The Tangled Vine

I visited The Tangled Vine last night at 434 Amsterdam Ave. It’s on a cute and bustling corner of 81^st St.

This bar focuses solely on European wines and you can definitely tell this from the décor. The place is made to look like a European restaurant with stone walls and pillars accenting the space. There’s a pretty little mini wine cellar display behind the bar area and maps of European wine regions on the wall.

Tangled Vine has happy hour specials each night from 5 to 7, but it’s only for two types of wine; one white and one red. This may or may not be the case, but it seemed to me like these wines were on special because the bar was trying to clear their inventory of it.

The menu had some nice touches – it’s made of cork, which I thought was cool and for the list of wines by the glass there are pictures of the wine label next to each wine. This is nice for people like myself who would be able to recognize a wine they’ve had and enjoyed by the label. The wines are very well selected and the price reflects that. Glasses start at $9 and go up to $21, with the average price being around $14. Bottles are between $34 and $109 and the separate bottle only list starts at $44 up to $220 per bottle. My favorite selection that I would like to try from the bottle list was the 1993 Rioja Reserva Bianco for $84. This is really old for a white wine and it’s from one of my favorite wine regions :)

The bar offers tasting trios of three 2 oz glasses of wine. You can choose from Sherry & Madeira, Riesling, Burgundy Blanc, Burgundy Rouge, or and Italian Trio. I chose the Italian Trio simply because one of the wines was a 1998. I would consider that a great value at $16 for the trio! This tasting consisted of a 2008 Dolcetto D’alba Roagna, the 1998 Ros di Rol Sant’Elena, and a 2007 Rosso di Montalcino il Colle.

The Dolcetto smelled like blackberry preserves and was very fruity. It was pretty tasty with some meaty characteristic along with dried strawberry flavors. The tannins were high in this wine but it was good. Next was the Ros di Rol. It smelled and tasted not at all how I was expecting it to. It smelled like a tree…and green pepper. Not cedar, not oak, but a bitter smelling tree that I can’t quite put my finger on. Maybe it smelled of rich mahogany and leather-bound books. The wine tasted very similar to its nose and was bitter, but smooth. It was very interesting and I’ve never had anything like it before. It was really lovely and complex. The last of the three wines was the Rossi di Montalcino. It was not very intense on the nose, but there was a waft of soft, floral notes of rose and violet. It was medium bodied and had playful fruity flavors of plum and a little blueberry. It was dry, pretty high in tannins, and was great to drink by itself. It was fantastic!

The atmosphere of the bar was very relaxing. There were lots of customers while I was there and most seemed to be in their 30s and 40s, casual, and having a good time with their friends. The music that was playing made it sound like vacation. If I closed my eyes, I was on a beach at an outdoor restaurant with a glass of fabulous wine in my hand. Back to reality, but I still had a glass of fabulous wine in my hand thanks to the Montalcino.

The Tangled Vine takes pride in their wine list and you can see that from the long descriptions they give each wine. The wine list can be very intimidating for those who aren’t wine geeks like myself and even so, I felt a little confused when I was trying to make a selection. But with some guidance from the descriptions on the menu, suggestions from the staff, and hopefully my blog, you’ll find a great wine that you’ll enjoy. I give The Tangled Vine a rating of 4.3 out of 5 glasses.

My Italian Trio

Shoulda come here on a Wednesday!

Uncorked

I went to Uncorked, which is in Midtown East at 322 E 59^th St. The bar is a little difficult to find being amidst some current construction and it’s also right by the Queensboro Bridge. It’s in an unlikely location, but it’s a nice little wine bar!

Being a little outside of the craziness of Midtown, Uncorked is quiet, cute, and filled with friendly locals. Yes, believe it or not we New Yorkers can be friendly! My friend and I actually had conversations with the other customers seated around the bar and with the bartender. We talked about wine, living in various neighborhoods of New York, and one of the customers was even showing videos of his grandkids. It really felt more like I was at someone’s dinner party than a wine bar. Uncorked is probably the most social wine bar I’ve been to. If you’re in the mood for wine and conversation, you should definitely come here.

Not only do the staff and other customers make you feel like you’re in someone’s home, but the place is also decorated very home-like. The window seat in the front of the bar is piled high with throw pillows, there are a bunch of wall mounted tealight candleholders, and also a huge vase full of corks, which also makes a similar appearance in my own living room.

The wine list is actually pretty large, with a good selection of wines from France, Italy, Germany, Spain, New Zealand, Australia, and California. Glasses were priced between $9 and $15 and bottles of these same wines were no more than $58. There was a separate bottle list with a wines that were much older and more expensive - around $200.

First of all, the wines are served in a mini carafe and poured into giant wine glasses. Plenty of room for swirling in these glasses! I ordered the 2009 Macon-Villages White Burgundy from France. I really love white wines from Burgundy because they’re very unique compared to most other whites - they’re not as sweet or high in acidity and also feel a little more medium bodied. This one was very good. It smelled like peach and maybe a little pear as well. It was a little tart and tasted like peach and apricot. It was complex and delicious with a nice long finish.

I really liked Uncorked and will come here again when I’m in the area. I hope the friendly experience I had is typical of this wine bar because it really made it very comfortable and welcoming. I give Uncorked a rating of 4 out of 5 glasses.

Entrance to Uncorked

The homey interior of Uncorked

Oversized wine glasses FTW

I don't know what Wine & Wit Night is, but it sounds fun!