Corkbuzz Wine Studio

I had the pleasure of visiting Corkbuzz at 13 E 13^th St. It just opened in November of 2011 after several months of “buzz”, if you will, surrounding the bar. Needless to say, I’d been looking forward to going there for a while.

I experienced a new wine bar first – the hubby and I had to put our name on the waiting list for a table! On a Tuesday! This place certainly is popular, especially for having opened only a couple months ago. The interior is just lovely, so I didn’t mind waiting in the lounge area at the front of the bar with a menu to keep me occupied. The lounge is essentially a living room with a cushy sectional couch and two tall wingback chairs around a unique coffee table. Corkbuzz has a cozy, homey, yet sophisticated feel to it. The music even sets the mood to make it feel like you’re about to open up a bottle of wine in your own home. I was almost compelled to curl up on the couch. It’s richly decorated and there are beautiful textures all over the place. Portions of the walls were covered with a birch tree patterned fabric, mismatched fabric furniture gave it a cozy charm, the surface of the bar is made of lacquered blocks of wood, and behind the bar is a huge wall of various shaped wine glasses. Awesome, awesome space. I already really liked this place and I hadn’t even checked out the wine list yet!

Speaking of which, the wines are quite pricey, even by the glass. There are only two wines (one white and one red) that are $9 a glass, then the rest are between $11 and $52, with the average being $14. Yes, a glass of 1989 Chateau Prieure-Lichine will set you back 52 bones. While it is really cool to see a vintage like this available by the glass, it was a major “ooph” opening the menu. They have a vast selection of bottles that are priced anywhere between $34 and $2295. After I recovered from the initial sticker shock, I decided to order the 2009 Domaine Marcillet Hautes Cotes de Nuits from the Burgundy region of France for $15. If the prices are any indication of how great the wines are, I shouldn’t do Corkbuzz a disservice and order the cheapest glass. When in Rome, right?

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, French wines can be a bit mysterious because they are named for the village that the vineyard is located in. So, you need to know which regions produce which grapes in order to know what you’re drinking. In Burgundy, Pinot Noir is the dominant grape variety. And oh my…this was a fabulous wine. It was a crisp, bright ruby color and it smelled like herbs, berries and was smokey. It tasted briefly of baking spices, like nutmeg and cinnamon, then developed into a floral palate while still maintaining that great smokey character. Later on, (yes, I savored that baby) it developed into a cherry aroma. It was beautiful.

The service was impeccable with a very prompt, friendly, and attentive staff. As I would have expected from this place, the waitress poured a small amount of the wine into my glass for me to try. What sent the service above and beyond my expectations is that she brought out the bottle on a tray and when our table was ready she took my glass and carried it on a tray to our seats as well. Top notch.

If you don’t mind spending a lot a little extra for some truly wonderful wines, you definitely have to come to Corkbuzz. I’m officially obsessed with this place and I will be back, but probably just for special occasions. It’s a very wine-centric bar, service is superb, and the wines are incredible. I give Corkbuzz my highest rating so far: 4.9 out of 5 glasses. You have my heart, Corkbuzz.

Cozy Corkbuzz

My lovely glass of smokin' Cotes de Nuits

The cool lacquered wood bar

Ayza West Village

Tonight I had originally ventured out to visit a different wine bar but I actually had some trouble finding it. I happened to remember walking by Ayza West Village at 7^th Ave & Carmine while it was under construction. Lo and behold, it is now open! So, I stopped in to see how it compares to its midtown location.

This location is much smaller than their midtown bar if you include the outdoor seating area, but this makes it more intimate. Despite its size, the bar is laid out well to create some privacy at each of the tables. The ambiance here is enjoyable, low lighting is provided by an array of hanging lights all over the bar, the music isn’t loud and really the only background noise I noticed was the pleasant drone of conversation and laughter. It was nice. The crowd here is mostly on the younger side – I’d say most of the other guests were in their mid to late 20s. It seemed to be mostly friends getting together after work, although I did notice some couples as well.

Once I was seated at my table, the waitress offered me a sample of their warm spiced wine, which was a Syrah and I liked it so much that I ordered a mug of it. I had never had spiced wine (also referred to as mulled wine) before, so I decided to try something different. You can make mulled wine yourself by heating (not boiling - you don’t want to cook off that alcohol!) a robust red wine with oranges, a lemon, cloves, cinnamon sticks, and a bit of brown sugar or honey. It’s wintery deliciousness. My mug of wine smelled and tasted like cloves and cinnamon, very much like a mulled cider but it was heartier and the alcohol gave it some nice additional warmth. It wasn’t particularly cold outside tonight, but this is the perfect wine to warm up with on a blustery winter evening. I might even make this my new winter weekend staple :)

Ayza’s wine list features wines that are mostly from France, Italy, and California. The glasses are priced between $6 and $19 and bottles are $30 to $225, although many of the bottles were under $50. The selections seem to be a pretty good value because I recognized some of the wines that I buy in my local retail store and the glasses here at Ayza were less expensive than the retail price of the bottle. Usually glasses are equal to the average retail price of a bottle, so I was happy to see that Ayza wasn’t trying to pillage my wallet.

The service here was very prompt and cheery, the ambiance was really nice, and the wine selection is pretty decent. Comparing this place to Ayza’s midtown location, I have to say that everything is better in the West Village. I give Ayza West Village a rating of 4.2 out of 5 glasses.



My mug o'wine

The cool bar area of Ayza West Village...and my thumb