2002 Eating & Drinking Guide
Opened in 1999 by restaurant giants Joe
Bastianich and Mario
Batali, along with partner Sergio
Esposito, this specialty store has a painstaking selection of
Italian wines applauded by serious collectors and oenophiles in search
of something more than Chianti
(in fact, the place doubles as a consulting service for serious collectors).
The shop occupies an elegant Union Square space, with one bottle of
each wine displayed along the wooden wall-casing; your purchase is
brought up from the cellar via dumbwaiter. A state-of-the-art wine-and-food
tasting facility was recently added; up to 60 wine fans can come for
the weekly demonstration. Prices range from $6 to $1,000, and the
stock is continually changing as the owners discover new and exciting
wines. And as Batali points out, "We have wines at Babbo that
may be on two or three lists in America. You'll be able to buy those
here."
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