Gottino

Last week I went to Gottino, which is located in the West Village at 52 Greenwich Ave. It’s a cute, quiet, and narrow bar with brick walls and tin ceilings. It has all the elements of an old New York City bar, but you can tell it’s been recently renovated.

The wines were all from Italy and were within an affordable price range. Glasses were between $10 and $14, bottles were $36 to $52, and the wines were also available in a carafe, which were priced at $15 to $21. I decided to order the 2009 Moroder Rosso Conero Aion for $11. The waitress asked if I would like to try it first, so she poured a nice sized taste for me. I approved, and she poured the rest of the glass. The service was pleasant and considerate and the waitress stopped by often to check up on me.

The wine smelled like dried strawberries with a touch of the crisp smell of dried leaves. It tasted fruitier than I expected, with notes of slightly tart, juicy cranberries. It was medium bodied and was not overly dry. It had a nice acidity and it was a good wine to welcome allergies fall with.

The atmosphere of the place had an almost prairie feel to it, although most of the furnishings appear to be new. There are a few little café tables, and in the back are low, wooden picnic tables with benches as seating. The bar is decorated with trinkets, such as old looking milk crates, white porcelain plates displayed on the brick wall, photos of baseball players, and a random boar head on the wall above the staircase. There is a garden in the back of the bar as well. The space is cute, aside from the boar head but perhaps a little too sweet. The ambiance was relaxing and the music was mostly calming, although there were a couple of songs that sounded like medieval English ballroom dancing with an indie twist. It actually felt like more of a café and I found myself wanting coffee more than wine. Which is rare.

Gottino has a decent selection of well-priced Italian wines and nice service. All in all, it’s a nice place to spend an afternoon in, but nothing really stood out to me except the overt cuteness of the place. Is it a café or a wine bar? My visit seemed to feel like the former, but perhaps it picks up a bit during the evening. I give Gottino a rating of 3.5 out of 5 glasses.

Some of the cutesy decorations

Little House on the Prairie

Boar!

WineBar

Earlier this week, I took advantage of my last “use ‘em or lose ‘em” vacation days and found myself with nothing to do on a sunny weekday afternoon. My first thought, of course, was to go to a wine bar. I decided on WineBar, which is located in the East Village at 65 2^nd Ave.

The bar is very lounge-like, but also very chill and laid back. At least on a Monday afternoon. The interior was dark, with dark wood floors, long high-top black wooden tables, and tall bar stools to match. Accents of red were featured throughout the bar and there was a wall of shelves stocked with bottles of wine. Current popular electronica and trance music playing, which led me to believe that their customer is a bit on the younger side. I don’t’ encounter a wine bar like this too often, so I was pleasantly surprised. I chose to sit at the outdoor seating because it was such a perfect day that it would be a shame to not be outside drinking wine. So, I unfortunately did not get many pictures of the interior of WineBar. Mostly because I felt too awkward to walk inside and start snapping pictures like a wierdo.

Anyhow, glasses of wine were between $8 and $19 and bottles were $32 to $590. There was a very large selection of wines from France, Italy, and Spain, with a small list of wines from other countries. The menu had a map of the country that the wines on the opposite page were from, which I thought was a fun and educational touch. My inner wine nerd I was pleased.

For my first choice of wine, I happened to select a Riesling from the Alsace region of France, which was the only wine that WineBar was sold out of due to their next shipment failing to arrive. So, my second choice was the 2010 Cermeno Malvasia from Spain. It was delivered to my table in a nice large Riedel glass. I always appreciate nice stemware at a wine bar, so this gave WineBar some extra points. The wine tasted like a cool climate wine and had notes of guava and apricot, with a zingy acidity. I was recovering from a cold, so my sniffer wasn’t in tip top shape, but from what I could tell, there were hints of corn kernels and traffic. It was a great wine to enjoy sipping on outside and definitely not a bad choice at $8 a glass.

The waitress was very sweet and checked up on me often. She also didn’t seem to mind returning to my table a few times as I was flipping through the extensive menu trying to decide which wine I wanted to order. She only added to the relaxed atmosphere here.

The atmosphere was actually so pleasant that I decided to order a second glass and this time went with a nonvintage Moscato d’Asti from the Piedmont region of Italy. It smelled like orange peels and the citrus notes were on the palate as well, with flavors of lemon and some honey. Although it wasn’t an amazing Moscato, it was sweet, bubbly, and enjoyable.

The name of the bar is generic and the place is a pretty standard wine bar in Manhattan, but something about it makes it feel a little more young and fun. It appears to be geared towards a younger crowd, and lately, with an interest in wine increasing among 20-somethings, this might just set them apart for that crowd. I give WineBar a rating of 3.8 out of 5 glasses.

Like I said, this was the only picture I could get of the inside without feeling awkward 

My glass of Malvasia

The list of Italian wines accompanied by a map of Italy

My glass of Moscato d'Asti