Anfora

I stopped by Anfora tonight at 34 8^th Ave. This wine bar was so much fun! It has a cozy lounge setting and the staff is very friendly and helpful.

The bar is dimly lit, Spanish music was playing, and low profile plush leather couches curve their way down the wall. There were cool quilted maps of wine regions on the brick wall as well, which I thought were so cute that I want to find out where they bought them/had them made because I want to get one for myself.

The wine is a teensy bit pricey with glasses being between $10 and $25. Red wines were more expensive as there weren’t many choices under $15. Bottles were between $40 and $600. Most of the wines were from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Austria. As a side note, I’m starting to see a lot of Gruner Veltliner (from Austria) on wine lists in the past few weeks, where I hadn’t noticed it before. Is it becoming trendy? And oh my goodness they had a bottle of Rioja from 1970, which was the $600 bottle. That must be an incredible wine!

I felt like I should order a Spanish wine because of the setting of the bar, so I ordered a Fino Sherry, which is only made in Jerez, Spain. I’ve recently developed a taste for Sherry and I have to say that it is not as gross as you might think! Yes, it might be a grandma drink, but it can be very delicious and warming to the body and soul especially in the winter. It has a higher alcohol content because it is a fortified wine. Alas, the warming sensation :)

The staff was very friendly and knowledgeable. After I ordered the Fino Sherry, the bartender sat down at my table to tell me that they were out of the Fino Sherry, but brought a bottle of Manzanilla Sherry for me to try to see if I would like that instead. I did like it, so he poured me a full glass and charged me the price of the Fino Sherry, which was only $9.

This Sherry smelled a lot like raw bread dough and almonds. This wine is fermented with lots and lots of yeast in the barrel, which give it that scent as well as its flavor. It tastes very much like almonds or even almond extract and it has a hint of green apple with a good level of acidity. This would actually go really well with salty or fatty foods like duck or the dark meat of a turkey. Can you tell that I’m already planning on having this wine for Thanksgiving? It has a nice long, rich finish which also means that you won’t drink as much of it in one sitting because not only is it higher in alcohol, but the flavor lingers long enough that you’ll probably forget that you haven’t taken a sip in a while.

Anfora is better for groups because the only seating aside from round the bar is at large low profile lounge couches around a coffee table, which probably seat 6 or more people. Not to say that two people on a date couldn’t sit there, but if it got busy you might have to share the couch with some other people which could get awkward pretty quickly. Other than that, it is a very fun place and it draws a younger crowd. The place was starting to fill up even before 6pm, so it looks like a very popular wine bar.

Anfora is sexy, it’s friendly, and they have some very superior wines on their list. The by the glass list could be a little larger if you ask me, but I doubt you’ll go wrong with any wine that you select here. I give this wine bar a rating of 4.5 out of 5 glasses.

The cozy lounge interior of Anfora

My glass of grandma Manzanilla Sherry

The cool quilted map of a wine region (This one was of Champagne, France)