I recently returned from vacation and had a lot of catching up to do with my wine bar reviews! I started back up again with Wine Escape in Hell’s Kitchen at 405 W 44th St.
Wine Escape is a relatively new wine bar and you can tell; there is a seemingly untouched leather bench alongside one of the walls, the wooden floors are free of any scuffs, scratches or creaks, and the walls are painted a stark white and punctuated with brightly colored works of art. It seemed like it was lacking a bit of character, I’m assuming because it was so new and hadn’t quite discovered what it wants to be yet. It had a fresh feeling to it though.
The wine list was well selected with a couple choice wines from each country. Glasses were between $10 and $14 and bottles of the same wines ranged from $36 to $120. As I was looking over the menu, the waitress (or perhaps the sommelier) informed me that she had constructed flights that featured wines from all around the world. Being immediately intrigued once she mentioned that a wine from Portugal was involved, I ordered the flight of red wine, which was $16 for 4 glasses of 2oz pours of wine.
Each of the wines in the flight was brought out one at a time, which I thought was very charming. The waitress introduced each wine as she brought it out and described its aroma and flavors. I thought it was a very nice and genuine touch to the service. The first wine was a Pinot Noir from California. It had a delicate oakiness and it tasted like strawberry. It had a slightly oily mouth feel to it, but it was tasty. The glasses were a little too small to get a good whiff of the aroma, but it kind of smelled like ripe strawberry and a little bit animalistic. The second wine was Spanish and it was called something that sounded like Branco Danco? I really wish the wines had been on a list so I could write about them more accurately. Anyhow, it smelled like lilac and vanilla, which was very interesting. I don’t recall ever encountering a red wine that smelled so sweet and fragrant. It tasted like vanilla and herbs with a touch of plum. It was very unique.
The third wine was from Portugal (hooray!) and once again, I unfortunately did not catch the name. It smelled like tomato leaves and dark cherry and tasted like blackberry with a hint of cocoa. It was dry and had a vegetal finish. It was delicious! The last wine of the flight was a South African Pinotage. It smelled like freshly cut grass and something sweet that I couldn’t put my finger on. My sister in law, who had joined me, suggested that it smelled like coffee and BOOM, the connection was made. It had the sweet, yet bitter aroma of coffee grounds. It tasted like blueberry and the flavor of a cappuccino Jelly Belly, dare I say.
The service was fantastic. As soon as someone in our group had finished their glass, the waitress showed up with the next wine in the flight and introduced it. The waitress was so sweet and prompt with her service that I hate to point out how painfully awkward she was. It was endearing, but she seemed really uncomfortable. However, she was genuine, very knowledgeable about the wines, and made the bar feel very wine-centric. Wine Escape is a cool place with a low-key vibe. It does need to add some more personality to its atmosphere, but this will come with time I’m sure. I give it a rating of 3.9 out of 5 glasses.
I was so lost in each glass of wine that I kept forgetting to take a picture until the glass was nearly empty
one of the cute examples of the artwork on display at Wine Escape
