This is our kind of place! We’d
barely removed our hats and gloves when friendly bartender Saida brought us tastes
of City Winery’s Petit Syrah. Soon we were sipping out way through the lineup,
guided by Raul Mesias, Director of Wine Sales. Soothed by gentle rumblings
from the No. 2 subway below, we tasted ten wines on tap: two featuring New York
State grapes, the rest from California. Our favorites were Finger Lakes, NY
Cabernet Franc; Lake County, CA Barrel-aged Sauvignon Blanc; and Lodi, CA Petit
Syrah. The comprehensive wine list offers much more by the glass
and around 500 bottles representing the best of what just about anyone could
want to drink.
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| The Bar |
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| Bottle Lamps, Streetside at Dusk |
The Barrel Room restaurant and
tasting bar is a very recent addition to this 21,000-foot space, which Michael
Dorf of Knitting Factory fame opened as an urban winery and nightly music venue
in 2008. City Winery specializes in barrel ownership, offering hands-on
experience in the winemaking process and of course private labels to document the results. Winemaker David Lecomte hails from the Rhone Valley, but he’s
open to working with grapes from anywhere, provided that they can be properly
transported. A barrel (average price around $8000) yields 252 bottles – quite a
lot of a single wine, but barrel owners automatically become “members” in the
winery and are invited to classes and private events where they can informally
trade wine amongst themselves.
In August 2012 City Winery will
open a new spot in Chicago’s West Loop. Meanwhile, check here for current information about the NYC winery's hours and events. 155 Varick St. between Spring and Vandam 212.608.0555
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