{"id":1376,"date":"2019-10-01T13:36:25","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T13:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1376"},"modified":"2019-10-01T13:36:25","modified_gmt":"2019-10-01T13:36:25","slug":"nombra-de-vin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1376","title":{"rendered":"N\u2019Ombra de Vin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is another in Power Tasting\u2019s irregular series on great wine bars of the world.<\/em><\/p>\n

Italy has some of the most beautiful cities in the world: Rome, Venice and Florence come to mind.\u00a0 Milan, the country\u2019s financial and fashion capital, was victimized by too many wars and lost many of its antiquities.\u00a0 It still has some beautiful things \u2013 such as the Duomo, The Last Supper, La Scala \u2013 but it boasts modernity rather than an ancient patina.\u00a0 Today, what typifies Milan is a very sophisticated lifestyle and all of us, as visitors, are invited to partake of it.<\/p>\n

Milan revels in its wine bars and we love one in particular.\u00a0 All over the city there gathering spots where fine wines are served and a great number of the populace assemble in the early evening for a glass of wine, a bite of food and the Italian national pastime, chatting.\u00a0 Our personal favorite is N\u2019Ombra de Vin on the Via San Marco (https:\/\/www.nombradevin.it\/<\/a>).\u00a0 Evidently there are others who favor this spot, because it is packed every evening.<\/p>\n

As for the name, well, it doesn\u2019t mean anything in either Italian or English.\u00a0 \u201cOmbra\u201d is Italian for shade or shadow and of course \u201cvin\u201d means wine\u2026in French.\u00a0 Let\u2019s just say that the name means \u201cIn the shadow of wine\u201d in some combination of languages and that works pretty well.<\/p>\n

And indeed, N\u2019Ombra de Vin is all about wine.\u00a0 It was originally and still is a wine store.\u00a0 Not exactly originally; that is, the owners claim that the building goes back to the 5th<\/sup> Century and that in later years Napoleon\u2019s army and Mozart himself frequented the location.\u00a0 Who\u2019s to say?\u00a0 But in 1973 it definitely became a wine store.\u00a0 In later years, N\u2019Ombra de Vin added an Italian tapas bistro and a music venue, as it continues today.<\/p>\n

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We got there early.<\/em><\/p>\n

But for our purposes and for those who jam the joint from 5:00 until at least 8:00 every night, N\u2019Ombra de Vin is about the institution of the apertivo<\/em>.\u00a0 The list of wines by the glass is a compendium of the great winemaking regions of Italy.\u00a0 It changes frequently but there are always a few excellent Tuscans and Barolos and also many wines from lesser known corners of Italian Wine Country.<\/p>\n

And the prices, at least for those of us used to New York wine lists, are amazingly low.\u00a0 We well remember having healthy pours of Quintarelli Primafiore for 14 euros ($15.50) a glass.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of our favorite wines and it\u2019s \u00a0$50 for a bottle.\u00a0 Imagine what that would cost in an American bar, if you could find it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Snacks, on the house.<\/em><\/p>\n

Along with your drinks there you will be served little complimentary plates of snacks.\u00a0 There will be olives, cheeses, bites of pizza, nuts and whatever they feel like adding that night.\u00a0 We always get to N\u2019Ombra de Vin prior to dinner and we always eat too much beforehand.<\/p>\n

The third great attraction is the crowd.\u00a0 If you want a seat outside \u2013 and you do want to be outside if the weather permits \u2013 get there early.\u00a0 N\u2019Ombra de Vin will be empty at 5:00 and overflowing by 6:00.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve been touristing around Milan all day, you\u2019ll appreciate sitting down. \u00a0But the locals all seem to want to stand and mingle.\u00a0 It seems that everyone knows everyone and you\u2019ll feel like you\u2019re at a cocktail party with a lot of well-dressed people (they\u2019re Milanese, of course).<\/p>\n

Milan is often the port of entry to Italy these days, so no matter where we\u2019re going, we land there.\u00a0 And if we have even one evening in town, we make a bee-line for N\u2019Ombra de Vin.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is another in Power Tasting\u2019s irregular series on great wine bars of the world. Italy has some of the most beautiful cities in the world: Rome, Venice and Florence come to mind.\u00a0 Milan, the country\u2019s financial and fashion capital, was victimized by too many wars and lost many of its antiquities.\u00a0 It still has … Continue reading N\u2019Ombra de Vin<\/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\/1376"}],"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=1376"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1379,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1376\/revisions\/1379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}