The Grape Attack
Erin May 9th, 2008
There I stood - or staggered - on the cobblestoned paveway of Ballard Avenue, several glasses of wine down with a confused frown deciding which Ballard wine bar got the best of me. I did some serious research on the Avenue’s wine bar circuit for the rest of us Sweds who get lost when it’s something other than schnapps with the smorgasbord.
With the recent restaurant/bar trend featuring small plates/tapas, Portalis WIne Shop/Bar and diVino fall right into the grade. However, I can wholeheartedly say that my experiences with both wine bars was far from middle grade.
My Wine Trails of Ballard began at Portalis (www.portaliswines.com), home to former German ER doc Jens Strecker, with their vast selection in retail wines originating from Chile to New Zealand and South Africa, as well as a couple local favorites.
The menu gave a few small plates to choose from - all with fancy titles that essentially translate out to fish spread on crusted bread - and an intricate tasting menu for the evening (it was a Wednesday). I ventured out to Italy and tried their version of the Pinot Noir grape, also known as Nebbiolo. I found it to be a little hallow and flat but drank it anyway since it was just under $10… Only to find out 7/8 through the glass that the bottle I was drinking from was corked… The bartender quickly retaliated, giving me a fresh (and very tasty!) glass and docking it off our tab. Kudos on the last minute service but I wasn’t blown away overall on that front.
diVino was closing early when we arrived (www.divinoseattle.com). The extremely generous and possibly one-too-many-martinied Sicilian owner demanded we come in and drink their copious amounts of wine from the Motherland, sending “Shelly” to the kitchen to make us copious amounts of food that we didn’t exactly order (and didn’t exactly have to pay too much for in the end).
The decor of the joint is a little cheesy (bright white and red lighting, awkward plastic seating), which might not translate from Sicilian to Ballard. The wine list is only Italian, full of grapes I might have heard of in the Sommelier Arnie Milian wine courses offered downtown. I shot for the $15 Amarone (no idea) and it was fabulous. I liked it much more than the corked Nebbiolo from Portalis…
And let the battle of the wine bars begin… Check them out for yourself and try not to get lost between grape varietals and where you parked your car on Ione.
Good wine and a great locale - sounds like a very nice time to me!