The old wisdom said a wine list was a hierarchy: Burgundy and Bordeaux at the top, a house pour at the bottom, and a sommelier standing by to tell you what your food required. That version of wine has strong competition. New York drinkers are more thoughtfully, less concerned with how much is in the glass than with what’s in it, and increasingly curious about where it came from.
The NYC bars answering that shift look different, too: small rooms built for lingering, vast lists priced to be approached, and a plate of snacks to back the wine up rather than dictating it. No dish-to-glass pairing, no snuff; just a great glass and somewhere good to drink it. For the second iteration of this column, we look toward Parcelle.
Parcelle started online, opened a bottle shop, and now runs two wine bars whose lists run the full distance from esoteric natural bottles to collectible Burgundy. Plus, it features a snack-forward room in Chinatown built for exactly this kind of drinking.
“Drinkers are savvy now, and that’s a great thing,” said Christine Collado, Parcelle’s chief restaurant officer, and co-founder Grant Reynolds. “We focus on producers with history, pedigree, or a new story to tell. What gets left out is the filler stuff — too much of the same in style and price point. Having an opinion and good taste goes a long way.”
Pouring Into the Wine List
Right now the pair is sending curious drinkers to Portugal, which, they added, is deeply rooted in tradition but still a discovery. The pours feature the lighter and floral indigenous reds they love with a slight chill. Think Rossese from Liguria and Freisa from Piedmont. Running a shop shapes the bar, too.
“Retail and our wine list need to dovetail [and] they should speak to one another while still having separate identities,” the pair explained, adding that the bar is where they can be a little more adventurous, leaning on the sommeliers to navigate the night.
Ask them what they’d pour a first-timer and they won’t be pinned to one bottle. A slightly oxidative Chenin if you’re adventurous, a classic Chablis if you’re not.
“More than anything, first-time drinkers want an experience, a story. A great wine bar and a great sommelier can do that really well.” The monthly wine school is still running, as Collado noted, and the whole thing is meant to feel, as she put it, “like your friend’s really nice apartment. She’s not stuffy, [she] just has good taste and wants you to drink well.”
A Nibble With Your Wine
The food menu at the wine bar stays a backdrop by design. “Navigating our list and finding that wine that speaks to several flavors on the table is usually our main focus,” said Collado. Both have worked in curated, tasting-menu restaurants, and both have felt sometimes the wine and food pairings can feel forced.
“It’s like you’re supposed to like this, and something about that just doesn’t feel great,” they added.
That’s why the food menu at Parcelle keeps pace with the pours, balancing bites you’d expect alongside wine. For example, the Chunks of Fancy Parm, the Cabbage Caesar Salad with spicy breadcrumbs, and a pinsa topped with whipped ricotta, delicate confit tomato, and pesto.
And, as with the wine, there’s room for a little fun to be had with bites too. Go ahead, ask which glass pairs best with the salty and savory Trout Roe + Chips or the Gherkins and Pickled Vegetables. The teams at Parcelle will have the answer.
Visit Parcelle Monday through Thursday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday to Sunday 3 p.m. to midnight. 135 Division St., Chinatown, parcellewine.com
