Sorella

After a very busy week, I actually have time to write my latest review! Last week, I went to Sorella, located at 95 Allen St in the Lower East Side. The front of the building is covered in a permanent heavy wooden grating, which looks like a metal gate that is pulled in front of a closed store. At first glance you wouldn’t know that it’s open, let alone a chic wine bar if it wasn’t for the subtle logo above. Semi-secretive. I like it.

Once inside, it’s cozy and minimalistic. The floors creak with each step of the bartenders, the brick wall behind the bar is painted white, the wooden ceiling is barreled and accented with little Edison lights and some larger unique light fixtures, and the bar top is made of a smooth wood. It feels like you’re in a chic cellar. There is also a charming room in the back of the bar that looks like a great place for a private party.

After reviewing the menu, I realized that Sorella is an Italian wine bar and offered some not so typical wines. Glasses were $8 to $18 and although bottles were not on the menu, my friend and I were able to later order a bottle of one of the by the glass wines, so there must be a separate menu that lists the bottles.

I ordered the 2011 Lo Triolet Gamay. Normally I’m not a big fan of this varietal, but I’ve been to so many Italian wine bars lately that I wanted to try something different. The Gamay that I usually encounter is often too tannic and jammy. This one, however, was quite the opposite. It smelled like summer, which is the first word that popped into my head. It had notes of berries, plum, and nutmeg and tasted like raspberry and date with a zingy acidity. It was tasty enough that I couldn’t possibly refuse a second glass of it. I should also mention that it pairs nicely with their cheese plate.

The bartenders at Sorella were really friendly and seemed to know everyone that walked into the bar. I think some of them were former employees, which says a lot about the place. Surprisingly, it didn’t fill up very quickly even on a Thursday evening. The “Sorry, we’re closed” façade might have something to do with that. The atmosphere is warm and inviting and they have a unique selection of Italian wines at decent prices. It’s a great wine bar to duck into, especially after walking several blocks in the frigid wind of a New York City winter. I give Sorella a rating of 3.9 out of 5 glasses.

There's a wine bar behind there, I promise!

My glass of Gamay and some tasty breadsticks

Felice - La Soffitta

It’s been a while since I reviewed Felice and they have since opened two new wine bars. I visited the location at 15 Gold St in the Financial District. This particular one has a separate wine lounge upstairs called La Soffitta, while the area downstairs was geared more towards the dinner crowd.

I chose to go to the lounge and I walked up a candle lit stairway to find a suave and sophisticated space with a few gentlemanly touches. There were plush, cognac colored tufted leather couches, small café tables, a retro patterned floor, dark wood panels on the walls, and modern light fixtures. It felt like I was walking onto a Mad Men set.

Once I sank into one of the couches, the waitress brought a menu to me, but I quickly realized that it only listed the happy hour wines. Although they were priced exceptionally well at $5 and $6, neither of the two reds or two whites appealed to me. I asked for their full menu and selected a wine from that instead. Like their other location, all of the wines were Italian. Here, the choices of wine were more limited, although their wine list apparently changes weekly. Wines by the glass were $8 to $20 and there were not any bottle selections. Unless, perhaps, there is yet another menu. The happy hour wines made an appearance on the full menu as well, but they were almost twice the price than during happy hour! This leads me to believe that the rest of their wines are a significant rip off. They also offered flights of any wine at 3 for $15 and 6 for $29, although I’ve seen better deals at other wine bars in the city.

I ordered the 2009 Masut da Rive Pinot Nero for a cringe-worthy $16. It was served in a really pretty tall glass, but the pour seemed a little on the small side, considering the price. The aroma of this wine was lovely. It had notes of red pear and baking spices, but it didn’t taste quite as good as it smelled. The alcohol seemed pretty high and overpowered the fruit character. It initially tasted like dried strawberry, but had a short finish. It opened up around 10 minutes later and the fruit was more evident and the wine more balanced, but overall this wine was not terribly memorable.

Although some relaxed indie and 80s music was playing, the atmosphere at Felice, or La Soffitta, was quiet and even a little stiff. You could hear bits of any conversation from around the room even if you weren’t intending to eavesdrop. That’s what I call great acoustics. In general, the crowd was closer to middle aged, and there were groups of men, couples, and friends, so it was a good mix of people. However, later on in the evening there seemed to be a large number of Wall St….um, stereotypes, shall we say. That’s to be expected given the location of this place though.

I wasn’t overly impressed with this wine bar. The wines are way too expensive for what they are. The service is good and the space is very pretty, but the atmosphere seems a little cold – I don’t feel like I could unwind here. Felice - La Soffitta gets a shoulder shrug and a “meh”. Not to mention, it took a large chunk out of my wine bar budget. I give this place a pretty average rating of 3 out of 5 glasses.

The manly interior of the wine lounge

My expensive, but cool glass of Pinot Nero

Update on Monday, January 28, 2013 by drinkofthevine

I initially reported that their flight of wine was 3 for $29 and I was later informed that this was incorrect. When I reviewed the menu at the bar, there was only that one flight option listed. Was the misprint on the menu or in my notetaking? The world may never know. I only wish I had taken a picture of that page on the menu.