Zagara

On a rainy Saturday, I decided to stop by Zagara at 216 7^th Ave in Chelsea. While they call themselves a wine bar, they also offer brunch on the weekend and the rest of the menu made it seem very restaurant-y instead.

I walked in during prime brunching hours….and I was the only one there. Not a good sign for their food, but we’ll see what the wine list looks like. I was seated at a table and asked if I would like to see their brunch menu. I said that I was just stopping in for a glass of wine. The waitress handed me a menu and I thumbed through some food options, but didn’t see any wine list. The waitress had disappeared at this point and I began to think about lunch, then proceeded to get hungry. As I waited for her to return so that I could ask for the wine list, I decided to get some soup to gulp down along with my hopefully impending glass of wine. The waitress made an appearance and asked me if I was ready to order. I think at this point I gave her my soup order and then asked for the wine list. At last, it was in my hands. Aside from the wine list delay, the service was professional and prompt during the rest of my time there.

The bottles were mostly from Italy and were listed by region, but the by the glass list didn’t provide any country or region information. Glasses were $8 to $15 and bottles were $35 to $515. It’s spring, so I felt like drinking a glass of rosé. Tis the season! Now, I hate wine snobbery, but I have to admit that I am a bit of a rosé brat. With a small handful of exceptions, I only seem to like French rosé. Italy has surprised me before with a delightful rosé, so I took a chance and ordered the 2012 Bombino Pungirosa Rivera Rosé. It was intensely pink colored, smelled like fresh strawberries, and tasted very similar on the palate. It was a pretty simple rosé, with a short finish, but it had a good acidity. Overall, I thought it tasted too juicy, a little watery, and it was lacking in complexity. I prefer a dry, floral rosé with delicate flavors of fresh fruit and a zesty acidity. Like I said, I’m a rosé brat.

Rosé is made from red grapes that are left to soak with their skins for a short amount of time – from a few hours up to a couple of days. The skins give the wine its color and also add tannin. The grape variety will determine not only the color of the wine, but the flavor characteristics of it as well. Rosé can be made from virtually any red grape varietal. French rosé is typically made with Grenache, Cinsault, or Mourvedre which produce a dry wine with flavors of grapefruit, strawberry, raspberry, and red currant. Italian rosé, called rosato, is often made with Sangiovese (the same grape used in Chianti) or Negroamaro and is more fruit forward and can have a fuller body than French rosé. While I very much enjoy these grapes as red wines, I’m not a fan of them as rosé. And that is why I prefer French rosé :)

Unfortunately, like the rosé, Zagara failed to impress me and I found the experience to be quite average. Decent service, decent setting, decent atmosphere, ok wine, but it didn't stand out to me in any way. With the plethora of Italian wine bars in NYC, this one isn't anything special. I give this place a rating of 3 out of 5 glasses.

My glass of fuchsia rosé

The lonely interior of Zagara

Pierre Loti Chelsea

Last weekend, I visited the last of the three Pierre Loti locations in Manhattan (for now). This one was in Chelsea, located at 258 W 15^th St. In some ways it was similar to my previous experiences at Pierre Loti, but it did stand on its own in a couple of areas.

This location seemed like more of a wine bar than the one in Midtown. The bar was long and the space was divided into two narrow areas by the old looking wooden bar in the center of the room. The walls on either side of the room were red and white, so it may have once been two separate buildings, which would explain the briefly confusing dual entrance to the bar.

The wine list featured glasses from $9 to $18 and bottles started at $30 up to $186. I felt that the by the glass selection was a little limited and many of the wines were the private label “Pierre Loti Reserve” that still makes me cringe due to my last encounter with Pierre Loti. The wines by the glass were overwhelmingly French and I just haven’t been impressed with the wines from France at this group of wine bars. So, I went with a 2010 Manon Tempranillo from Spain. It smelled like tart cherries and had an herbaceous character to it, like a tomato leaf. The wine had flavors of red berries and brown sugar and was decent, but nothing special, unfortunately.

The atmosphere was relaxed with a low-key sophistication. The front windows were open to let the warm air in, the light was low, there were quiet conversations, and once some live jazz started in a corner of the bar some not-so-low-key middle-aged PDA began as well.

The service was much nicer and more helpful than at the Midtown location, although the waitress probably could have stopped by our table a little more often.

Compared to the other Pierre Loti locations, I would probably rate this place #2. My favorite is still the Pierre Loti at Union Square, although their wonderful wine list has probably changed since I last visited if the other two bars are any indication. This particular wine bar had a pleasant atmosphere but even though the wines were relatively inexpensive, they were lacking in variety and quality. I give Pierre Loti Chelsea a rating of 3 out of 5 glasses.

 

The old world bar

My glass of Tempranillo