Morrell Wine Bar

I visited Morrell Wine Bar this week, located at 1 Rockefeller Plaza at 49^th St. What’s really unique about this place is that it’s the wine bar associated with the Morrell wine store which is actually right next door. Although I didn’t have a chance to check, I think it’s safe to assume that many, if not all, of the wines available in the wine bar are for sale next door.

The atmosphere of the bar is pretty upscale, while still casual enough to not feel so out of place if you’re wearing nice jeans. However, most of the men there were wearing suits, so you should probably dress up a bit if you do visit. I immediately noticed that it has more of a restaurant feel to it too, even though it is supposed to be a wine bar and cafe, like many are. Morrell has a contemporary design with bright red and dark green couches and chairs for seating, track lighting, brightly colored art on the walls, and a curvy balcony of the second floor above the bar area.

The wine list is the star of this bar. With 100 wines to choose from by the glass in addition to the 800 bottles of wine, you’ll definitely find something you like. There is a wide variety of prices with affordable wines starting at $9 a glass and going all the way up to $53. Bottles are between $42 and $1950. They also have a flight option that features some of the bar’s most rare wines. A flight of these 5 wines is $99 and is valued at over $1000 if the bottles are purchased at retail. Most places don't offer such a grand flight! Despite the vast selection, not all of these wines may be in stock though, as I found from my experience.

I ordered the 2004 Bernhard Huber Spatburgunder, which is a Pinot Noir grown in Baden, Germany near the border of France. I was really looking forward to seeing how expressive this grape would be. The waiter came back to deliver the bad news; they were sold out of the Spatburgunger! No! Being completely unprepared to have a second choice, I quickly flipped through the menu and chose the 2008 Lang & Reed Cabernet Franc from Napa Valley. Luckily, the menu had thorough descriptions of each of the wines available by the glass, so some flavors stood out to me and provided a guide for such a life altering decision :)

My Cabernet Franc arrived in a big glass embossed with the letter M for Megan for Morrell. The wine smelled like cedar and herbs and tasted like dried strawberries and had a light smokey character. It was medium bodied and had a nice finish. A satisfying wine for such a hasty decision.

The service was very polite, but a little slow to check on us and bring the check. While it is nice when you’re not rushed out of a restaurant, we were on a bit of a timeline and probably looked like we were ready to leave, yet our waiter didn’t come over. I digress; overall the staff was very friendly and even a little on formal side.

Morrell Wine Bar has one of the better selections of unique wines that I’ve seen, not to mention an impressive quantity available (or not so available). I would have preferred that the wine bar be more laid back, but considering that it’s in a very nice area around Rockefeller Center, it is the type of place you’d expect it to be. I give this place a rating of 3.7 out of 5 glasses.

The outside of Morrell Wine Bar. You can kind of see the wine store next to it

The bar area of Morrell....and my Instagram photo editing experiment

M for Megan!