Wined Up

Oooo I liked this place! Wined Up is at 913 Broadway in the Flatiron district and on the second floor above its sister restaurant, Punch. There was a great vibe to this bar. Fun music was playing and it’s a bright, laid back lounge. There is even a skylight letting lots of natural light in, keeping the bar from being your typical cave-like lounge.

The décor is very cool; the floor is slate, pretty ice blue glass tile covers the bar, and there is a massive wall of wine, which makes it seem like you’re in someone’s very impressive cellar. It’s more posh than cozy, however, so it’s not as relaxing as I would have hoped.

Wined Up has a very bustling environment (especially for a Tuesday night) with the staff moving around and stopping by tables frequently. I really liked the service here, it was great and the various waitresses and bus boys stopped by often. If I had known any better, I would have thought they knew I was reviewing them. That’s how superb the service was. The crowd here seems to be coming from work because everyone was dressed in professional attire and in their late 20s.

This bar boasts a very large selection of wine, including over 30 wines to choose from on their by the glass menu. Most of the wines are European, with a few being from California and South Africa. The glasses of wine were a little more expensive than some other bars I’ve reviewed. The glasses started at $11 and were as much as $18. Bottles were surprisingly affordable, considering the prices of glasses of wine. The majority of the bottles were on average about $60 and only several were over $100.

I was in a fruity mood, so I ordered the 2009 Domaine de la Pepiere Muscadet from the Loire Valley region of France. The glass was definitely served with a hefty pour, which one can always appreciate. The wine almost smelled a little like fresh bread and had a very crisp green apple flavor. It was refreshing, but it might have been a little too young. I would have liked this wine a lot if it were a couple years older.

There was a very tasty looking cheese list and my stomach was starting to grumble, so I ordered the Sartori Stravecchio since I noticed that it hailed from my home state of Wisconsin (yes, I am admittedly a cheese head). Cheeses were 1 for $5, 3 for $12, 5 for $17, and 8 for $25. A lot of cheese plates are merely a tiny serving of cheese and maybe some honey or jam and a couple of grapes. Was I surprised when a platter of warm bread, thinly sliced apples, and a huge chunk of cheese came out! Yum! It was a nice compliment to my glass of Muscadet.

The only criticism I have of Wined Up was the music. It was pretty loud, almost overpowering, and actually made it slightly difficult for me to focus on what I wanted to write about the wine. Something also seemed to be a little off with the music selection. While it was fun to hear such a huge variety of music, with tunes from the 60s, Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, 90s music, and some current hits, it was kind of scattered and I don’t think it was cohesive with the environment they were trying to create. I found the volume and the A.D.D playlist a little distracting after a while.

Wined Up has great service, tasty wines (and cheese), and a very upbeat atmosphere. I would want to come here for a light lunch if it were closer to my office and open earlier. This is a fun place and you should absolutely give it a try if you don’t think you’ll mind the noise level. I give Wined Up a rating of 4 out of 5 glasses.

The bar serves water in old wine bottles. I didn't polish off a bottle of Muscadet myself, I swear :)

The impressive cheese platter!



Vyne

I visited Vyne at 82 W 3^rd St today. I got out of work early, so I thought it would be the perfect time to get started on my next review. I may have been a little too eager to do this because I ended up being the first patron to walk into the bar. Whoops! I definitely probably looked like an alcoholic. The bartender was very friendly though and I took a seat on one of the plush couches in the center of the bar.

Vyne is very laid back and it almost feels like you’re in someone’s living room. In addition to the cushy leather couch I was already seated on, there were leather benches and short tables along the wall, 4 person tables, and a tall family style table with high stools. The mix and match seating made it a very comfortable environment. There was also an old fireplace that one member of the staff offered to light for me since I was sitting near it. Very sweet, but it was quite hot outside, so I declined.

There was a lovely mix of foreign jazz playing at the bar, which I really, really liked. The place smelled like fresh linen, probably from the candles that decorated the area around the fireplace. This adds to the homey feel but could detract from the wine experience. This may be my inner wine geek talking, but there shouldn’t be additional strong scents that could interfere with the ability to smell the aroma of the wine in your glass. But, I digress. I enjoy the atmosphere that Vyne has created. It’s a very soft and welcoming place, at least on a Tuesday night.

As I said, the staff was very warm and friendly and the bartender was happy to make a suggestion when I was torn between the Assyrtiko from Greece and a Viogner. He recommended the Assyrtiko and I had actually read an article about the wine recently, so I decided to go with it. The wine was brought to me in a mini carafe, which I’ve always thought was adorable. Now, since I’ve never had this wine before, I wasn’t sure what to expect and I do believe it tasted like olives. Or maybe I just had Greek salad on my mind? Either way, it was tasty and one of the more full bodied white wines I've had.

The wine menu was a little bit limited for by the glass orders. However, the bottle list was very extensive with great selections, including a 1995 Louis Jadot Croton-Greves Grand Cru! Vyne actually priced this bottle very well at $100 when it retails for about $70. By the glass prices were unfortunately rather expensive. The Altos Malbec was $12 a glass and this wine retails for about $14 a bottle. Not so sure if this is a good place to go if you aren’t planning on buying a bottle. It would be great for couples or groups, however! As for the other wines, they had many Italian, French, and Spanish wines with many by Domaine, which is a very reliable label. The least expensive bottle on the list was $40, while the most expensive bottle was a whopping $375. They also offered half bottles, which were priced between $48 and $120. On a side note, I took a look at their wine menu online to pull the names of some of the bottles I saw, but clearly it has not been updated on their site because it was a very different menu from what was available today.

Seeing as I was the only person in the bar, I was finding myself short of information on what kind of people come to Vyne, when suddenly another customer entered! The heavens rejoice. I was no longer the obviously awkward lonely girl on whom everyone’s attention was focused. From the few people that arrived after me, I can judge that this bar draws an early 30s, casual, after work crowd. Obviously this is not an accurate portrayal of the people that typically come here, so I may have to come back on a busier evening in order to truly tell you about what kind of people frequent Vyne. But this is supposed to be primarily about the wine anyway, right?

I had a good time at Vyne, despite being the only customer for most of my visit. It wasn’t a remarkable experience, but I would like to go back again when it’s busy to see what it’s really like when they have a crowd. I rate Vyne 3.5 out of 5 glasses.

Exterior of Vyne (currently shrouded by scaffolding, so I wasn't able to get a good picture. Thanks for the image, yelp!)

Interior of Vyne

Mini carafe!

Fireplace

Vyne stored their wine within these neat cast iron cabinets along the walls. Very cool!