I stopped in Wine & Roses last night after a long day to unwind with a glass of wine. The bar is located at 286 Columbus Ave, just off of 74th St. The bar is aptly named, as there are roses in wine bottle vases on many of the tables and on the bar.
Wine & Roses is beautiful. It’s on the small side, but the space is well organized so you seem not to notice its size after a while. The tables and the bar have pretty marble tops and the base of the bar is tiled with a really cool backsplash of sorts. Squishy, comfortable leather benches provide seating for the tall tables and the bar is surrounded by oversized leather chairs and stools. The bar had a nice glow coming from the huge red lights hanging above the bar as well as from the little candles on each table. It has a very warm and romantic atmosphere and every detail is thought out, right down to the lacey curtains and the collage of mirrors on the wall. Like I said – it’s beautiful.
Their wine list is selected very well and from the looks of it they have some very delicious wines. However, they are expensive. Glasses are priced between $11 and $18, and from what I can tell, while you can get a great glass of wine I don’t think there are any surprise good value wines here. Bottles are $30 to $400 and the wines are from the major wine regions of Europe and the US. Wine & Roses also have flight options all of which are $21. It includes tasting sizes of four different wines and there are four flight options to choose from.
I ordered the 2007 Hugel Muscat from the Alsace region of France. It was medium bodied and tasted like grapefruit and a little bit of lychee, so it had a brief bitter flavor but it was smooth. The wine smelled very similar to its flavors with the bitterness coming through on the nose as well. It would be a good fall or winter wine, at least for me. I tend only to crave sweet white wines in the summer.
This bar is very wine focused, for obvious reasons. But unlike some wine bars, you can definitely tell that this is one as soon as you walk in. Their wine list is great, albeit expensive, but not overpriced for the quality of vino that you’re drinking. I even noticed that the bar’s sommelier teaches wine classes. I couldn’t see what day and time these classes were held, though. Eyesight fail. Also, I’m not sure if every wine bar has its own sommelier to select the wines for the menu or if this was the first bar that I’ve been to that does. Either way, I like the fact that they have one.
I actually felt a little underdressed while I was here because the waitresses were all in black dresses and the rest of the customers were casual, yet sharply dressed and many appeared to have come from work. Next time I’ll leave the leggings at home :)
Although Wine & Roses is a little pricey, they do have some really great wines available on their menu and the atmosphere is really posh and sexy. Is this my favorite wine bar in the city? Maybe not, but it is pretty awesome. I give this place a rating of 3.9 out of 5 glasses.
Wine & Roses
My glass of Muscat
The cool lights that give the bar a soft glow :)
I was trying to be as creative as I could with an iPhone camera