Anfora

I stopped by Anfora tonight at 34 8^th Ave. This wine bar was so much fun! It has a cozy lounge setting and the staff is very friendly and helpful.

The bar is dimly lit, Spanish music was playing, and low profile plush leather couches curve their way down the wall. There were cool quilted maps of wine regions on the brick wall as well, which I thought were so cute that I want to find out where they bought them/had them made because I want to get one for myself.

The wine is a teensy bit pricey with glasses being between $10 and $25. Red wines were more expensive as there weren’t many choices under $15. Bottles were between $40 and $600. Most of the wines were from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Austria. As a side note, I’m starting to see a lot of Gruner Veltliner (from Austria) on wine lists in the past few weeks, where I hadn’t noticed it before. Is it becoming trendy? And oh my goodness they had a bottle of Rioja from 1970, which was the $600 bottle. That must be an incredible wine!

I felt like I should order a Spanish wine because of the setting of the bar, so I ordered a Fino Sherry, which is only made in Jerez, Spain. I’ve recently developed a taste for Sherry and I have to say that it is not as gross as you might think! Yes, it might be a grandma drink, but it can be very delicious and warming to the body and soul especially in the winter. It has a higher alcohol content because it is a fortified wine. Alas, the warming sensation :)

The staff was very friendly and knowledgeable. After I ordered the Fino Sherry, the bartender sat down at my table to tell me that they were out of the Fino Sherry, but brought a bottle of Manzanilla Sherry for me to try to see if I would like that instead. I did like it, so he poured me a full glass and charged me the price of the Fino Sherry, which was only $9.

This Sherry smelled a lot like raw bread dough and almonds. This wine is fermented with lots and lots of yeast in the barrel, which give it that scent as well as its flavor. It tastes very much like almonds or even almond extract and it has a hint of green apple with a good level of acidity. This would actually go really well with salty or fatty foods like duck or the dark meat of a turkey. Can you tell that I’m already planning on having this wine for Thanksgiving? It has a nice long, rich finish which also means that you won’t drink as much of it in one sitting because not only is it higher in alcohol, but the flavor lingers long enough that you’ll probably forget that you haven’t taken a sip in a while.

Anfora is better for groups because the only seating aside from round the bar is at large low profile lounge couches around a coffee table, which probably seat 6 or more people. Not to say that two people on a date couldn’t sit there, but if it got busy you might have to share the couch with some other people which could get awkward pretty quickly. Other than that, it is a very fun place and it draws a younger crowd. The place was starting to fill up even before 6pm, so it looks like a very popular wine bar.

Anfora is sexy, it’s friendly, and they have some very superior wines on their list. The by the glass list could be a little larger if you ask me, but I doubt you’ll go wrong with any wine that you select here. I give this wine bar a rating of 4.5 out of 5 glasses.

The cozy lounge interior of Anfora

My glass of grandma Manzanilla Sherry

The cool quilted map of a wine region (This one was of Champagne, France)



The Tangled Vine

I visited The Tangled Vine last night at 434 Amsterdam Ave. It’s on a cute and bustling corner of 81^st St.

This bar focuses solely on European wines and you can definitely tell this from the décor. The place is made to look like a European restaurant with stone walls and pillars accenting the space. There’s a pretty little mini wine cellar display behind the bar area and maps of European wine regions on the wall.

Tangled Vine has happy hour specials each night from 5 to 7, but it’s only for two types of wine; one white and one red. This may or may not be the case, but it seemed to me like these wines were on special because the bar was trying to clear their inventory of it.

The menu had some nice touches – it’s made of cork, which I thought was cool and for the list of wines by the glass there are pictures of the wine label next to each wine. This is nice for people like myself who would be able to recognize a wine they’ve had and enjoyed by the label. The wines are very well selected and the price reflects that. Glasses start at $9 and go up to $21, with the average price being around $14. Bottles are between $34 and $109 and the separate bottle only list starts at $44 up to $220 per bottle. My favorite selection that I would like to try from the bottle list was the 1993 Rioja Reserva Bianco for $84. This is really old for a white wine and it’s from one of my favorite wine regions :)

The bar offers tasting trios of three 2 oz glasses of wine. You can choose from Sherry & Madeira, Riesling, Burgundy Blanc, Burgundy Rouge, or and Italian Trio. I chose the Italian Trio simply because one of the wines was a 1998. I would consider that a great value at $16 for the trio! This tasting consisted of a 2008 Dolcetto D’alba Roagna, the 1998 Ros di Rol Sant’Elena, and a 2007 Rosso di Montalcino il Colle.

The Dolcetto smelled like blackberry preserves and was very fruity. It was pretty tasty with some meaty characteristic along with dried strawberry flavors. The tannins were high in this wine but it was good. Next was the Ros di Rol. It smelled and tasted not at all how I was expecting it to. It smelled like a tree…and green pepper. Not cedar, not oak, but a bitter smelling tree that I can’t quite put my finger on. Maybe it smelled of rich mahogany and leather-bound books. The wine tasted very similar to its nose and was bitter, but smooth. It was very interesting and I’ve never had anything like it before. It was really lovely and complex. The last of the three wines was the Rossi di Montalcino. It was not very intense on the nose, but there was a waft of soft, floral notes of rose and violet. It was medium bodied and had playful fruity flavors of plum and a little blueberry. It was dry, pretty high in tannins, and was great to drink by itself. It was fantastic!

The atmosphere of the bar was very relaxing. There were lots of customers while I was there and most seemed to be in their 30s and 40s, casual, and having a good time with their friends. The music that was playing made it sound like vacation. If I closed my eyes, I was on a beach at an outdoor restaurant with a glass of fabulous wine in my hand. Back to reality, but I still had a glass of fabulous wine in my hand thanks to the Montalcino.

The Tangled Vine takes pride in their wine list and you can see that from the long descriptions they give each wine. The wine list can be very intimidating for those who aren’t wine geeks like myself and even so, I felt a little confused when I was trying to make a selection. But with some guidance from the descriptions on the menu, suggestions from the staff, and hopefully my blog, you’ll find a great wine that you’ll enjoy. I give The Tangled Vine a rating of 4.3 out of 5 glasses.

My Italian Trio

Shoulda come here on a Wednesday!