Morrell Wine Bar

I visited Morrell Wine Bar this week, located at 1 Rockefeller Plaza at 49^th St. What’s really unique about this place is that it’s the wine bar associated with the Morrell wine store which is actually right next door. Although I didn’t have a chance to check, I think it’s safe to assume that many, if not all, of the wines available in the wine bar are for sale next door.

The atmosphere of the bar is pretty upscale, while still casual enough to not feel so out of place if you’re wearing nice jeans. However, most of the men there were wearing suits, so you should probably dress up a bit if you do visit. I immediately noticed that it has more of a restaurant feel to it too, even though it is supposed to be a wine bar and cafe, like many are. Morrell has a contemporary design with bright red and dark green couches and chairs for seating, track lighting, brightly colored art on the walls, and a curvy balcony of the second floor above the bar area.

The wine list is the star of this bar. With 100 wines to choose from by the glass in addition to the 800 bottles of wine, you’ll definitely find something you like. There is a wide variety of prices with affordable wines starting at $9 a glass and going all the way up to $53. Bottles are between $42 and $1950. They also have a flight option that features some of the bar’s most rare wines. A flight of these 5 wines is $99 and is valued at over $1000 if the bottles are purchased at retail. Most places don't offer such a grand flight! Despite the vast selection, not all of these wines may be in stock though, as I found from my experience.

I ordered the 2004 Bernhard Huber Spatburgunder, which is a Pinot Noir grown in Baden, Germany near the border of France. I was really looking forward to seeing how expressive this grape would be. The waiter came back to deliver the bad news; they were sold out of the Spatburgunger! No! Being completely unprepared to have a second choice, I quickly flipped through the menu and chose the 2008 Lang & Reed Cabernet Franc from Napa Valley. Luckily, the menu had thorough descriptions of each of the wines available by the glass, so some flavors stood out to me and provided a guide for such a life altering decision :)

My Cabernet Franc arrived in a big glass embossed with the letter M for Megan for Morrell. The wine smelled like cedar and herbs and tasted like dried strawberries and had a light smokey character. It was medium bodied and had a nice finish. A satisfying wine for such a hasty decision.

The service was very polite, but a little slow to check on us and bring the check. While it is nice when you’re not rushed out of a restaurant, we were on a bit of a timeline and probably looked like we were ready to leave, yet our waiter didn’t come over. I digress; overall the staff was very friendly and even a little on formal side.

Morrell Wine Bar has one of the better selections of unique wines that I’ve seen, not to mention an impressive quantity available (or not so available). I would have preferred that the wine bar be more laid back, but considering that it’s in a very nice area around Rockefeller Center, it is the type of place you’d expect it to be. I give this place a rating of 3.7 out of 5 glasses.

The outside of Morrell Wine Bar. You can kind of see the wine store next to it

The bar area of Morrell....and my Instagram photo editing experiment

M for Megan!

Vino 313

I visited Vino 313, which is cleverly named for its location at 31^st and 3^rd. I was impressed with this place right away. The service was very prompt and as soon as I removed my layers of cold weather garb and sat down, the waitress arrived at my table. Once I finished looking over the menu, there she was! The attention was noticed and certainly appreciated.

The place was pretty empty when I arrived, but it started to pick up around 7 and was about half full. The people here seem to mostly be on the south side of 30 and some were here with friends and I did notice some couples on dates.

At first glance the wines look a little expensive for what they are: I recognized a Pinot Noir from the list because I buy it on occasion. It's $13 a glass here and while it is good, I know a bottle of it retails for a touch less than that. So, with that being my guide I decided to avoid the less expensive wines thinking they would be a bit sub-par. Glasses are between $9 and $14 and bottles ranged from $34 to $250. There were quite a few US wines from California, Oregon, and Washington. Lots of French wines, some wines were from Italy, and a small selection from other European countries.

After being disappointed with the reds that I've had at wine bars lately, I decided to be a big spender to order the $13 glass of 2007 Patrick Lesec Syrah from the Rhone Valley in hopes that I could enjoy a delicious glass of wine. Sigh....disappointed by a wine again. The Syrah smelled ok; like chocolate and I seemed to notice a hint of olive-like scents...hmm. It tasted like blackberry and had a touch of that olive flavor. It was very rich and medium bodied. It would have been better with food.

They even had a nice looking, albeit, overpriced list of fortified and dessert wines. Glasses were $10 to $25. I've had enjoyable sherrys that were less than the price of one glass here, same goes for the Port. Le sigh. My husband was out finishing up some Christmas shopping so I would have had time to enjoy a little glass of sweet wine, but honestly with these prices I wasn't tempted in the least. Maybe I'll just pick up a bottle on my way home instead.

The atmosphere at Vino 313 is nice and feels like your average Murray hill cafe. Upbeat, jazzy music was playing. The decor was nothing special: orangey walls, some tall booths, and standard wooden cafe tables.

I like the friendly atmosphere and service of Vino 313, but their wines aren't quite the value I would have expected. This would be a great place to enjoy some lunch with a side of wine, but from my experience there, judged solely as a wine bar I would give this place a rating of 3.4 out of 5 glasses.

The cafe vibe of the bar