Wine Watch Wine Bar (Fort Lauderdale, FL): A welcome addition to a wine bar desert

Wine Watch is a "boutique" wine retailer located at 901 Progresso Drive in the Flagler Village section of Fort Lauderdale. The store, for me, has been characterized by a lack of external signage, a nondescript exterior, no visible/easily detectable entrance, and, once you enter, a wide range of wines from around the world scattered throughout the darkened interior on a mix of shelves, carts, boxes, etc. That being said, this is one of the few retail establishments in Florida where you can walk in and buy very old vintages off the shelf.

The store is well known for its winemaker dinners and other wine-themed events. Wine-tasting dinners, when held on site, were squeezed into a devoted area in the shop. There is no kitchen so these events were always a logistical challenge.

No more. As of June of this year, Wine Watch has opened an honest-to-goodness wine bar just down 3rd Street from the retail store.

Location of new Wine Watch Wine Bar shown in relation to the
wine shop

I was unaware of this development so when I went to last Thursday's Aldo Conterno dinner, and I got there early, I went into a bar down the street to pass the time. And, as in the case of the retail shop, there was no external signage to alert me to the fact that such an entity existed.

As it got close to the time for the dinner (and I saw no cars outside the retail shop), I called to double check as to where the event was going to be held. I was told at the wine bar across from the retail shop.

As I stepped through the door, this amazing tapestry unfolded before my eyes. Beautiful wood floor; OWC ceilings; front walls adorned with original bottle labels (many signed by producers); cork-and-bottle chandeliers; lots and lots of racks containing neatly stacked bottles; a well-appointed bar to the left front; beautifully appointed and apportioned customer spaces; and, in the distance, a full kitchen.

Wine-label festooned walls

Cork-and-bottle chandeliers

According to Andrew (Lampasone, Proprietor), the bar is open Wednesday to Saturday in the evenings and he is trying to get patrons acclimatized to that schedule. Friday night folks tend to bring great bottles from their cellar to share and Saturday is "Brown-Bag Day" for those willing to participate.

The wines on display in the shelves are available for purchase by the bottle but there is also a phenomenal by-the-glass program. For example, on the night after the dinner, they were going to be serving 1995 L'Evangile out of magnum by the glass. All BTG wines are opened fresh each day.

For our event, a long table was set up to the back left of the bar. The setup was pleasing to the eye. The one shortcoming was a lack of separation between the participants in the dinner and the other patrons. From time to time it was difficult to hear what the winemaker was saying.

I tasted three dishes from the kitchen and each was extremely good.

This is a welcome addition to a wine bar desert with the only other wine bar of substance (now heavily outclassed) in the area being Vienna Cafe and Wine Bar in Davie. I will be visiting this bar frequently.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme

The Wine Loft, Naples (FL): Not your father's wine bar

I spent last weekend in Naples -- Florida, that is. I know I should have my head examined for going there at this time of the year but I live in Florida; and it is hot everywhere. An already stellar weekend was capped by the discovery of two "do-over" spots: a French restaurant named Bleu Provence and an ultra-high-end wine bar named The Wine Loft. I will report on the restaurant in a future post.

The Wine Loft is located in Mercato Plaza, a mixed-use development located at the corner of Vanderbilt Beach Road and Tamiami Trail North. My wife and I had gone for a morning walk and, on our way back, made a detour into Mercato to buy juices from the Whole Foods located therein. On our way down Main Street, I espied the external portion of The Wine Loft but it was not yet open. After our return to the hotel, and brunch with our friends, we doubled back to check it out.

It was exquisite. Visually, it was everything that a wine bar should be; and more. The colors, the lighting, the fixtures, the design, the positioning of seating areas, the melding of inside and outside spaces, all combined to provide an extremely appealing and welcoming landscape. Its 3700 sq ft are divided between 3030 sq ft on the main floor and 750 sq ft in a mezzanine set aside for private events.

The Loft (Source:thewineloftofnaples.com)

The establishment offers a full service bar as well as 33 red, 7 sparkling, and 25 white wines by the glass. A total of 300 wines are available, with Napa Valley wines dominant on the list. Lunch and dinner is available with offerings to include finger foods, soups and sandwiches, flatbreads, small plates, and desserts.

The Wine Loft's tag line is "Experience wine, food and friends in a Relaxing ... Upscale ... Atmosphere.

Nuff said.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

New Smyrna Rising: SoNapa

So I have known Tom D. for about 15 years. We have played a lot of golf together, drank a lot of different brews, played cards and dominoes, and have had an all around good time. So when he texts me and says let's have dinner in Deland on Saturday (fabulous restaurant called Cress) and then go see his friend play the saxophone at a place called SoNapa in New Smyrna, I grumble under my breath "this will cost me my entire weekend" but dutifully texted him back "let's do it."

As we get closer to Saturday, Tom discovers that his friend is playing from 7:00 to 9:00 pm so if we want to catch him, that would nix our plan for dinner in Deland. So he deputizes me to find a place for us to have dinner in New Smyrna after listening to this guy play at SoNapa (Why me?). We have a mutual friend, Bill A., who has a condo in New Smyrna so I thought I would short-circuit the process by getting a recommendation from Bill as to a good place to eat in New Smyrna. I call Bill and pose the question. Bill says, "That's funny. We are in New Smyrna for the weekend." "That's great," I say. "You guys can join us but where will we eat." He makes a recommendation but calls back later to say that his wife has nixed his recommendation and, instead, we are going to the Spanish River Grill. Ok.

Going from Lake Mary to the SoNapa location at 761 3rd Avenue in New Smyrna is about a 35-minute ride. On the way to SoNapa we went by Norwoods, long a fixture on the New Smyrna dining/wine scene and home to a fairly large winter wine pouring. The GPS shows us approaching location and I turn into a large, Publix-dominated shopping center looking for SoNapa. We roll by Spanish River Grill (great, they are close to each other) and then notice the SoNapa location just a few storefronts away, directly behind the Riverside Bank branch. We park in the bank parking lot, walk to the entrance of SoNapa, open the door, and ... are confronted by a perfect visual example of what a wine bar should be.

There is seating up front in a foyer-like area which is furnished with comfy-looking, single-seat, dark-brown leather couches and, on the walls behind the couches, racks and racks of wine. As you leave this foyer-like area, you enter into a larger open area which has a bar running along the left-hand side of the room and a (hidden) kitchen area at the top end of the bar. The remainder of the room is occupied by restaurant-style tables and chairs. The word that comes to mind immediately is "cozy." Cozy in a "great place to have wine fun" sense.

Tom and Moxie were already at the bar and so, wide-eyed, we joined them. "This is nice." I pulled out my camera and began popping off at everything in sight. The nice young lady behind the bar (I found out later that her name was Cassie) smilingly (she had seen Japanese tourists before) asked "can I get you something to drink sir." I smiled sheepishly, placed my camera back into my pocket and asked to see the wine list.

The name SoNapa is not a valley-girl name as in "that is so Napa." Rather it indicates the focus of the business. They sell wines from Sonoma and Napa counties for on- or off- premise consumption. The wines that are available are reasonably priced and the by-the-glass wines are available in 3- and 6- ounce pours.

In addition to its wine sales, SoNapa also has a food menu with appetizers, flatbreads, entrees, soups and salads, and desserts. We ordered two appetizers -- the Chalk Hill Flatbread and the Sonoma Coast Oven Roasted Jumbo Lump Crab Cake with flavorful aioli sauce -- and were blown away. We had seconds. We saw some of the entrees -- none over $20 -- as they went by and they were pleasing to the eye.

The place was crowded -- it is capacity rated at 65 -- with people standing around in the foyer waiting for seats in the larger area. The sax player blended in well with the ambiance of the place.

SoNapa is everything that is desirable. It is young, fresh, hip, happening, and noisy. The giant-killer has arrived. We had fun and will go back. It is worth the trip. And coupled with Spanish River Grill, it is a gem of an evening. Get there early.