I enjoyed some wine with my family last night at Le Bateau Ivre at 230 E 51st 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 2nd and 3rd 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)