V Bar St Marks

Last weekend, the hubby and I decided to hang out in a wine bar. We chose V Bar St Marks, located in the East Village at 132 1^st Ave.

The bar was much busier than I would have expected on a Saturday afternoon. We grabbed the last two seats in the place – right at the bar. It was hot, the crowd was loud and so was the music. Not quite what I think of when it comes to a wine bar. It had a slightly grungy feel to it. Classic rock was blaring, the floors were concrete, ceilings were tin, the walls were exposed brick, and one wall had a cool painting of a griffin on it. It definitely felt more like a dive bar than anything else.

The wine list was surprisingly extensive, with plenty of by the glass wines to choose from. It was heavy on the French and Italian wines and also included some from the US. However, vintages were not shown on the menu. The wines were well priced with glasses between $9 and $14 and bottles were $20 to $70.

I ordered the Parallele 45 Cotes du Rhone. Although it was served out of a clunky wine glass, the pour was very generous. It smelled like plum and nutmeg and tasted like baking spices and peppercorn. The spice kind of overwhelmed the fruit character, but overall it was enjoyable. As I mentioned before, the atmosphere of V Bar didn’t make it feel anything close to a wine bar. In fact, looking around I noticed only one person drinking champagne. Everyone else had beer or cocktails. After we finished our wine, we switched to beer. That’s a first for one of my reviews!

Overall, V Bar St Marks is a cool place to grab a casual beer, but I would not by any means call it a wine bar. Wine doesn’t fit in with any part of this bar. Strictly as a wine bar, I have to give this place a rating of 2.8 out of 5 glasses. I’m just not feelin’ it.

The outside of V Bar St Marks

Griffin!

Clunky dive bar wine glass

Aroma Kitchen & Wine Bar

I’m back to the blogging world! I took a brief hiatus from my wine bar reviews to work on a new project that I’ll hopefully be telling you about later (fingers crossed). I got back in the game at Aroma Kitchen & Wine Bar, which is located at 36 E 4^th St in the East Village.

It’s a narrow bar that oozes simplistic charm. It was dimly lit and warm jazz music was playing, so I was immediately greeted with coziness. The walls were exposed brick and the wall at the entry was covered with shelves full of wine. The dining area in the back of the bar used to be an apartment until Aroma bought it and expanded. How New York of them :) My favorite part of the décor though, was the bar – it was made of one solid piece of a tree trunk. Super cool and it added to the rustic vibe.

Aroma is an Italian wine bar and they offered some unique selections. It was a little pricey, however. Glasses were $10 to $20, half bottles were $21 to $225, and bottles started at $45 and went up to $750.

I ordered the 2011 Alto Adige Kossler Lagrein. It smelled like rose with some cassis and vanilla. It tasted surprisingly floral, and was not as full-bodied as I would have expected either. The wine had a long finish with well-structured tannins and was pretty delightful!

The service was very friendly and courteous and the bar had a great fun and relaxing atmosphere. I definitely could have stayed there for the rest of the evening. The windows in the front look like they open up in the summer, so this place would be a must to hang out in on a weekend afternoon, sipping wine. It’s definitely a good place to swing by and I would go out of my way to come back. It’s a little expensive, but the wine was great so you get what you pay for. It would be nice to see more value options on the menu though. I give Aroma a rating of 4 out of 5 glasses.

Careful, you might miss the bar's tiny entrance!

The wall of wine

Lovely Lagrein