Ten Degrees

On Friday I went to Ten Degrees, which is located at 121 St Marks Pl in the East Village. The last time I was here, the only thing I knew about wine was that I liked Cabernet Sauvignon. Much has changed since my college days and I was curious to see how this place added up to the other wine bars I’ve been to.

The interior is on the small side, but the tables are laid out well and there is also a swanky looking private room for parties. Most tables only seat two people, although there are several long wooden tables in the back section of the bar. The worn wooden tables, brick walls, cement floor, and wooden shelving stocked with bottles of wine around the front section of the bar give Ten Degrees a cottage like feel. However, it is crowded and loud, which detracts from the potentially cozy atmosphere.

Wines are between $9 and $15 and all of the wines by the glass are available by the bottle as well, starting at $32 and priced up to $55. There is a separate bottle list for fine wines, which is arranged by price; $55 to $160. Normally bottles are listed by country, but there were less than 10 bottles to choose from, so this method of organizing the menu makes sense. Each of the wines, both by the glass and bottle, had aroma and tasting notes with very thorough descriptions. The wines seemed very expensive for what they were. The wines that were just over $100 seemed to be marked up quite a bit for what they were. I did a little research and while I don’t know the wholsesale prices on these wines, some of them were triple the retail price. Yikes! Many of the lower priced glasses were marked up too much as well. For example, the least expensive wine was the Astica Cabernet Sauvignon, which retails for $4.99 and is $9 for a glass here. I’m disappointed to say the least.

For old times sake, I decided to order a Cabernet, and unfortunately the only one that sounded good happened to be the most expensive. I ordered the 2007 Justin Cabernet Sauvignon from the Paso Robles region of California. The glasses could be larger, as I wasn’t able to swirl my wine enough to get a good whiff of it. From what I was able to smell, it had a sweet cherry aroma. Its flavor was very rich with notes of leather, cedar, and a hint of vanilla. Flavors of vanilla and cedar in a red wine are good indicators of a wine being aged in oak barrels. This was a very tasty and crowd pleasing Cabernet.

The crowd at Ten Degrees isn’t what I usually see at a wine bar. It was filled with the happy hour crowd, most of which were just getting mixed drinks instead of wine. It was loud and I found myself having to shout over the music, which seemed to be turned up as the noise of the crowd increased. Not very relaxing. Once happy hour approached its close the crowd cleared out a bit though.

I liked Ten Degrees, but there are a few areas that didn't meet my expectations. The wine selection could be larger. While a simple menu keeps things easy, I wish there were a couple more pages of options for the bottles. It’s not as relaxing as I hoped it would be, but the space is so dang rustic and pretty. I wish the atmosphere matched. It is a fun place if you're not looking to kick back, but if you come here on a weeknight it will probably be much more calm and perhaps draw more of a wine bar crowd. I give Ten Degrees a rating of 3.6 out of 5 glasses.

Cool layout of the bar

The seating area in the back of the bar

My glass of Cabernet

Shelves and shelves of wine!

Bottiglieria Moscatelli - Milan, Italy Edition

Bonjourno! This is my first international wine bar review! I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Milan for work and I thought it would be the perfect chance to visit an authentic Italian wine bar! I decided to go to Bottiglieria Moscatelli, which is located at Corso Garibaldi 93.

The place was very busy when I arrived; all the tables that I could see were taken and there were several people waiting around the small bar in the front. It’s a self-serve place essentially. You order your wine and pay for it right away (cash only, I should note), grab some food from the small unsanitary buffet in the front of the bar, then find a table to sit at. There are random little decorations and pictures all over the salmon colored walls, small areas for seating, and little tables cramped close to one another. So much so that if I could understand Italian I would have heard exactly what was going on in the lives of the people around me. Not necessarily a bad feature of this wine bar. It had a very friendly and casual feel to it and the cramped setting only added to that.

I didn’t see any menus aside from the chalkboard of happy hour wines. Instead, there were bottles sitting on the bar and on shelves behind the bar, each with a little tag hanging from it showing the grape variety, vintage, and price per glass. From what I could see, the happy hour wines were 8 euro and regular glasses were priced up to 10 euro. I didn’t see any menus for bottles, so I’m assuming you can only order glasses of wine. It wasn’t a very organized method. Perhaps it encouraged more conversation with the bartender and other patrons. Very Italian, no?

I ordered a glass of the Primitivo from the happy hour menu. There was no vintage listed on the chalkboard menu, but although I knew of it, I had never tried it before so I thought this would be a great time to do so. The Primitivo grape has been grown in Southern Italy since the 1870s and is actually the same grape that is used to produce Zinfandel. I was curious to see how the grape differed from its U.S. grown relative.

The wine was served in a slightly chipped and noticeably scratched glass, which I don’t think I’ve ever encountered at wine bars in the U.S. I made my way through the narrow bar in search of a free table and sat down at the last one available. The Primitivo smelled herbal, almost like the sharp and mild bitter scent of tomato leaves and it had a hint of cherry. It was a very flavorful wine! I was hit by a strong dried strawberry flavor and it had a warm kick due to the high alcohol content. It was a great wine to drink after wandering around Milan in the cold rain for much of the day. I enjoyed the wine so much that I went to a wine store later that week and purchased a bottle of Primitivo to take home with me. We’ll see how it ages in my wine fridge….or how long my patience lasts before I pop it open!

This place is unlike any wine bars I’ve been to in the States. It’s very casual, self-serve, and friendly. Great selection of Italian wines, most if not all of which are probably not exported to the U.S. If you find yourself in Milan and want a truly authentic Italian wine bar experience, stop in. Since it is very different from the type of bar I’m used to reviewing, I found it difficult to compare and rate this place. But based on the wines and the bustling Italian café atmosphere, I give Bottiglieria Moscatelli a rating of 3.4 out of 5 glasses bicchieri.A welcome sight on a rainy evening

A couple of the wines with their by the glass prices attached

My glass of Primitivo

The charming interior of Bottiglieria Moscatelli