Wednesday, January 18, 2017

#10: The Grove Wine Bar

The Bar


The Grove Downtown. 800 W 6th St #100, Austin, TX 78701.

Visited 1/18/17 @ 9:45pm.

The Drink



2015 Guidobono Roero Arneis white wine. $10.50.

I don't have much of a palate for wine, and my typical reaction when somebody asks me what I think is to just repeat the phrase "well-balanced but approachable" until they stop asking (maybe I should switch to "playful but mysterious" instead). After the fact, I learned that the typical taste profile for this wine is "dry and crisp, with blossom-like aromas complemented by flavors of fresh pear and apricot and a nuance of hazelnut", so let's just assume that that's what I experienced.

The Crew


Aaron, Sonali, Rome, Travis, Michael.


Notes


I dug the interior industrial infrastructure decor, with wine glasses and wine racks everywhere. I appreciate a good motif! Even better, there's a bit of interesting Austin history here that I learned from staring at the drink menu, which offered the following option in the frozen section:

Mezzillini: A 25 year Austin original made with peach nectar, sparkling wine, peach brandy and rum. Reed's personal favorite!

We couldn't order it because the frozen drink machine was on the fritz, but I asked our bartender how it was a 25 year original when The Grove itself had been around for less than a decade. Well, that Reed is Reed Clemons, who used to own Mezzaluna, and he named this twist on the Bellini after his old place. When I was younger, my father for a time worked at an office just one block from Mezzaluna, and I remember eating there on some kind of special occasion. That restaurant has since closed, but Reed obviously knows what he's doing as this location of The Grove (with sisters at Westlake and Lakeway) was quite nice.

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