Bar Veloce

I visited Bar Veloce last night at 176 7^th Ave. It is very, very popular! I actually had trouble finding a seat when I walked in. Clearly this must be a great place, right? We shall see…after checking in on foursquare, I found that for every third check in at Bar Veloce you get a free glass of Prosecco! Sweet :)

The bar was decorated nicely and had an old black and white film playing on a tv in the back of the bar. Wine bottles are on display behind the bar in a seemingly endless neck rack along the wall. The walls are exposed brick and one wall was lined with mirrors. It looks like it could be a chic place.

I can’t say much for the service because all of the tables were bar service only, as indicated by a friendly card placed on each of the tables. So, you have to go to the bartender to order your wine. This is the first time I’ve been to a wine bar that didn’t have any wait staff. Not quite as relaxing as I would have hoped.

I grabbed a menu from the bar and took a look at what wines they had to offer. I have to say that while the selection was small, all of the wines were from Italy and they were very unique. Many of the wines I hadn’t heard of or had never tried before. Each of the wines also has a description of its body, flavors, and tannins which I thought was a really great touch, especially if you’re not familiar with wine. Glasses started at $9 with the most expensive being $17 and bottles were on average between $40 and $50 and up to $120.

After reviewing the menu, I decided that I wanted a white wine on the sweeter side, so I tried to order the Moscato, but they were sold out. The bartender recommended the Müller-Thurgau that they had on special. I asked how it compared to the Moscato and he told me that it was a little less sweet, but very aromatic and floral. He really seemed to know what he was talking about. I chose the Müller-Thurgau and headed back to my table. The wine smelled grassy and fresh. It had a great acidity and tasted pleasantly of apricot and had a touch of a white pepper, but it had a short finish. It was a good way to cool off on a muggy evening.

Overall, Bar Veloce isn’t anything to go crazy over. I felt that because it was bar service only it took away from what should be a relaxing wine bar experience and turned it into a no frills, potentially standy, midtown after-work bar. Adding to the bar’s “midtowny” atmosphere, the bathroom was gross and the toilet wouldn’t flush. Lovely and sanitary!

I wasn’t very impressed with Bar Veloce, nor was I appalled except for the bathroom situation. But, in all honesty, I’ve had better. I don’t really even want to come back here two more times to get that free glass of Prosecco. I give Bar Veloce a rating of 2.5 out of 5 glasses.

Cool wine bottle display

Getting standy...

Müller-Thurgau

This stick man will not be coming to your table.

Le Bateau Ivre

I enjoyed some wine with my family last night at Le Bateau Ivre at 230 E 51^st St. At first impression, I thought this was going to be a great wine bar because they had such a vast selection of wine. It turns out that the wine was probably the only notable thing about this place.

The bar had a euro café atmosphere and it felt as if we had transported to France between 2^nd and 3^rd ave. Especially since all of the waiters and waitresses that we spoke to had thick French accents. There were also a group of customers that were speaking French, so one could safely assume that this bar must have a great selection of good French wines if it draws the natives. Could I possibly say “French” one more time? The doors to the bar were all open, allowing some fresh air to come in and there were a few tables of outdoor seating. It was a very cute place.

The wine menu was fantastic. All of the wines were from France and there were even some Grand Cru wines available, which is the designation given to wines that are the best of the best for a particular region. Prices were a little expensive, but they were great French wines so I wouldn’t say that they were necessarily overpriced. Glasses started at $7.50 (which was a small taste of a wine) and were as expensive as $20. The majority of the wines by the glass were around $13. Bottles start at $42 and one is priced at $1600! There are also options for flights of wine, called tasting trays, which I always love because sometimes I just can’t decide on one glass of wine! A flight of 5 wines is $27 and a flight of 9 wines is $48 (serving size is 3oz per glass). You are able to select any wine that has a red number next to it for the flight option, which ended up being a great deal because some of the fine wines that were only available by the bottle and very expensive were part of the flight. I of course took advantage of this and immediately made the Chambertin my first choice.

The service was ok. Our waiter was attentive, but he was also very, very confused. He was new and although I did feel bad for him, it was incredibly frustrating to have to explain to him multiple times that I wanted the flight of 5 wines and not 5 full glasses. Even after lots of pointing to the “5 Wines $27” and to each individual wine that I wanted, I still wasn’t entirely certain that he understood. It took literally 15 minutes to select the different flights for 3 people at our table. When he did come out with our orders, he had (as I feared) thought we wanted full glasses of each. Le sigh. I had to explain to him again that we had wanted the flight of 5 wines and not full glasses. At last, he understood and brought out our correct orders. You think that would be one of the first topics of training for the new hires. He must have missed that day.

For my flight I ordered the Chambertin, a Beuajolais, a Cote du Beaune, a Gerwurtztraminer, and a Vouvray. I won’t go into too much detail with my tasting notes for all 5 wines, so I’ll describe my favorite of the 5 that I tried: the Chambertin. I have always wanted to try this wine, so needless to say I was so excited when I saw it was available for the flight that I did a happy little clap and probably bounced in my seat a little bit. Chambertin was Napoleon’s favorite wine and he has been quoted to have said “nothing makes the future look so rosy as to contemplate it through a glass of Chambertin.”  The wine was very complex and tasted of pomegranate and smelled of nutmeg and crisp red apples in the fall. Everyone who had ordered a flight at the table had ordered the Chambertin and we all became quiet in awe of how delicious it was. The Beaujolais was also fantastic and was very fruit forward and not too tannic. The Cote du Beaune was interesting and would have been great with a pork dish. The Gewurztraminer was kind of gross, not usually what I encounter with this wine. It smelled very strong of grapefruit and tasted almost like I was drinking straight perfume. It was very weird. The Vouvray was incredible and after I finished the rest of my wines, I ordered a full glass of it. It was deliciously sweet and heavenly.

Le Bateau Ivre was a busy café style bar and while the wine selection was great, the service was frustrating. Maybe I’ll try it again and hopefully the staff will be better trained. If you love French wine, and are incredibly patient you should go. This is absolutely, 100% hands down the best selection of French wines that I’ve ever encountered and probably will ever encounter in Manhattan. I give Le Bateau Ivre a rating of 3.5 out of 5 glasses, simply for the vast selection of wines.

The portal to France, Le Bateau Ivre

This is just half of the wine menu. Amazing

My flight of wine (Chambertin in the upper left corner)