The Barrel

I visited The Barrel at 10 Stuyvestant St in the East Village. Everything about this place is just cool. The name itself makes it sound like it’s going to be a cool, wine-focused bar. There is a barrel outside of the bar which has the menu displayed on top, the exterior of the bar almost looks like cork, and get this – the interior of the bar is designed to make it seem like you’re inside a barrel! The walls are curved up to the ceiling and there are wooden beams on the ceiling. Pretty fun! Maybe I’ll feel like I’m fermenting inside it once I’ve had a couple glasses of wine ;)

The interior décor was a little bit of hit as well as a little bit of miss. The front seating area had the most interest with green cushioned high-back wooden benches. It had a bohemian vibe. The tables throughout the bar are nice and shiny and the stone bar is cool. But the chairs reminded me of wooden versions of diner chairs. It was a little annoying, but I was able to look past that for the rest of my visit :)

The wine list was medium sized and well put together. It was arranged by red and white, then listed by region as well which made it very easy to navigate when I knew that I wanted a Pinot Noir from the US. Most of the wines are available by the glass, carafe (which is half a bottle), and bottle. Glasses were between $9 and $13 and the few wines that were only available by the bottle were no more that $84.

I ordered the 2009 Luli Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley in California, which is my favorite region for this wine. The wine came in a mini carafe, which I always love! This is only the second wine bar I’ve been to that serves their wines this way. This Pinot Noir smelled like dark raspberries and not super youthful. I like my Pinots to be developing, so I immediately liked this. What a tasty wine! It had very soft tannins and was medium bodied. It tasted like plums and had a great balance and pleasant finish. While it wasn’t a very complex wine, it was still very good. I would order it again if I were to see it on another wine list. Pinot Noir is hard to make right because its thin skin makes it a difficult grape to grow. It needs cool temperatures, but plenty of sun to ripen properly. So, when you find a good Pinot Noir, make note of the label so that you can stick with it.

After that glass, I still had some studying to do for my WSET class and hey, I’m still on vacation, so why not get a second glass? I ordered the Sauvignon Blanc from Chile. I didn’t catch the label of the wine before the waitress took the menu. But when I did order it, the waitress excitedly told me that it was a really great wine and gave me two thumbs up. Awesome! I was definitely looking forward to this one. This wine came out in a differently shaped glass, which I think is a nice touch at a wine bar. This glass was made for swirling so that you can get a good grasp of the aroma. And this one smelled beautiful! It smelled a little yeasty and of apples and some guava. It tasted like peach and had a nice crisp acidity. Delicious! The waitress was excited for good reason.

The Barrel has a very friendly environment. The waitress was very sweet and even told me that she wanted to make my wine look beautiful as she poured some of it from the mini carafe for me. She stopped by all of the tables often and I saw her chatting with some of the other customers. This definitely felt like a place where I could hang out for a couple of hours, which I gladly did.

This place is pretty cool and worth a visit, if not for the wine, then for the barrel-esque interior. Stop by and ferment! I give The Barrel and rating of 3.8 out of 5 glasses.

The fun, barrel-shaped interior

Cool seating area in the front of the bar and some of the weird diner chairs

My glass of Pinot Noir and the cute mini carafe

The pictures keep uploading sideways and Squarespace has no rotate picture option. Sorry if you strain your neck :(

My attempt at a creative shot of pouring my wine