I have a confession to make…I’m a wine bar junkie.
Every city I ever visit, I’m dialed in, I have done the research and I know where I am going. I have to make sure I get my fix of wine bardom. Some are more addicting than others, depending on the degree of awesomeness. Some are ultimately disappointing and I question their use of ‘wine bar’ for branding purposes. 15 wines by the glass of generic bullshit does not make you a wine bar. And I should know, I am the proprietor of one. I sit and analyze and dissect every aspect of an operation as I sip on what I hope is a well-chosen, interesting selection. Not always the case.
And then, there are places like Terroir in the East Village of wonderful NYC. Though I have never visited a wine bar as impressive as Terroir, I am assuming there exists something comparable- I could be completely wrong. There is only a handful of cities in the world that would support such a unique being: New York, London, Chicago and San Fran come to mind. It’s only been open for a year or two (too lazy to do the research) but every aspect of it is glorious (except maybe the decor that could use a little pop and the size- so small for a city so big, in other words, fills up fast).
The wine program is super esoteric and wine-geeky. It may seem completely random to the untrained eye, but the beliefs behind the selections bring it all together (Reader: add appropriate metaphor incorporating glue). The Old World-heavy list (it’s 98% Old World) is slightly spotty, but there are so many awe-inspiring wines from the world’s best producers that you really don’t care. There are probably 30-40 BTG offerings (should have counted) that rock as much as the bottle list and if you go by yourself like I did the last time, there is a hefty amount of highly amusing yet informative reading material within its James Beard Award-winning binder (Graphics; the list is actually in a 3rd grade-style binder). Plus, the bartenders are great to converse with if it’s not slammin’ busy.
The food is delicious as well- the peeps that own Terroir also own Hearth, a killer restaurant about four doors away. It’s a testament to the Slow Food movement, regionality and sustainability.
It’s funny- I started this post with the intentions of writing about this totally random wine that blew my mind that I had at Terroir and instead, I just write about how awesome Terroir is. I guess I will save it for the next one. (It’s cute that I assume people actually read this)
Anyways, next time you’re in the City, curl up in the warm, cozy belly of Terroir and prepared to be fascinated and entertained by the wine bardom gods. The place is glorious and easily one of my favorite places to hang out in the world- that’s just the wine bar junkie in me- so ‘check, check, check it out!’
