{"id":1287,"date":"2019-05-31T01:43:23","date_gmt":"2019-05-31T01:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1287"},"modified":"2019-05-31T01:43:23","modified_gmt":"2019-05-31T01:43:23","slug":"antica-bottega-del-vino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1287","title":{"rendered":"Antica Bottega del Vino"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is another in Power Tasting\u2019s occasional series on great wine bars of the world.\u00a0 Previous locations have included the Bounty Hunter<\/a> in Napa and W.I.N.O.<\/a> in New Orleans.<\/em><\/p>\n

Generally, when Power Tasting<\/em> recommends a wine bar, it is not primarily a restaurant with a bar in the front.\u00a0 We make an exception for the Antica Bottega del Vino in Verona, Italy for a couple of reasons.\u00a0 First of all is the name; it means the Old Wine Shop, so you know right from the beginning that wine is king here.\u00a0 For another, the wine bar draws its own patronage distinct from that of the restaurant.\u00a0 And finally, because the wine selection is so good.<\/p>\n

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The wine bar at Antica Bottega del Vino.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of blog.boggi.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

A few issues ago, we presented our impressions of the town of Verona<\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s a charming little city with roots back to Roman times (and a great, still active arena) and is best known as being the home of Romeo and Juliet.\u00a0 It\u2019s also the jumping-off point for wine tasters visiting Valpolicella<\/a>.\u00a0 So you would expect that a Veronese wine bar would feature Amarone and other wines of the region.\u00a0 And indeed, you can get some good Amarones and Ripassos.\u00a0 But what makes Antica Bottega del Vino so special is that their list, written on a chalk board over the bar, includes wines from all the great wine making regions of Italy.\u00a0 You can choose a Barolo, a Brunello, Nero d\u2019Avola, Marche and so on and on and on.<\/p>\n

Of course, there are many bars where you can find a long list of fine wines.\u00a0 But in most cases, wine bars buy recent production and don\u2019t have either the facilities or the finances to age their wines.\u00a0 Antica Bottega del Vino is the grand exception.\u00a0 Mostly, you\u2019ll find wines with ten years or more on them, well-cellared and well-poured.\u00a0 These folks appreciate wine and their customers have come to appreciate their knowledge and care.<\/p>\n

And those customers are a part of the attraction as well.\u00a0 Get to the bar a little before five, earlier than when most people leave work and before the diners arrive.\u00a0 If you get there much later, you\u2019ll have some difficulty getting a table in the bar, because the place fills up with Veronese, stopping by to sip, to nibble, to chat and be seen doing all the above before going home to spouses and bambini<\/em>.\u00a0 Unless you happen to speak Italian, you won\u2019t understand the conversation but you\u2019ll be wrapped up in an atmosphere that only a bar that first opened in 1890 can give you.\u00a0 And if someone notices that you\u2019re showing real enjoyment of the wines you order, he or she will want to know who you are, where you come from, what you do, why you\u2019re in Verona and what you\u2019re having for dinner.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve never dined at Antica Bottega del Vino, but we have noshed.\u00a0 The bar features many cicchetti <\/em>(snacks), such as finger sandwiches, a meatball, a piece of cheese.\u00a0 Just little things to go along with your wine.<\/p>\n

And one last thing: it\u2019s not very expensive.\u00a0 For what you\u2019d pay for a glass of plonk in New York, you could have a noble wine aged perfectly.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost enough to make a special trip to Verona.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is another in Power Tasting\u2019s occasional series on great wine bars of the world.\u00a0 Previous locations have included the Bounty Hunter in Napa and W.I.N.O. in New Orleans. Generally, when Power Tasting recommends a wine bar, it is not primarily a restaurant with a bar in the front.\u00a0 We make an exception for the … Continue reading Antica Bottega del Vino<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1287"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1287"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1289,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1287\/revisions\/1289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}