Wined Up

Oooo I liked this place! Wined Up is at 913 Broadway in the Flatiron district and on the second floor above its sister restaurant, Punch. There was a great vibe to this bar. Fun music was playing and it’s a bright, laid back lounge. There is even a skylight letting lots of natural light in, keeping the bar from being your typical cave-like lounge.

The décor is very cool; the floor is slate, pretty ice blue glass tile covers the bar, and there is a massive wall of wine, which makes it seem like you’re in someone’s very impressive cellar. It’s more posh than cozy, however, so it’s not as relaxing as I would have hoped.

Wined Up has a very bustling environment (especially for a Tuesday night) with the staff moving around and stopping by tables frequently. I really liked the service here, it was great and the various waitresses and bus boys stopped by often. If I had known any better, I would have thought they knew I was reviewing them. That’s how superb the service was. The crowd here seems to be coming from work because everyone was dressed in professional attire and in their late 20s.

This bar boasts a very large selection of wine, including over 30 wines to choose from on their by the glass menu. Most of the wines are European, with a few being from California and South Africa. The glasses of wine were a little more expensive than some other bars I’ve reviewed. The glasses started at $11 and were as much as $18. Bottles were surprisingly affordable, considering the prices of glasses of wine. The majority of the bottles were on average about $60 and only several were over $100.

I was in a fruity mood, so I ordered the 2009 Domaine de la Pepiere Muscadet from the Loire Valley region of France. The glass was definitely served with a hefty pour, which one can always appreciate. The wine almost smelled a little like fresh bread and had a very crisp green apple flavor. It was refreshing, but it might have been a little too young. I would have liked this wine a lot if it were a couple years older.

There was a very tasty looking cheese list and my stomach was starting to grumble, so I ordered the Sartori Stravecchio since I noticed that it hailed from my home state of Wisconsin (yes, I am admittedly a cheese head). Cheeses were 1 for $5, 3 for $12, 5 for $17, and 8 for $25. A lot of cheese plates are merely a tiny serving of cheese and maybe some honey or jam and a couple of grapes. Was I surprised when a platter of warm bread, thinly sliced apples, and a huge chunk of cheese came out! Yum! It was a nice compliment to my glass of Muscadet.

The only criticism I have of Wined Up was the music. It was pretty loud, almost overpowering, and actually made it slightly difficult for me to focus on what I wanted to write about the wine. Something also seemed to be a little off with the music selection. While it was fun to hear such a huge variety of music, with tunes from the 60s, Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, 90s music, and some current hits, it was kind of scattered and I don’t think it was cohesive with the environment they were trying to create. I found the volume and the A.D.D playlist a little distracting after a while.

Wined Up has great service, tasty wines (and cheese), and a very upbeat atmosphere. I would want to come here for a light lunch if it were closer to my office and open earlier. This is a fun place and you should absolutely give it a try if you don’t think you’ll mind the noise level. I give Wined Up a rating of 4 out of 5 glasses.

The bar serves water in old wine bottles. I didn't polish off a bottle of Muscadet myself, I swear :)

The impressive cheese platter!



Pierre Loti

I visited Pierre Loti at 53 Irving Place last night. I was expecting a French inspired wine bar, due the name, but it turns out it has a lot of Turkish influences in the décor and the tapas menu. The wine selection is heavy with French wines, however. The bar was named after the great explorer whose biography is on the first page of the menu.

The building itself is on the basement level, so it’s set slightly down below the street. The bar had an inviting bohemian style to the décor. Wooden benches with red cushions and throw pillows lined the walls, as well as the window seat. It is very inviting. Wine bottles lining the ceiling provided a touch of the unexpected. I didn’t even notice them for the first 10 minutes or so and when I did, I thought it was very intriguing.

The prices were great. Glasses were between $9 and $14 and full bottles of the by the glass wines were in the $40 to $50 range. There were also specials on certain bottles of wine, which were once again in the same price range, with one being priced at $90. For more expensive choices, they had a very large selection of wines strictly from France that were up to $100 on average and a few in the mid $200. Pierre Loti did offer one thing that I haven’t seen at a wine bar yet – magnums of wine! They had a 1500ml option and a 3000ml option for $140 and $300. This would definitely be the wine bar to host a party in.

This place had wine flights on their menu, so I took the opportunity to taste a few different wines and ordered this. You can choose any 3 or any 4 of the wines from the by the glass menu and you will be served a 2oz glass of each. The flight of 3 is $15 and the flight of 4 is $18. This is a great deal, especially if you happen to choose one of the pricier wines. I selected a 2008 Henri de Villamont Chardonnay (Burgundy), a 2007 Gran Vinaio Grenache (Spain), and a 2009 Bex Riesling from the Pfalz region of Germany.

A thoughtful touch by the waitress, which is probably bar policy, was to bring my wines out not in the order that I ordered them in, but in the order of what would taste best. The Chardonnay was first and it was delicious. It was very bright and soft and I noticed that I’m beginning to be able to tell the difference between US and French white wines! Success! I seem to notice that US white wines, particularly from Washington or California are much more fruit forward and have more acidity.

The second wine was the Grenache. It was very spicy at first sip but has a warm, buttery texture and the finish had a hint of black cherry. I would like to try it with a spicy chicken dish.

Third was the Riesling. Germany differs from French and US in their production of Riesling because they add a little unfermented grape juice to the wine after fermentation to give it some extra sweetness. I usually buy Rieslings from Washington and I’m used to that flavor, so I could definitely notice the difference in taste. This Riesling actually had that mouthwatering after effect that white grape juice does, which I didn’t necessarily dislike, but I do prefer Rieslings to be a touch drier than this. It was still very delicious and perfect for a sweltering hot day like it was when I visited. The wine was very easy to drink, which could be dangerous :)

Pierre Loti hosted a younger crowd, with the majority in their 20s . There were some people there studying, which I’m assuming is because the bar is very close to one of the NYU campuses. It was a very social atmosphere, but I get the feeling that it’s not frequented by wine freaks like me. The bar was moderately busy when I arrived and I received very attentive service. It was refreshing to have someone stopping by each of the tables often enough to make sure you were happy, but not too much to be annoying. The waitress would even take my glass away almost immediately after I had finished one wine in the flight. The service was excellent.

Pierre Loti isn’t my true love, but I enjoyed it very much. I’d like to go back and try some more flights of wine. I really liked this aspect of the bar and I really hope that more wine bars that I visit will have flight options. I rate Pierre Loti 4.2 out of 5 glasses for great service and wine selection.

My flight of wine

Bottles lining the ceiling

The bathroom had a poster of common wine aromas. Odd place for it, but I like it!