Liz and I stopped by an enoteca in tribeca called vinovino for a tasting event they were hosting with none other than the premier winemakers of argentina susana balbo and pedro marchevsky of crios and ben marco wines. susana was feeling ill, so a very genial pedro was manning the bottles. he was pouring four wines from their dominio del plata winery near lujan de cuyo in mendoza. the first was a white 2005 torrontes from the north of argentina – very much like a sonoma chardonnay (oaky, but without much butter); the second a pleasant blend of 50% syrah and 50% bonarda, also in the crios label; third (and best in my opinion and the one we purchased for $20) was the 2005 ben marco cabernet sav – smooth and chocolate and ready to drink; fourth was a special 2003 espressivo a blend of six varietals, including syrah, bonarda and cab – basically the kitchen sink. 

VinoVino
211 West Broadway,
New York, NY 10013 [ map ]
between Franklin and White Sts.
Mon-Wed, 5pm-11pm; Thu-Sat, 5pm-1am; Sun, closed
212-925-8510