Zampa

I stopped by Zampa at 306 W 13th St tonight to kick-start my aggressive week of wine bar visits. Guests are greeted with “will you be joining us for a glass of wine tonight?” I like this place already.

The bar has a cozy worn-in look and has a welcoming feel. The tables are covered with black, chipped paint (in a chic way!) and there were comfy couch-like benches lining the wall of tables. The bar was pretty unique too, as it was a zig zag shape.

The front windows of the bar have a picture of a pig, which doesn’t lead you to believe that it’s a wine bar. After researching this a bit, I found that they apparently make a great pig roast. In Manhattan? Who knew!

Most of the customers that were in the bar were actually by themselves, like me! It looked like everyone was coming here after work as well and it started to get pretty busy right as 6pm rolled around.

Zampa specializes in Italian wines and they have plenty available on their wine list. The majority of the bottles are also available by the glass, which makes selecting a wine delightfully difficult. Glasses are priced between $10 and $14 and bottles are between $38 and $96. Some red and sparkling wines are available by half bottle as well and these start at $24. It’s a nice way to drink the $96 bottle of 2005 Brunello di Montalcino without paying for an entire bottle!

I ordered the 2009 Nebbiolo delle Langhe from Piemonte. It was pretty tasty and had a lighter body than I was expecting. The wine wasn’t prominent on the nose, but it was very powerful on the palate. It smelled like a big glass of berries and it had great vibrant and smooth flavors of plum and strawberry. It was pretty high in alcohol for a wine holla! and even so, it was well balanced. Bonus points for Zampa: this is one of the few wine bars I’ve been to where I was allowed to sample the wine before the full glass was poured, as is usually standard when ordering a bottle. I’m really liking these little thoughtful touches to service.

Speaking of service, the members of the staff were great. They were all very friendly and I overheard the bartender describing some of the wines well to another customer, although he did break away briefly to sip on a glass of wine. Impromptu tasting?

Zampa is a pretty special place! It’s laid back enough to relax in for a casual glass of wine and hip enough to come here before a night out. I really liked the atmosphere and they’ve picked some great Italian wines for the menu. I’d like to come back here to enjoy some food (and maybe a pig roast) as well! I give it a rating of 4 out of 5 glasses.

See the pig logo?

Zig zag bar

My glass of Nebbiolo

The Barrel

I visited The Barrel at 10 Stuyvestant St in the East Village. Everything about this place is just cool. The name itself makes it sound like it’s going to be a cool, wine-focused bar. There is a barrel outside of the bar which has the menu displayed on top, the exterior of the bar almost looks like cork, and get this – the interior of the bar is designed to make it seem like you’re inside a barrel! The walls are curved up to the ceiling and there are wooden beams on the ceiling. Pretty fun! Maybe I’ll feel like I’m fermenting inside it once I’ve had a couple glasses of wine ;)

The interior décor was a little bit of hit as well as a little bit of miss. The front seating area had the most interest with green cushioned high-back wooden benches. It had a bohemian vibe. The tables throughout the bar are nice and shiny and the stone bar is cool. But the chairs reminded me of wooden versions of diner chairs. It was a little annoying, but I was able to look past that for the rest of my visit :)

The wine list was medium sized and well put together. It was arranged by red and white, then listed by region as well which made it very easy to navigate when I knew that I wanted a Pinot Noir from the US. Most of the wines are available by the glass, carafe (which is half a bottle), and bottle. Glasses were between $9 and $13 and the few wines that were only available by the bottle were no more that $84.

I ordered the 2009 Luli Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley in California, which is my favorite region for this wine. The wine came in a mini carafe, which I always love! This is only the second wine bar I’ve been to that serves their wines this way. This Pinot Noir smelled like dark raspberries and not super youthful. I like my Pinots to be developing, so I immediately liked this. What a tasty wine! It had very soft tannins and was medium bodied. It tasted like plums and had a great balance and pleasant finish. While it wasn’t a very complex wine, it was still very good. I would order it again if I were to see it on another wine list. Pinot Noir is hard to make right because its thin skin makes it a difficult grape to grow. It needs cool temperatures, but plenty of sun to ripen properly. So, when you find a good Pinot Noir, make note of the label so that you can stick with it.

After that glass, I still had some studying to do for my WSET class and hey, I’m still on vacation, so why not get a second glass? I ordered the Sauvignon Blanc from Chile. I didn’t catch the label of the wine before the waitress took the menu. But when I did order it, the waitress excitedly told me that it was a really great wine and gave me two thumbs up. Awesome! I was definitely looking forward to this one. This wine came out in a differently shaped glass, which I think is a nice touch at a wine bar. This glass was made for swirling so that you can get a good grasp of the aroma. And this one smelled beautiful! It smelled a little yeasty and of apples and some guava. It tasted like peach and had a nice crisp acidity. Delicious! The waitress was excited for good reason.

The Barrel has a very friendly environment. The waitress was very sweet and even told me that she wanted to make my wine look beautiful as she poured some of it from the mini carafe for me. She stopped by all of the tables often and I saw her chatting with some of the other customers. This definitely felt like a place where I could hang out for a couple of hours, which I gladly did.

This place is pretty cool and worth a visit, if not for the wine, then for the barrel-esque interior. Stop by and ferment! I give The Barrel and rating of 3.8 out of 5 glasses.

The fun, barrel-shaped interior

Cool seating area in the front of the bar and some of the weird diner chairs

My glass of Pinot Noir and the cute mini carafe

The pictures keep uploading sideways and Squarespace has no rotate picture option. Sorry if you strain your neck :(

My attempt at a creative shot of pouring my wine