'inoteca

My dear readers, I have to apologize for my lack of frequent reviews. It’s been one heck of a busy summer! Last week I was able to visit ‘inoteca (no, that’s not a typo) at the bustling intersection of Rivington and Ludlow in the Lower East Side.

The atmosphere here is pretty hip. It has an open layout and is one of the larger wine bars I’ve been to. It was bright inside since most of the walls were covered with large windows, there were faux exposed beams on the ceiling as well as a sweet rectangular light fixture hanging above one of the larger wooden tables. Some popular songs from the 60s were playing and it gave the bar a fun and somewhat lighthearted feel. The back of the bar had a cool, masculine vibe going on with fully stocked wooden wine and liquor racks covering the walls, and a solid metal bar with glasses hanging above it. At first impression, I was liking the place.

Glasses were between $9 and $16 and bottles were between $33 and $73. What appears to be a half carafe of wine, although it wasn’t labeled, starts at $17 and is no more than $37. All of the wines were Italian and I decided on a glass of the 2010 Andrew Felici Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Superiore. Say that three times fast. Once I ordered, the waiter brought a wine glass out, set it on my table, and walked away. Invisible wine? Just as I was about to start swirling air, he came back and poured a small amount of real wine into my glass for me to try. I approved, and he poured me a full glass. He then asked if I was going to order food or if all I was going to have was one glass of wine. I said that for now, it would just be the wine. He had a slightly annoyed look on his face , said “….ok” and walked away. Never to be seen again. The service was a little off-putting.

On to the wine. The Verdicchio had a great, full aroma of grass and lemon and even a little bit like hay. It tasted like green apple and the lemon came through on the palette as well. It had a refreshing acidity and developed in the finish to a honeysuckle flavor. It was a very yummy wine.

The crowd was a mix of youngins such as myself, several middle aged couples, and an older couple that I hope to be as cool as someday. It’s definitely an eclectic customer base, at least on an early Friday evening. There is plenty of nightlife nearby, as well as shopping, so ‘inoteca would be a great spot to stop in before or after either of these.

Now, I'm serious about that waiter never being seen again. I’m assuming service was poor because I was allegedly having only one glass of wine, but shouldn’t every customer be given the same experience regardless of how much money they’re about to spend? Once my glass was poured, my table must have evaporated into thin air until the universe sensed my need to pay the bill, and I was once again relevant to the wine bar. Another waiter saw this miraculous act unfolding before his eyes and he was actually friendly when he asked me if I was ready for another glass of wine or the check.

‘inoteca has great wines for the price, a chill atmosphere, and a space that is well laid out. It is lacking in the service area, at least from my experience there. I give ‘inoteca a rating of 3.6 out of 5 glasses, its saving grace being the last impression I had, which was the one friendly waiter.

The outside of 'inoteca

my glass of Verdicchio

The solid bar area in the back

Wine Escape

I recently returned from vacation and had a lot of catching up to do with my wine bar reviews! I started back up again with Wine Escape in Hell’s Kitchen at 405 W 44^th St.

Wine Escape is a relatively new wine bar and you can tell; there is a seemingly untouched leather bench alongside one of the walls, the wooden floors are free of any scuffs, scratches or creaks, and the walls are painted a stark white and punctuated with brightly colored works of art. It seemed like it was lacking a bit of character, I’m assuming because it was so new and hadn’t quite discovered what it wants to be yet. It had a fresh feeling to it though.

The wine list was well selected with a couple choice wines from each country. Glasses were between $10 and $14 and bottles of the same wines ranged from $36 to $120. As I was looking over the menu, the waitress (or perhaps the sommelier) informed me that she had constructed flights that featured wines from all around the world. Being immediately intrigued once she mentioned that a wine from Portugal was involved, I ordered the flight of red wine, which was $16 for 4 glasses of 2oz pours of wine.

Each of the wines in the flight was brought out one at a time, which I thought was very charming. The waitress introduced each wine as she brought it out and described its aroma and flavors. I thought it was a very nice and genuine touch to the service. The first wine was a Pinot Noir from California. It had a delicate oakiness and it tasted like strawberry. It had a slightly oily mouth feel to it, but it was tasty. The glasses were a little too small to get a good whiff of the aroma, but it kind of smelled like ripe strawberry and a little bit animalistic. The second wine was Spanish and it was called something that sounded like Branco Danco? I really wish the wines had been on a list so I could write about them more accurately. Anyhow, it smelled like lilac and vanilla, which was very interesting. I don’t recall ever encountering a red wine that smelled so sweet and fragrant. It tasted like vanilla and herbs with a touch of plum. It was very unique.

The third wine was from Portugal (hooray!) and once again, I unfortunately did not catch the name. It smelled like tomato leaves and dark cherry and tasted like blackberry with a hint of cocoa. It was dry and had a vegetal finish. It was delicious! The last wine of the flight was a South African Pinotage. It smelled like freshly cut grass and something sweet that I couldn’t put my finger on. My sister in law, who had joined me, suggested that it smelled like coffee and BOOM, the connection was made. It had the sweet, yet bitter aroma of coffee grounds. It tasted like blueberry and the flavor of a cappuccino Jelly Belly, dare I say.

The service was fantastic. As soon as someone in our group had finished their glass, the waitress showed up with the next wine in the flight and introduced it. The waitress was so sweet and prompt with her service that I hate to point out how painfully awkward she was. It was endearing, but she seemed really uncomfortable. However, she was genuine, very knowledgeable about the wines, and made the bar feel very wine-centric. Wine Escape is a cool place with a low-key vibe. It does need to add some more personality to its atmosphere, but this will come with time I’m sure. I give it a rating of 3.9 out of 5 glasses.

I was so lost in each glass of wine that I kept forgetting to take a picture until the glass was nearly empty

one of the cute examples of the artwork on display at Wine Escape