Upper West Side Fun: Vintage

Looking for something a little different to do with the later part of the evening, a friend and I stopped at Vintage on the Upper West Side (http://www.vintagenewyork.com/). This is a wine store that serves wines only from New York State, and there is a wine bar at the back. This means that you can taste almost anything you are about to buy. They have about 10 different tasting flights on a given evening or you can just order a glass from their extensive wine list. Who knew NY State had so much wine? Apparently New York State wine is very hot right now around the country (although there is little market for it abroad) due to the fact that the law that banned the selling of New York State wine outside of New York State was just lifted last year. At the wine bar, my friend tried the Sparkling flight, and I had the Riesling. I am currently angry with myself because I loved the first Riesling that I tasted, but I can’t remember what it is called in order to record this information for my future use. Hopefully if I go back to buy some wine, I will be able to remember what the bottle looked like. Anyway, this was a really great way to spend a lazy Saturday evening. Everyone working there seemed to have a deep love of New York wine. The store is open for tasting from 5pm-midnight seven days a week. Apparently there is a restaurant associated with the Soho branch of the wine store, although the bar on the Upper West Side has some snacks and is the location of the company’s monthly wine classes.