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

Ara

My dear readers, I’m back at last! The hubster and I bought a condo, so most of our free time the past few months has been consumed by making the place our own. But on Friday I was able to go to Ara, located at 24 9^th Ave in the Meatpacking district.

I didn’t know quite what to expect from a wine bar in this area, since it’s very clubby and heavily geared towards the nightlife. However, I found Ara to be surprisingly low key and quiet for a Friday evening. The interior was pretty standard for a wine bar – a long, narrow space with a bar in the front and a lounge like area in the back. When I arrived, there was only a small handful of people seated around the bar and music from the 80s was playing softly.  I took a seat on the plush bench that wrapped around the entire back room and took a look at the menu.

Glasses were between $10 and $25, with the average glass being $12. Bottles started at $42 and were not more than $65. The selection of wine was small, but consisted of some unique white wines, like a white Rioja and a Grune, which don’t often make appearances in wine bars. I decided to take advantage of this and ordered the 2012 Gobelsburger Gruner Veltliner. It smelled like fresh grapefruit and lemon with a light floral scent and had similar notes on the palate with a lively acidity. It was certainly refreshing after walking through the humidity of the October night. (what’s up with that, by the way?)

The service was ok. Once I was seated, a bartender came to my table to take my order, but after delivering the wine, I didn’t see him again for quite some time.

The atmosphere of Ara was calm and the fixtures seemed really nice. The bench in the back lounge area was made of soft green leather and had tons of oversized throw pillows tossed onto it. The rest of the seating was on squatty stools with leather cushions that actually looked kind of comfortable. The small tables were also spaced far enough apart from one another to allow for some private conversation. There were also some interesting choices in décor – the walls were covered entirely with either huge mirrored panels or bamboo print wallpaper. I’m not quite sure what look they were going for there.

Ara was enjoyable enough, but it just didn’t feel like a wine bar. It lacked the charm, cozy sophistication, and quirkiness that it takes to make a wine bar stand out in this city. Honestly, it was rather forgettable. I give Ara a rating of 3 out of 5 glasses.

 

The back area of the bar

My glass of Gruner