Terroir: NYC Wine Bar

Terroir means, simply, relating to the earth. In wine production it means how a particular vineyard site affects the resulting wine. Some people believe in terroir and some don’t. What I’m sure of though is that Terroir , the wine bar is terrific. We went Saturday and got there shortly after happy hour which is from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. and after 11:00 p.m. every day, yep every day, even on the weekend. The place filled up quickly so if you want a table make sure to get there close to 4:00. The menu is large but not overwhelming and what I love is that you can order a bottle, a glass or multiple tastes, if you want to try different regions or grapes against others.

We started with a flight of Pinot Noirs which I asked our server to choose. All of the servers have deep wine knowledge so you can feel comfortable leaving the choice in their hands or you can pick your own, or maybe a combination of picking your wines and then asking their opinion. Our server chose a South African Pinot – J.H Meyer, Cradock Peak. There was cherry, red fruits and some blueberry. In New York a bottle goes for about $35 retail. We also had a traditional Burgundy Pinot – Domaine Michel Sarrazin, Givry Sous la Rouche. This was a classic Burgundy Pinot with fresh red fruit, raspberries, red plums, some black cherry. In the US it retails for about $24 a bottle. And finally, this surprised me a bit, we had an Alsatian Pinot – a Barmes – Buecher 2016. It was very light in color and body and there were red cherry notes. It’s about $30 a bottle retail.

We also decided to try a flight of wines from Lebanese winemaker, Masur. We had the Chateau Musar Red 2004, cinsault, carignan and cabernet sauvignon. Hubby thought it smelled a bit funky like cheese, but I found plums, cherries, figs, cinnamon with smooth tannins. It was my favorite and hubby’s least favorite. I found it online for about $45 a bottle. Next was the Hochar Pere et Fils 2015. This wine was cinsault, Grenache and cabernet sauvignon. $25 online. Lots of red fruits with a hint of dark chocolate and soft tannins. Finally, in the line up we had the Musar Jeune Red 2015. Made of cinsault, syrah and cabernet sauvignon there was ripe red fruit and a definite floral character, primarily violet and it had soft tannins. $20 online.

After making it through our flights we decided to try some of the nicely priced happy hour foods. Massachusetts Barnstable oysters are $1.25 during happy hour so a dozen of those were in order, as well as the house made ranch flavored potato chips. To accompany these we had a Slovenian sauvignon blanc – Fosilini Breg, Domaine Ciringa, 2016 with peach, citrus and a mineral character. This may be harder to find in the US, but I saw it on one website for about $20.

And for me to accompany those briny oysters was a French chardonnay from the Macon region – Macon Vergisson, La Roche. This wine embodied all you would expect from a Macon chardonnay, peach, pear, honeysuckle. Another one that might be hard to find in a regular retail store but if you do expect it to be $20 – $25.

Let me leave you with a picture of the beautiful oysters. If you are in New York I hope you try out Terroir. It is off the beaten track for tourists but well worth a visit.

Are there any New York wine bars you love? Let me know in the comments and I’ll check them out. Happy wining to everyone!