'inoteca

My dear readers, I have to apologize for my lack of frequent reviews. It’s been one heck of a busy summer! Last week I was able to visit ‘inoteca (no, that’s not a typo) at the bustling intersection of Rivington and Ludlow in the Lower East Side.

The atmosphere here is pretty hip. It has an open layout and is one of the larger wine bars I’ve been to. It was bright inside since most of the walls were covered with large windows, there were faux exposed beams on the ceiling as well as a sweet rectangular light fixture hanging above one of the larger wooden tables. Some popular songs from the 60s were playing and it gave the bar a fun and somewhat lighthearted feel. The back of the bar had a cool, masculine vibe going on with fully stocked wooden wine and liquor racks covering the walls, and a solid metal bar with glasses hanging above it. At first impression, I was liking the place.

Glasses were between $9 and $16 and bottles were between $33 and $73. What appears to be a half carafe of wine, although it wasn’t labeled, starts at $17 and is no more than $37. All of the wines were Italian and I decided on a glass of the 2010 Andrew Felici Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Superiore. Say that three times fast. Once I ordered, the waiter brought a wine glass out, set it on my table, and walked away. Invisible wine? Just as I was about to start swirling air, he came back and poured a small amount of real wine into my glass for me to try. I approved, and he poured me a full glass. He then asked if I was going to order food or if all I was going to have was one glass of wine. I said that for now, it would just be the wine. He had a slightly annoyed look on his face , said “….ok” and walked away. Never to be seen again. The service was a little off-putting.

On to the wine. The Verdicchio had a great, full aroma of grass and lemon and even a little bit like hay. It tasted like green apple and the lemon came through on the palette as well. It had a refreshing acidity and developed in the finish to a honeysuckle flavor. It was a very yummy wine.

The crowd was a mix of youngins such as myself, several middle aged couples, and an older couple that I hope to be as cool as someday. It’s definitely an eclectic customer base, at least on an early Friday evening. There is plenty of nightlife nearby, as well as shopping, so ‘inoteca would be a great spot to stop in before or after either of these.

Now, I'm serious about that waiter never being seen again. I’m assuming service was poor because I was allegedly having only one glass of wine, but shouldn’t every customer be given the same experience regardless of how much money they’re about to spend? Once my glass was poured, my table must have evaporated into thin air until the universe sensed my need to pay the bill, and I was once again relevant to the wine bar. Another waiter saw this miraculous act unfolding before his eyes and he was actually friendly when he asked me if I was ready for another glass of wine or the check.

‘inoteca has great wines for the price, a chill atmosphere, and a space that is well laid out. It is lacking in the service area, at least from my experience there. I give ‘inoteca a rating of 3.6 out of 5 glasses, its saving grace being the last impression I had, which was the one friendly waiter.

The outside of 'inoteca

my glass of Verdicchio

The solid bar area in the back

The Ten Bells

After reading Matt Kramer’s article about natural wines in Wine Spectator this week, I was inspired to find a wine bar in Manhattan that focused on this particular style of wine. Surprisingly, there is only one natural wine bar in the city and it’s The Ten Bells at 247 Broome St.

The term “natural wine” can have many different interpretations, depending on who you ask. But in general, natural wines are made with organically grown grapes that are hand picked rather than machine picked, only natural occurring yeast is added to the juice to begin fermentation, no sulfur can be added as a preservative, and the wine's flavor is not adjusted by adding oak chips or by fermenting and ageing in oak barrels (unless it's an old oak barrel, which doesn’t add flavor to the wine). Many natural wines are not filtered either, so they will have a cloudy appearance. Oftentimes these wines will have animalistic characteristics or show clarity of fruit and will taste quite unlike any ordinary wine.

The Ten Bells is unmarked on the outside. No discernible address, no Ten Bells sign…only a chalkboard advertising a $1 oysters happy hour special. Two big openings on either side of the bar serve as doors. I was just awkwardly standing there trying to figure out if I was at the right place, so I chose a side, walked in, and noticed menus on the wall listing nothing but wine. At least I knew I was at some wine bar :) I grabbed a seat at a tall marble table in the back and a waiter came up to me almost right away. There were no paper menus, so I had to go back to the front of the bar and review my choices there. I would have thought that they would try to advertise the fact that their wines were natural, but there wasn’t any indication of this on the menu. Glasses were between $8 and $13, consisting mostly of French wines. Bottles were priced between $36 and a randomly priced $394. I ordered a glass of the 2010 Roussillon, which is a white wine from the Languedoc region of France. Although ordering at the bar was a little inconvenient, the bartender brought the glass to me at my table and all of the staff were super helpful and friendly.

I should also note that this bar is cash only. So with no credit card receipt, no sign outside, and no name on the menu, I still had no way to verify that I was actually at The Ten Bells. I later compared pictures from their website to confirm that I was indeed at their wine bar. So secretive!

The wine came out in a stout little glass and it was cloudy, as I was expecting. I had actually never tried a natural wine, so this was a big first for me. I swirled the wine as best I could in the small glass and took a whiff. It smelled like pear and…this is going to sound weird, but it also smelled a little bit like wet dog. Not in the gross, stinky way, but more like the animal smell behind it if that makes any sense. Fortunately, it didn’t taste like wet dog, but more like a prickly pear. It had a medium body and a silky mouthfeel. It was different and completely unique.

The crowd was mostly younger and the bar was completely full just after 6. The bar almost had a basement feeling to it, aside from the wide open front of the bar. The lighting inside was dim, there were tin details everywhere, and lively jazz music was playing. It was kind of like an underground jazz spot or a super secret bar during the Prohibition.

The Ten Bells is a cool, hip place. It’s not the most convenient for ordering anything, but if you’re into natural wines or just want to give some a try, this is a place you should stop by. The incredibly nice, and also hilarious, staff upgraded this place to a solid 3.6 out of 5 glasses.

For more information on natural wine, check out this great article from Food & Wine.

The unmarked entrance of The Ten Bells. Notice the convenient ATM for their cash only policy

My glass of Roussillon

The bartender saw me taking pictures and surprised me by posing for one! Like I said, the staff was hilarious :)