheap Red Wine

First was the idea that one of the things that dictates price is its actual cost.  A novel concept huh?  Read the rest of this entry »

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How to hold a wine glass

July 19th, 2008

I’ve taken some slack from friends and contemporaries lately for being a “wine snob”. I really don’t think of myself as an “anything snob”, but…

Last night I attended a very nice Friday night dinner with guys I play basketball with. Two of the players hosted the meal. At the dinner as we were all enjoying some wine I was reminded of an episode with a friend and fellow baller. This friend was at a wine tasting thrown in the apartment of a 3rd friend (also a fellow baller) where I not too subtly pointed out a problem with his glass. It was FILTHY. Some of the snacks served at this party was nuts, cheese & crackers – salty, greasy foods. Drinking wine and eating said (finger) foods can lead to a nasty little problem if one doesn’t know how to properly hold their wine glass…

fingerprints wine glass

OK, call me a wine snob. I suppose that is a label I can live with. But the point is that holding a wine glass by the bowl presents some problems.

The first, known by many is the influence it has on the temperature of the wine. Read the rest of this entry »

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Wine Cocktails or “Winetails”

July 17th, 2008

Wine Cocktails have gotten a lot of press lately (OK, the press that I read).  And as yet another summer heat wave hits NYC this weekend, I am thinking less and less about my beloved reds (even though I do enjoy them at about 60-65 degrees) and more and more about COOL REFRESHING beverages.  I am not a mixologist (although maybe I should be), but good mixologists seem to be in high demand these days.  Especially those that can concoct a good wine cocktails.

mixologist

Jason Wilson wrote a great article for the Washington Post, “A Lighter Way To Mix It Up“, discussing the idea of wine cocktails and detailing a few such concoctions. Read the rest of this entry »

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Drinking wine from…a PLASTIC wine “glass”…

July 14th, 2008

One of the places I went out to over the weekend was a rooftop bar.  It is outdoors, gets pretty hectic, and they DO have more than just red & white wine.  OK, it was only Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc for white OR Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir for Red, but hey, that is an improvement over much of the typical “sure we have wine, what would you like, red or white?”.

But what i thought was most weird about the night was WHAT they were serving the wine in.  No, it wasn’t bad stemware…it was PLASTIC stemware!

plastic cup

OK, I understand how an outdoor  rooftop might warrant plastic stemware, but when this “bar” was serving no-name wines at $11 per glass….I mean cup…a few people I was with wondered out loud.  We thought that one of the justifications for charging so much $$ for drinks was the breakage or pilferage.  These hard plastic cups can not break, and who is going to want to pilfer one?

Again, given the circumstances, not a BIG SIN, but a bit tacky, don’t you think…???

Happy NICE STEMWARE wine tasting!

WTG

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bizarre/antiquated state laws overturned

July 13th, 2008

I must admit that I was at a loss for things to write about today and turned to a trusty site, Wine & Spirits Daily, for some fodder.  Luckily, Megan wrote about some wine/spirits related state laws that have recently been repealed.  The days full report (where the following excerpt was taken) can be found here.

Beer Prayer

From Wine & Spirits Daily, July 10th:

Colorado became the 35th state this week to allow residents to buy alcohol on Sundays, reports the Associated Press. The new law replaces a 1933 statute requiring liquor stores to close on Sunday, and also allows Coloradans to buy normal-strength beer on Sundays. Before, residents could only purchase reduced-strength, 3.2 percent alcohol beer at grocery stores on Sundays.

In Idaho, residents can now purchase spirits on Election Day, with a new law that replaces a 1939 measure intended to prevent the trading of alcohol for votes. Read the rest of this entry »

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Wine bar rants

July 11th, 2008

Went out to a bunch of places with different friends last night. Fun but exhausting.

I want to talk about the wine bar/restaurant I went to. The place is in my neighborhood and while I have walked passed it many times this was my first time in. A very nice spot. This clearly was not a traditional wine bar, but the front part of the space was in fact much like a wine bar, while the back was a more traditional dining area. The front section had a long bar, a long COMMUNAL TABLE and some smaller spots scattered around.

communal table

One weird thing that seems to drive the help nuts and was a bit of a bummer for me was the wine list and its two columns. The first being the glass price and the second being the bottle price…right? WRONG! Read the rest of this entry »

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How COOL is your beverage?

July 10th, 2008

When looking to chill your favorite beverage, what temperature do you choose? How vague is it to say serve at “room temperature”? What is room temperature? 70 degrees (21 Celsius)? 75 degrees (24)?

Most people are familiar with the adage that one should drink red wine at room temperature. Given today’s central heating (and cooling as the case may be) this room temperature rule of thumb is simply not accurate.

I bring up temperature as I have been trying to give my reds some chilling time before serving lately and many people are surprised by this. I’m not as good about doing this in the winter time, but in the summer, drinking a HOT red wine is just NOT FUN (not that hot wine is fun in the winter, but…).

I have seen countless articles the past few weeks about beating the heat with cool beverages.

wine beach
Read the rest of this entry »

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Tonights Wine & Cheese tasting

July 8th, 2008

Boy were some of the people at this wine tasting idiots…

GWBush toast

KIDDING!!!  No really I AM KIDDING.  I actually had a lot of people from tonight’s tasting (which had a very nice turnout) tell me that they will be visiting our blog for the first time.  So I thought I’d mess with them a bit.  You don’t think any of them will take it personally….do you?

Seriously though, there was a great turnout at tonights tasting event.  Read the rest of this entry »

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