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THE
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WINE
WORDS
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Mercifully long ago, the average restaurant's wine list was
two words long--"red" and "white." Civilization has made great
strides since then, but wine still hasn't attained the wide
acceptance of beer or even cocktails. It's perfectly natural
for a drinking establishment to dedicate itself almost exclusively
to beer, for example, but wine bars have yet to catch on (if
we had anything to say about it, of course, they'd proliferate
like Starbucks). We recently made the rounds of local venues
catering to the wine lover, with an emphasis on places where
food is incidental to wine, not vice versa. Here's what we
found.
BLUE TANGO BISTRO AND WINE BAR
The menu at Blue Tango is longer than those at a good many
restaurants in town, but wine still reigns supreme. The
evidence is everywhere--in the satisfyingly fat list of
mostly New World wines, the 20-tap cruvinet, the good glassware
and the satisfied sippers sitting at small tables around
the spacious room. Refreshingly unlike a restaurant are
the bottle prices, which are just $7 above retail if you
want to open one at the table. If you'd rather order by
the glass, you have your choice of full glasses or two-ounce
tastes, and if a spot opens up on the cruvinet, you just
may get to request a new wine to take its place. With outside
seating and four cozy chairs centrally located by a fireplace,
Blue Tango is a wine bar for all seasons.
930 NW 23RD AVE., 221-1466. CLOSED MONDAY.
ENOTECA AT ASSAGIO
Two dozen chairs in this tiny space serve as overflow
seating for Assagio, so the Enoteca per se tends to shrink
every evening as the immensely popular restaurant fills
up. Still, if you're enthusiastic about wine, especially
Italian wine, it's worth making the trek down to Sellwood
(unless, of course, you're already there--lucky you). The
owners organize their offerings with a sense of learning
and exploration; they make great, often eclectic selections
and group them into interesting flights. The staff is knowledgeable,
helpful and friendly, and if you decide to stick around
for dinner, you're in the right place.
7742 SE 13TH AVE., 232-6151. CLOSED SUNDAY AND MONDAY.
PALEY'S PLACE
This may well be a fine place to eat, but from 5:30 to 7:30
in the bar every Wednesday night, it's the best place in
town to be a wine lover. Wine shops offer similar tastings,
but it doesn't make financial sense for them to pour older
or limited-quantity wines they can't sell you. As a restaurant,
Paley's is under no such restriction. Here you'll take flights
unlike any other, artfully conceived by bartender Michael
Autrey to seriously explore regions, varietals, producers
and--almost unheard of anywhere else--vintages. There's
usually a choice of flights from $10 on up, often including
a mystery wine we never get right.
1204 NW 21ST AVE., 243-2403. CLOSED SUNDAY AND MONDAY.
SERRATTO
Michael Cronan's transformation of Delfina's is brand
spanking new as of this writing, but word has spread sufficiently
that patrons--including many of the beautiful people--are
already lining up to get in. We're stretching our definition
of wine bar in this case; Serratto is undoubtedly a restaurant,
but it does include a vineria that deserves mention. The
wines, almost exclusively Italian, are served with flare
in good glassware. You can order in bicchiere (6
ounces) or quarto (9 ounces); the larger size comes
in what looks like a miniature Riedel decanter--very fancy-schmantzy.
There is also an extremely reasonably priced ($5 to $10)
selection of panini, pasta, appetizers and salads.
2112 NW KEARNEY ST., 221-1195. OPEN DAILY.
WINE SHOPS
Of course, wine shops are the ultimate wine lover's hangout,
particularly during Friday night tastings, when the best
look an awful lot like wine bars. Pouring flights of three
to five 2-ounce tastes for between $5 and $15, these venues
offer a great opportunity to compare or simply quaff a range
of wines without getting seriously into debt. Wherever you
live, there's probably one nearby. Try Mount Tabor Wines
(4316 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 235-4444), Woodstock Wine &
Deli (4030 SE Woodstock Blvd., 777-2208), Liner & Elsen
(202 NW 21st Ave., 241-9463), Cornell Wine Co. (14740 NW
Cornell Road #90, 531-3981) or Portland Wine Merchant (1430
SE 35th Ave., 234-4399). We've been especially fond of Beaumont
Wines (5015 NE Fremont St., 331-3991) recently, where the
tastings, newsletter and selection fairly crackle with the
energy of its comparatively young owners.
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