We love it when we find a brand-new spot that just opened up recently. This wine bar opened a few months ago, and since we really enjoy a good glass (or bottle) of wine, we went to check it out. They offer natural wine and genuinely seasonal dining, hence, their menu for both wine and food changes throughout the year, on monthly or even daily bases sometimes. I love that you can get something new every time you visit!

The inside is small, covered with wood from the floor, walls, and furniture, creating cozy and welcoming atmosphere. It is rather simple but they do have few things that jumps out, like the brilliant exterior color, and the legs of chairs and tables.

Another thing that caught my eye was their stained-glass-looking art hanging from the ceiling. quite striking and fun to look at, and a nice pop of color. I wonder what the inspiration behind this piece…

It has a nice big open door/window at the entrance, looking out to the beautiful greenery. They are across from Fort Tryon Park, and only a short walk from the MET Cloisters museum. Why not explore the museum and walk around the glorious garden, and then have some wine afterwords? Sound quite wonderful to me!

They had cute table setting with unique plates that are (from what I heard) handmade by one of the owners of Tannat. The wall full of wines were impressive, all made with wood pallets. Nothing but creativity here! And such creativity is extended to the wine list, with some that are unusual, rare, and even adventurous. The wine list changes weekly or so, and most of the wines are available by the splash (half the glass), glass, or bottle. They have sparkling, White, Rosé, Red, and Orange. I have never heard of Orange kind of wine before, so I didn’t know what that meant. Maybe wine that is infused with Orange??? The answer is no. It is the oldest kind of wine, or wines that are made in the style. Since the win has spent time in contact with the grape skins, it has slight amber or orange in color.

We started off with three kinds of wine; Smiley NV V2 and Terra Ambera from Orange section, and Riesling from White section. We were all curious about the Orange wines, so we decided to try some. Smiley NV V2 ($8.5/splash) is made by Silxervis with Chenin Blanc from Swartland, South Africa.  It had a distinctive aroma of aged wine, with a bit of cloudy-ness to it. It was strong, deep and earthy flavor. Fresh and zesty, it has citrus notes with slight fruity flavor. There are hints of nutty-ness in it too. Very good wine indeed.

Terra Ambera ($8/splash) by Manolis Garalis, with Muscat of Alexandria grapes from Greece. This one was clear, golden yellow in color, with floral bouquet. It was more dry, with mature fruit flavor and high acidity that gives very refreshing aftertaste. Wonderful sweet aroma but not overpowering. Elegant wine. Riesling ($6/splash) by Ecker Eckhof from Wagram, Austria was more of a dry Riesling. I prefer sweet Riesling, but I am always looking for a new, tasty wine, so that was ok. It was bright yellow in color, nice notes of fruit, with good amount of acidity. It was dry with a hint of sweetness. Elegant and easy to go down, with mild and sweet aftertaste.

When you are having good wines, you have to pair it with a good food companions. They offer farm-to-table, working with small Hudson Valley farms. The food menu changes often based on what is freshly available from the farms, and from what I understand, all organic which is awesome! We ordered three items off the menu, which came with a basket of bread.

Breads were quite excellent, high quality and toasted just right. Warm and crunchy outside, with moist and fluffy inside. The basket held a few different kinds of bread, the ones with fruits in it were my favorite!

Wild Mushroom Pate ($9) is made with tarragon, butter, and block pepper. It was served warm, very fluffy and packed with earthy flavor. Comforting and addictive, this little dish was quite tasty!

Smoked Trout Toast ($12) is made with labnah, cucumber and green oil. It came with two toasts topped with meaty and fresh trout. The green oil was super delicious with just a little kick.

Persian Cucumber ($9) is made with labnah, mint dijon mustard, radish, and black volcanic salt. It had exotic and refreshing flavor. The cucumber slices were fresh and crunchy. The creamy sauce with mustard had a nice kick to it. Spicy but clean aftertaste, great accompaniment with the wines.

After all the fabulous wines and food, we were ready to try a few more wines. That is the great thing about the option to get “splash” of wines instead of getting a full glass. You get to try more wines than usual, almost like a wine tasting. This time, we ordered Rosé from, well, Rosé section, Sekt Rose from Sparkling and Pet Nats section, and Muschelkalk Weiss from White section. Rosé ($6/splash) by Triennes with cinsault, syrah, grenache and merlot from Provence, France was a bit cloudy. Not your usual Rosé with fruits and flower bouquet and with a hint of vanilla. Very nice grape flavor that was elegant and harmonious.

 

The Sekt Rosé ($8.5/splash) is by Messmer, with pinot noir grapes, from Pfalz, Germany. It had a nice floral bouquet with gorgeous color. We heard this bottle is really rare! Not very bubbly like champagne, but very refreshing with subtle sweetness. Muschelkalk Weiss ($8.5/splash) by Lichtenberger-Gonzalez, made with Gruner Veltliner, Welschriesing, and Pinot Noir. It is made in Burgenland Austria. They sure do have interesting wines in here! It was clear with clean pallet, and sweet fruits bouquet. It was elegantly sweet, with a hint of orange or tangerine, nice texture and easy to go down.

 

With the second round of wines, we got second round of little bites as well. This time, we got Salami, Duck, which come with another basket of bread.

Jacuterie Black Truffle Salami ($12) was chewy in a good way, nice salty flavor without being too salty. It had great truffle flavor and aroma which I really enjoyed. The portion is not big when you think of the price point, but then you get a really high quality dishes here. And, everything is made from scratch, so that will add some cost when they are made with extra love and care.

Basil Duck Rillettes ($8.5) is a decadent spread with fresh basil infused sesame oil. Since this is a spread, it comes with bread. It had a kind of Asian fusion flavor with sesame oil. It was small, but meaty and love the basil flavor a lot!

They have one uni-sex bathroom to the back, roomy, bright and clean. I really liked the colorful tiles in between the white subway tiles. And, I liked how they had actual hand towels to dry our hands after washing, instead of some paper towels. Good for environment and no waste, right?

Also, towards the front near the entrance/exit, they had a small “shop” section on the wall that sells books and tote bags. I hear the owner is also an author! How cool!

The atmosphere was very comfortable, relaxing, cozy and welcoming. They have great wine (and beer) selections from all over the world. It is a great place to try out new wines that you never had opportunity or even heard of. The staff have great knowledge of the wines, we learned a lot from him. He was nice and attentive, he took a good care of us. It was a very nice first visit, I am sure we will return for more in a near future!

Tannat Wine & Cheese – 4736 Broadway, New York, NY 10040