Category Archives: Wine Bar Review

The Rio Wine Cellar in Las Vegas

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The Rio Wine Cellar
Hours: Mon – Thur 4pm – 10pm;
Fri & Sat 3pm – 11pm; Sunday 3pm – 10pm
Cost: $$ – $$$ (expect to pay between $20 and $70)
Haydn gives it: 4 1/2 stars out of five

There are a lot of things Vegas is known for— gambling, anything remotely sinful (including the design of the carpets in the casinos), and of course, drinking. Yet, when it comes to wine, the high end wines seem to start with the word Sutter and end with Home.

Years ago I did a frantic search for a decent bottle of wine in Vegas where the costs of the bottle didn’t result in me taking out a second mortgage. A good search online yielded the Wine Cellar at the Rio. With a $10 million wine portfolio, I was excited, but nervous on their prices and overall selection. With $10 mil, one could easily buy up all the Bordeauxs in the World and forget about the common man who can only afford a regular cab. Thankfully the Wine Cellar is anything but.

With bottle in hand (have wine, will travel), I wrangled in a few friends to split the cherished liquid plus a bottle we’d buy there. If you buy a bottle at the Rio, they’ll waive the corkage on the one you brought—cool. In a land of incredulous markups, free corkage is heavenly.

Once I arrived, the next goal was to find a wine my party, where one primarily drinks white and the other is a red fan, would like. Thankfully, the entire bottle selection available for purchase is easily displayed around the entire cellar. So off I went, like a kid in an over-21 candy store to find a bottle that was priced somewhat decently (yes, they still do Vegas markups).

We passed many gorgeous bottles, including a Rothchild that was apparently owned by Thomas Jefferson worth $200k along with a couple double magnums of Tattinger and few other overpriced Bordeauxs.

Knowing what their tastes were, I selected the Cabernet Sauvignon by Benzigner. The price was adaquete and the clean taste in their wines, I feel, would appeal to the white wine friend. My suspicion was right that she was not a tannin friend, to which the sustainable growing mixed with light tannins fit her perfectly.

The waitress opened both of our bottles, brought out wine glasses, water glasses and a handful of bread slices, and we kicked back on the big leather chairs in the cellar. In one word—wonderful. The Rio would make any Steve Spurrier smile with the proper storage, stemware and prompt attention.

In a world where Tequila flows like Niagra falls and beers are revered in the same way Elvis is, it is great to know the wine snob / critic isn’t left having to decide between Beringer White Zin and Sutter Home White Zin.

The one caveat to this place is that it is literally below the casino floor in the Rio. There are no signs pointing to it’s location and half the staff has no idea of it’s exact location (though they can easily point you to the Chippendales). But with a little sleuthing, you’ll find a beautiful gem located in a sea of sand that only pretends to only sparkle. While I can’t say I’m excited to come back to Vegas any time soon, I can say that if I do have to make the trek out to Sin City, I know that I can unwind with a glass of premium wine that doesn’t start with the word white and end with the word Zinfandel.

Cheers,
Haydn

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Haydn Adams is the author of the book, Wineries Beyond Napa Valley: Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, an insider’s tasting guide to the hidden gems region. He also contributes to the Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog, writes for vinvillage.com, and can be found roaming the hills of Sonoma County looking for the next hidden gems. You can contact him at haydn@beyondnapavalley.com

Review of Urban Tavern, restaurant in San Francisco

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Review of the bar: Urban Tavern in San Francisco
Restaurants / Bars connected to hotels are not generally known for their extensive wine collection. Generally the bigger boys can be seen lining the shelves—Beringer, Coppola, Gallo (gasp!). And the waiters seem to know as much about wine as the vodka. Sommeliers are only a distant word and the stemware is about a big to hold a shot of wine, versus as standard size pour. Then their is Urban Tavern in San Francisco, connected directly to the Hilton off of Union Square.
San Franciscans, take note. This is one of the cooler happy hour discounts in the city. From 3:30 – 5:30, all wines by the glass are 1/2 off. Yes, half off! Upon discovering the discount in the hotel’s elevator, we (I was staying with my sister who was in SF on business) threw our bags into the room and quickly headed downstairs. Let the drinking begin.
It only seemed to get better from there on out. I was expecting to, as mentioned before, get the run-of-the-mill collections, topped off with some “house wines” to bout. However I was shocked, and quite happy, when I opened up the wine menu.
Now I should explain that the wines-by-the-glass list was not miles long. It consisted of only 13 wines— 3 sparkling, 5 whites and 5 reds. But here it is about quality, not quantity. Even with only a bakers dozen to choose from, I was still a kid in the candy store.
There were actually wines—beyond Napa Valley! And to make it even sweeter, they offered 3oz pours, so you could easily do a flight of wine for half off. Too cool!
I started off with the Blanc de Blanc Sparkling wine from Iron Horse, which is located in the Russian River area (and a mighty cool tasting room I might add). The crispness and acidity was a perfect start to the afternoon. Along with that one, I ordered a 3oz pour of the albariño by Havens. Havens was the first winery to plant the grape in the Napa Valley, near the southern end. The wine was equally refreshing with a semi-crisp taste, with ripe lemons and honeydew. One a hot day, wine wines drink so easily.
Yet I couldn’t stop there. I had to do one more glass before the stroke of 5:30 hit to ensure we got the 1/2 off discount. Looking at the reds, I chose the Fort Ross Pinot Noir “Sea Slopes”. Fort Ross has one of the best regions for growing Pinot Noir, with their grapes sitting along the ocean-facing side of Sonoma Mountain. Linda Schwartz, winemaker, has other Pinots that contain a hint of Pinotage—and while  I couldn’t notice it in the wine, I’m curious to see if this one had any. Hmmm
Other wines worth mentioning was the Quivira Zinfandel (vineyard designation not available), the 06 Grignolino by Heitz, the 07 Edelzwicker by Navarro and the 06 Chardonnay by Benzinger.
Great wines for great prices. What could be better than that? Overall a wonderful expeirence at Urban Tavern in San Francisco. The next time you’re near Union Square and have a inseasable appetite for splendid wine and it just so happens that the time is anywhere between 3:30 to 5:30, I’d recommend a stop over. You’re bound to try a wine you’ve never tried, or even never heard of before, and come way smiling both from the wine and from the financial side.
Cheers,
Haydn

Urban_Tavern_imageReview of the bar: Urban Tavern in San Francisco

Bar: Urban Tavern, San Francisco
Location: 333 O’farrell St., San Francisco (map)
Website: urbantavernsf.com

Restaurants / Bars connected to hotels are not generally known for their extensive wine collection. Generally the bigger boys can be seen lining the shelves—Beringer, Coppola, Gallo (gasp!). And the waiters seem to know as much about wine as the vodka. Sommeliers are only a distant word and the stemware is about a big to hold a shot of wine, versus as standard size pour. Then their is Urban Tavern in San Francisco, connected directly to the Hilton off of Union Square.

San Franciscans, take note. This is one of the cooler happy hour discounts in the city. From 3:30 – 5:30, all wines by the glass are 1/2 off. Yes, half off! Upon discovering the discount in the hotel’s elevator, we (I was staying with my sister who was in SF on business) threw our bags into the room and quickly headed downstairs. Let the drinking begin.

It only seemed to get better from there on out. I was expecting to, as mentioned before, get the run-of-the-mill collections, topped off with some “house wines” to bout. However I was shocked, and quite happy, when I opened up the wine menu.

Now I should explain that the wines-by-the-glass list was not miles long. It consisted of only 13 wines— 3 sparkling, 5 whites and 5 reds. But here it is about quality, not quantity. Even with only a bakers dozen to choose from, I was still a kid in the candy store.

There were actually wines—beyond Napa Valley! And to make it even sweeter, they offered 3oz pours, so you could easily do a flight of wine for half off. Too cool!

I started off with the Blanc de Blanc Sparkling wine from Iron Horse, which is located in the Russian River area (and a mighty cool tasting room I might add). The crispness and acidity was a perfect start to the afternoon. Along with that one, I ordered a 3oz pour of the albariño by Havens. Havens was the first winery to plant the grape in the Napa Valley, near the southern end. The wine was equally refreshing with a semi-crisp taste, with ripe lemons and honeydew. One a hot day, wine wines drink so easily.

Yet I couldn’t stop there. I had to do one more glass before the stroke of 5:30 hit to ensure we got the 1/2 off discount. Looking at the reds, I chose the Fort Ross Pinot Noir “Sea Slopes”. Fort Ross has one of the best regions for growing Pinot Noir, with their grapes sitting along the ocean-facing side of Sonoma Mountain. Their Pinot was beautiful, and smooth on the palate. They gave the red the appropriate “wine-chill” on the Pinot which seemed to make it that much more desirable.

Other wines worth mentioning was the Quivira Zinfandel (vineyard designation not available), the 06 Grignolino by Heitz, the 07 Edelzwicker by Navarro and the 06 Chardonnay by Benzinger.

Great wines for great prices. What could be better than that? Overall a wonderful expeirence at Urban Tavern in San Francisco. The next time you’re near Union Square and have a inseasable appetite for splendid wine and it just so happens that the time is anywhere between 3:30 to 5:30, I’d recommend a stop over. You’re bound to try a wine you’ve never tried, or even never heard of before, and come way smiling both from the wine and from the financial side.

Cheers,
Haydn

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Haydn Adams is the author of the book, Wineries Beyond Napa Valley: Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, an insider’s tasting guide to the hidden gems region. He also contributes to the Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog, writes for vinvillage.com, and can be found roaming the hills of Sonoma County looking for the next hidden gems. You can contact him at haydn@beyondnapavalley.com

Review of Baretta, restaurant in San Francisco

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Image courtesy of sfgate.com

Image courtesy of sfgate.com

Restaurant: Baretta

Location: 1199 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA (map)
Haydn’s rating: A
Haydn’s Synopsis: Baretta’s supposedly known for their mixed drinks, yet it was the wine that took center stage at this Italian eatery in the Mission in San Francisco.

When one thinks of delicacies in the Mission, one doesn’t jump right away to Italian food. However, Baretta’s is changing that thinking. Nestled on the corner of 24th and Valencia sits an overpacked eatery. While the rumor was to go for the mixed drinks, I, naturally gravitated to the wines by the glass. And as the old saying goes—when in Rome, do as the Romans.

The same is true with Italian food. No other country so freely consumes this luscious liquid like the Italians. However, the grapes of Italy are often the most unknown. It’s not that we don’t care about the Italian grapes in America, but rather overlook them. It’s also quite difficult to get Italian wines here in the U.S. Yet, Baretta manages to not only get their hands on single-varietal wines from Italy, but it’s the only thing you can order by the glass. Barbera, Montepulciano, Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Vermentino, along with a few others I’m sure (I didn’t take the menu home so the actual wine varietals may vary slightly) could be found on the menu.

At first, the Italian wines may startle you—having no commonplace wines such as Chardonnay or Merlot to rely on. Yet you still can fall back on the fact that their wine list does go from lightest to darkest, in terms of the strength of the wine.

What is also true about the Italians is that they make their wine to go with food. Such was the case with the Sangiovese. While it was good, albeit a tad light on the palate, the wine sparkled when paired with many of the pizzas offered on the menu—it was a wine clearly made for food. In contrast, the Montepulciano was good drinking on it’s own, but fell down when it came up against the pizzas. It was none-the-less a beauty of a wine to drink.

Overall, a job well done when it came to sticking with Italian food and Italian wine. Just remember to get a reservation as this place gets more crowded that a Fiat repair shop on a Friday night.

Cheers,
Haydn

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Haydn Adams is the author of the book, Wineries Beyond Napa Valley: Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, an insider’s tasting guide to the hidden gems region. He also contributes to the Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog, writes for vinvillage.com, and can be found roaming the hills of Sonoma County looking for the next hidden gems. You can contact him at haydn@beyondnapavalley.com

Wine Steals is a steal, if you know what to look for

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wine-stealsReview of the wine bar Wine Steals, in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California
by Haydn S Adams | Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog
May 30th, 2009

Wine Bar: Wine Steals
Location: 1953 San Elijo Ave. in Cardiff, CA (map)
Haydn’s rating: A-
Haydn’s Synopsis: A bustling and great business model for a wine bar. Good idea to follow Europe in the chalkboard by-the-glass menu style. Great “steals” are to be had if you know where to look.

I felt like a kid in a candy store for a few minutes when I first walked into Wine Steals. Laid out in a pattern I couldn’t figure out were wines from around the world, as well as a heap from Sonoma and Napa. The concept is simple at Wine Steals. You can either pick from a glass of wine from the large chalkboards behind the bar, or pick a bottle of wine from the retail store side and, for a $5 corkage fee, open it up and enjoy it right there. I went with the latter of the two.

I at first questioned how the whites were going to work, since they were just sitting out in room temperature. However, I quickly discovered the white wine fridge next to the ordering line and went hunting for a bottle of wine. I was with my Dad, who predominately drinks white, so a white wine it was going to be.

Inside of the wine fridge held a number of potential candidates for drinking. An albariño initially sparked my interest, along with Mantanzas Creek’s Sauvignon Blanc. However, the minute I saw they had a Vouvray, I knew that was the wine of choice. Why the Vouvray you say? Well, for a number of reasons. First, was the fact that my Dad has never had a Vouvray and I did want to expose him to a new wine. The second reason—the price. It was $9.45 (we joked that corkage was a 50% markup). Apparently Wine Steal does live up to their name. And the third reason, to which I was banking on sight unseen, was that this white was probably going to be around 12.5% alcohol, because that is the way the French roll, with lower alcohol than their American counterparts. The Vouvray came in at 12%, even lower than I had guesstimated.

vouvrayIf you have never had or ever heard of a Vouvray, don’t fret. It is nothing more than a Chenin Blanc (you could say wrapped up in French clothing). The French use regions to designate their wines. Bordeaux, Burgandy, Champagne for example. In addition, the French make their wines with less alcohol so that you’re able to have a glass or two and not feel like you are going to need to call a cab home. To put this into perspective, you’re likely to find California wines topping into the high 14′s to just above 15% at times, I can only think of one winery, Nalle in Dry Creek, that follows the French style in making wines with lower alcohol (see the article, The Chardonnay that thinks it’s a Sauvignon Blanc for more information on Nalle).

I’m glad we went with the Vouvray. It was a bit more floral than I had wanted, but it was still beautiful. The nose and mid-palate exhibited hints of peach and pears. One could make a judgment that it hinted of a Riesling, to which I would agree. I do feel that the over-chilling (it was stored in a fridge with beers) masked the flavors for a few minutes until I clasped my hands around the glass to warm it up a bit. And with the lower alcohol, the two of us were easily able to finish off the bottle and still be coherent to where we were. A big thumbs up.

Wine Steals was a total steal, in terms of price that is. However, there were a lot of bottles that were not. For example, the Fort Ross Chardonnay was priced right around $30 along with the Martin Codax Albariño at around $15. But nestled in between the normally priced bottles were the ones that sparkle. My advice to anyone who goes to one of their three locations would be to step out of your comfort zone, just a little. Try one of the few Tempranillos by the glass. Get out of Napa and try a Los Carneros AVA Pinot. Or go overseas and check out a wine from Spain or France. That is where the steals will be found. Overall, a wonderful place to have a glass (or bottle) of wine, share a pizza and discover new wines you might not have normally come across.

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Haydn Adams is the author of the book, Wineries Beyond Napa Valley: Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, an insider’s tasting guide to the hidden gems region. He also contributes to the Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog, writes for vinvillage.com, and can be found roaming the hills of Sonoma County looking for the next hidden gems. You can contact him at haydn@beyondnapavalley.com

Review of Cav Wine Bar, San Francisco- by Haydn

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cav-wine-barHaydn’s Review of Cav Wine Bar in San Francisco
May 26, 2009 | Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog

Haydn’s Synopsis- Good geography of wine, with bottles ranging from Argentina to Greece. However overall quality, service and wine faux pas trumped the world wide wine range.

I was a bit intrigued when I received the call from a good friend of mine to check out Cav Wine Bar in San Francisco. Sight and review unseen, I dashed out of Marin, found a parking spot close by on Gough St., and hopped on in.

It’s a bit small but yet still fairly cozy inside. The ambient noise was a bit louder than it should of been, and the person across the table kept asking us to repeat ourselves due the fact that she was situated right underneath the table. The music was more hip hop, and upbeat—not generally found inside of a wine bar, but to each is their own. All the nuances aside, I was here for the wine.

My party already selected a bottle from their visual menu, aka wines on a shelf when you walk in. While that is fine for visual appeal, I’d be concerned with overall storing temperatures. The room was quite warm and I’d be afraid that they might overcook their bottles on a hot day. For my party, visual appeal did win out and the wine of choice was selected on what was displayed on the label.

The slightly overcooked Italian wine

I’ve picked wines simply by cool designs so I’m all in favor of that direction. The wine that was selected was the Trimpilin from Italy. It was a red blend of some sort, my guess being Sangiovese dominant. However, all the label said was “rossa” or red in Italian, which meant no single varietal pushed past 75%. The wine did open up a bit over a good 15-20 minutes, but it still lacked a great deal of structure.

The wine displayed a very minerally nose with a bit of dark fruit. The bottom dropped out on the mid-palate and I had to take another sip just to figure out what exactly was going on. After a few sips, the blackberry and strawberry components began to shine forth. However it didn’t last long and it quickly faded into the sunset. It was not that pleasant to drink, and I’d have to wonder if too much sun got into this bottle and did a little damage to it. Overall a fruit bomb.

I also had a sherry to go with a chocolate dessert. On par with what a Sherry should  taste like, but nothing to rave over.

The wine menu at Cav Wine Bar

The wines did range far and wine across this world, and I have to give them props for selecting such a diverse collection of wine. Unfortunately, they could have selected done a better job of selecting varietals from appropriate growing regions. With advances in technology, one could probably grow Chardonnay in Iceland (they may already do that, but don’t quote me), but I’d easily go for one coming out of Santa Ynez Valley. I felt they could have maximized on their world wine wine picking and really found wines that were the apex of the region.

A really great (and at the same time could be confusing) part of the menu was that they listed the blends seperately on the wine menu. It’s helpful if you know what the blend is (like a Syrah, Granache, Mouvédre is a Rhone style blend), but on the other hand, it could be difficult to figure it out if you are new to blends. The description next to the grapes in the wine helped out a little, but not as much as it could have.

They did have a few good bottles, but you’d really have to know what you were looking for to figure them out.

Overall feel

Cav Wine Bar has a lot of potential to be a great wine bar. And from a bigger perspective, one might see it as that. But from the waiter pouring more wine into my glass before I had finished it (so not cool in my book, especially at a wine bar), to the lack of Bordeauxs on the menu (please, just one, that’s all I ask), compared to the overflowing Beaujolais (which should be served slightly chilled, compared to the wines sitting on the shelf getting a tan).

The service was mediocre and the food was average, nothing to write home about. I feel they are trying to be “cool” and resting on their “Top 100″ restaurant listing in the Chronicle. Yet,  you’re only as good as your previous meal served and that could have been my last. I might go back to try a few of their wines, but in no way was I blown away from the food served. I appreciated the diversity in geography of their wines, but I’d rather have 10 top-notch wines from 3 or 4 well-renowned growing regions than 10 wines from 10 regions that can simply grow wine. And please, please—store the wines properly.

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Haydn Adams is the author of the book, Wineries Beyond Napa Valley: Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, an insider’s tasting guide to the hidden gems region. He also contributes to the Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog, writes for vinvillage.com, and can be found roaming the hills of Sonoma County looking for the next hidden gems. You can contact him at haydn@beyondnapavalley.com