March 4, 2008

Terroir Alert

Terroir Wine Bar Opens

We interrupt your morning Pinkberry to bring you down to earth.

Or we could just sing a few rounds of “200 Bottles of Wine on the Wall.”

Either way, the story ends up at Terroir, the new East Village wine bar from team Grieco and Canora of Insieme and Hearth, opening tomorrow.

The 24-seater serves wines (24 by the stem, 200 bottles total) that best evoke the spirit of the soil (“terroir”), accompanied by Italian “don’t call them small plates” like calamari salad with smoked chick peas, bread and Parmesan dumpling soup, and fried sage leaves with lamb sausage.

In keeping with the wine-is-real-fun ethos, happy hour features five wines for five bucks, and Heavy Metal Night will showcase vino from iron-rich soil.

As for the bar’s own terroir, the exposed brick and beat-up floor tiles are original to the bike shop that used to be in the space.

Now that’s keeping it real.

Terroir, 413 East 12th Street, between First Avenue and Avenue A (no phone).