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Despite its generic brick, hardwood and neutral-green décor, Carmella's (1320 SE Water Ave., 232-1633, carmellaswines.com)
reveals unexpected comforts. And unexpected strangeness. Bedford will
be the first to greet you at this Produce Row wine bar. He's a little
eager, but friendly, and remarkably well-mannered considering he was
found on the side of the road. The pied-fur border collie hangs out at
Carmella's most days, sometimes parking near the front hearth, which is
fired with real wood and stoked regularly. Above the hearth is a framed
Model T license plate, found by owner Maggie Shippy next to an old tire
in the train tracks that run underneath the bar's floor—the presumed
remnants of a terrible accident. Shippy will open a hatch in the
hardwood to show you the tracks, provided you don't look drunk enough to
fall into the yawning chasm. The bar extends backward, to a room of
circular settees and yet another wood-fired hearth, plus a third,
long-tabled room in the back presided over by a push-pinned map showing
the travels of Shippy's grandmother, Carmella. The vast stores of
wine—the menu is the length of a book, including 45 different bottles from
Turley and 17 Châteauneufs-du-Pape—are hidden behind a ground-level bank
vault door. It's a mostly solo shop, and Shippy describes the wine a
little breathlessly, like a music geek who's been asked about her
favorite Alan Lomax discovery. Despite the highfalutin vintages, the
result is a bit small-towny, and three-glass flights run $15 to $18 for
red, white, bubbly or rosé in regional variations. The bar plans to
build a deck that will look out on the Water Avenue gravel pit. Drink
some wine, watch the world get made new.
WWeek 2015