Noble Rot: I Dub thee Prince of Portland Wine Bars

The latest Terroirists covert sneak invasion of Portland led me to a wine bar showing some serious promise. The first moment of intrigue comes by way of the bar entrance. You have two choices: you can take the stairs up four flights, or if you’re a pussy, you can take the elevator (I took the elevator). It almost feels like an exclusive club, you leave the elevator and are presented with a fairly unremarkable glass door. This door leads you into an amazing view of downtown Portland.

This view conveniently has a fully stocked bar and a so-so wine list attached to it. The ambiance is paramount in this place, very relaxing, very chill and low lighting. The wines I chose left me a little unsatisfied. I had a flight of three white wines from Alsace produced by Dopff and Irion. One was a blend of Pinot Gris, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and Muscat, and it kinda sucked. The next wine was a Gewurztraminer which had a good nose and ultimately sucked less than the first one. The third was my favorite, and it was a Pinot Gris which was a little surprising but it too sucked, but just a little less than the other two. I would probably rate these wines around 82 through 84, so sucked may be a little harsh; but none of these wines blew me away. I’ll repeat that: none of these wines blew me away which is really disappointing because they were from Alsace.

Lackluster wines aside I had a pretty kick ass time there; you show me a cute bartender and I’m sold. They also have one of my favorite beers on tap which really helped. Overall I think this is a great place to stop if you’re in Portland. They have a diverse bar, a pretty decent wine list, and what smelled like great food. Noble Rot, I dub thee prince of Portland wine bars, but you’ve got a lot of work to do to dethrone the king.

You can check them out at http://noblerotpdx.com/