Harry Bar
Sophisticated and slightly retro, this well-known restaurant is the ideal place for an intimate dinner or business lunch. Exquisitely presented Italian fare to suit all tastes, accompanied by an equally good range of young wines.
Contact Details
Address: Via Vittorio Veneto, 150, Rome, 00187
Phone: +39 06484643
Website: http://www.harrysbar.it/default.htm
Neighbourhood: Centro Storico.

Wine Bar of the Moment

Cavour 313
Centro Storico
ia Cavour, 313.
Close to the Colosseum
Telephone: 06 678 5496

Cavour 313 is nicely furnished in oak with wine bottles displayed on the rafters high above the drinkers’ heads. The wine menu consists of twenty pages of wines from all of Italy’s regions that range from €12 and up a bottle. There is also a menu of cheeses and meats from the many different regions. It is a good idea to call before going to ensure the bar being open, since the hours seems to be unpredictable.
 

WINE BARS OF ROME

Trimani Wine Bar
V. Cermai, 37b, on the corner with V. Goito, 20. Not far from Termini or Piazza Indipendenza
This wine bar features a short rotating wine menu with prices that range from €2- €9 a glass. Happy hour is everyday from 5-7 (closed Sundays) that includes two glasses of wine for the price of one, but to get that second glass of wine before the end of happy hour requires some aggressive action on your part. Nevertheless, this is an ideal meeting place in a non-pretentious atmosphere with many tourists and frequenting locals. There is also an impressive and not too expensive dinner menu, but reservations are recommended to dine here. Walk around the corner to the store that not only sells the wines advertised on the menu, but also a wide selection of liquors, beers, and foods. Be careful of the of the automatic door when entering. It doesn’t appear to be automatic, but it slowly creeps inward a second after you approach.

Gusto
Piazza Augusto Imperatore, 9; (06-322-6273).
This wine bar is more central to Rome’s tourist attractions. It is not a far walk from Piazza di Spagna. Here, the city’s younger and more hip crowd gather to impress friends. In front of the long bar are several tables set up in front of a large window where the clientele can crowd together to enjoy their wine, and the prices are reasonable. Connected to the bar is a fairly chic restaurant where reservations are recommended, and also next door is a kitchen goods store selling regional cook books and higher end (expensive) cookware.


Enoteca Cavour 313
V. Cavour 31. Close to the Colosseum; (06-678-5496).
This wine bar is nicely furnished in oak with wine bottles displayed on the rafters high above the drinkers’ heads. The wine menu consists of twenty pages of wines from all of Italy’s regions that range from €12 and up a bottle. There is also a menu of cheeses and meats from the many different regions. It is a good idea to call before going to ensure the bar being open, since the hours seems to be unpredictable.


Via Prenestina, 124
There isn’t really a name that is advertised for this unique bar, so I’m calling it by its address. It is a small bright pink building located in Pigneto right on the tram numbers 5, 14, and 19 lines. This place is quite popular with the older local crowd and immigrants. Not many tourists venture here to sit in the smoke filled room furnished with scrap marble. Wine is ordered by the carafe and costs €1.80 for a liter. The white wine is from Frascati and the red from Montepulciano. Bring your empty water bottles and they will fill them with wine for you. There is also a small selection of salumi and cheeses as well as a basket of raw eggs for you to crack into your mouth. Open all the time except on Tuesdays for some reason.

Il Simposio
Piazza Cavour, 16, Near Castel S. Angelo; (06-321-1502).
This wine bar is rather small with only two seating areas along the bar and a few office chairs scattered around. Drinking wine here is not unlike standing on a crowded bus. You can buy wine for about €3.50 a glass that is denoted on a chalk board behind the bar. There is also a menu with bottles of regional wines. Next door they offer the largest wine seller I’ve seen yet, selling wines from all the regions in the world, and the prices here range from €6 a bottle to over €100.

Vinarium
Via dei Volsci, 103/107, in San Lorenzo; (06-446-2110).
Here is a good place to take a date. The dining room consists mostly of tables for two, though larger parties do come here, and the ambience is expressed by candle light and soft vintage jazz in the background. There is a good, and original, selection of appetizers, such as bruschette topped with lard and honey. The menu of bottled wines is mid-sized and ranges from €12-€50. There is also a good, and bit expensive, dinner menu. Closed Mondays.

L’Orange
Piazza Ippolito Nievo, 15/16, on Viale di Trastevere; (06-58-300-238).
This wine bar is very pleasing to the eye, furnished with light colored wood and one whole wall devoted to displaying the wines that are served. Bottles are also displayed inside wells of each dining table that can be seen through the glass table top. The wine menu still denotes its prices in lire (from €12 and up) and not all the wines for sell are featured in it, but the bar attendants are more than happy to bring bottles, from what ever region you choose, to your table for you to look at. There is also a selection of assorted meats, cheeses, and breads you can buy to enjoy with your wine.

It will take some time to experience even a small percentage of the many enoteche in Rome, but I don’t think I will grow bored in trying to do so. Salute!.

Wine Tasting: An Italian wine becomes an “aperitif” all over the world


Prosecco
White sparkling wine, not too alcoholic, with a lively color, smell, and taste of fresh fruit and flowers; it always creates a cheerful atmosphere with its sparkling bubbles. It must be uncorked at the very last moment, and it should be drunk at a cold temperature (about 8°C) in a “flute” glass.

The name of this wine, Prosecco di Conegliano, or Prosecco di Valdobbiadene, derives from the name of the cultivation areas. The best and rarest one is the Prosecco di Cartizze, this is a narrow and particular area that gives the wine a characteristic of extreme refinement.
The grapes used are called Prosecco, just like the wine. Prosecco has very ancient origins and has been cultivated in the North-Eastern part of Italy, near Treviso, for centuries.
Prosecco belongs to the category of the natural sparkling wines, with a concentration of natural carbon dioxide deriving from the re-fermentation of the basic wine.
The basic wine is obtained through a special technology with the most suitable grapes, picked at the right moment. The first fermentation takes place at a low temperature to keep the grapes' fragrances unaltered.
Fermentation is a chemical process caused by the sugars present in the grape and the leavens (microorganisms living in the grape’s peel); at the end of this process, alcohol ethylic and gasiform carbon dioxide are obtained.
The re-fermentation consists of adding other sugars and yeasts selected on the base of the wine obtained during the first fermentation. In this way, a second fermentation is activated in a great container with an hermetic seal, called an autoclave.
The sugars are metabolized by the added leavens to create other alcohol and gasiform carbon dioxide. This is done last, since it cannot come out of the autoclave until blended with the wine making its color more brilliant, exalting the grape’s perfumes, and conferring the wine to the fragrance (produced by the leavens) of bread when taken out of the oven.
Then the wine is bottled, in absence of air, so it doesn’t lose any carbon dioxide. It is for this reason that when a bottle is opened the gas bursts out, causing the typical foam and bubbles, or perlage, when poured in the glass.

Azienda Valdo is one of the major Prosecco producers and exporters in the international market. The Venetian family Bolla, who owned the Azienda since 1940, is famous for making Italian Spumante, and in particular, Prosecco, the most well-known all over the world.
Prosecco di Valdobbiadene: white, dry spumante wine made with 100% prosecco grapes. Smell and taste of apple, white peach, and a pleasant final light bitter flavour.
Fresh and sparkling, it is perfect with fresh and creamy cheeses, raw fish, shellfish and vegetable appetizers.

Azienda Drusian has produced Prosecco for three generations, and pursues with tenacity, the aim of always improving its products' quality.
Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Superiore di Cartizze: white, dry spumante wine made with 100% prosecco grapes. Delicate citrus fruit flavor and smell. Elegant and fine, it is a wine to drink with hot and cold appetizers, cheese snacks and delicate salami, fish and vegetables, as well as dry pastries.

Prosecco is a market leader product made in the Venetian hills near Treviso. Hundreds of wine companies contribute to its production. To protect their product, these vine-growers gathered, in 1969, and obtained the acknowledgement of Conegliano, Valdobbiadene and Cartizze as unique production areas of Prosecco DOC (Controlled Origin Denomination), a quality mark given by the State that guarantees the wine is made by the producer following strict production regulations.

In these areas, on the “way to Prosecco," every year during the vintage period (September and October), cellars are opened to everybody and guided tours of the vineyards, wine tastings, exhibitions, and shows are organized in a joyful atmosphere.

Conegliano is also famous because here, in 1876, the first Italian school of viticulture and oenology was founded; nowadays it has become the main scientific and technological research center for Italian oenology

Prosit!!

Valdo Spumanti srl
via Foro Boario, 20 – 31049 Valdobbiadene (Treviso)
info@valdo.com

Francesco Druisan
Loc. San Giacomo, 9 - 31030 Valdobbiadene (Treviso)
drusian@drusian.it

In the past few years, wine bars have begun to spring up all over Rome. Easily confused with the classic enoteca, an establishment that chooses instead to call itself a wine bar will most likely sport a modern decor, serve cocktails as well as wine, attract a younger crowd and often, offer an appetizer buffet during an extended happy hour.

Antica Enoteca di Via della Croce
A traditional enoteca, in business for more than 150 years, with a vast selection of wines, several of which are served by the glass. Check the blackboard for the day's offerings. A pre-dinner appertivo buffet is available for a flat rate.
Via della Croce, 76/b tel. 06. 679 0896 (Trident)

Le Bain
This sleek, modern osteria attracts busy business people with their lunch buffet. At night, the candles are lit, and Rome’s chic younger crowd fills the stools at the wine bar. Open for brunch on weekends.
Via delle Botteghe Oscure, 33 tel. 06.681 33395 Closed Sunday dinner and Monday. (near Largo Argentina)



Bloom
The "it" place for the hip and beautiful when it opened a couple of years ago, Bloom still attacts a stylish crowd at the art deco bar. The restaurant, a minimal, ultra-modern renovation in a former 14th-century chapel, includes a sushi bar on the second floor.
Via del Teatro Pace, 30 tel. 06.688 2029 (Piazza Navona)

Buccone
A classic enoteche, this historic spot is stocked with an amazing selection of wines. A few tables in the midst of the shop are set up for lunch (every day except Saturday) and dinner (Friday and Saturday only). A great place to buy wines and gourmet specialities as well as to sample them.
Via di Ripetta, 19-20 tel. 06 361254 (Piazza del Popolo)


Chakra Café
Designed in a slightly funky, very contemporary style, with a long bar and a few small tables, this local hangout offers a full selection of alcoholic beverages (including several Cuban rums), a small selection of light meals and a friendly atmosphere.
Piazza San Ruffino, 13 tel. 06.581 6649 (Trastsevere)

Crudo
Hidden away on a tiny side street between Campo dei Fiori and the Tiber, with an atmosphere that puts it closer to Manhattan's Soho district, Crudo is a great place to relax at the end of the day, decorated in taupe and concrete, with comfy fifty's-style couches and easy chairs and subtle lighting. One wall is dominated by a video projection, a very amusing and creative animation that can hold your attention for the duration of your first drink. On offer, a wide range of wines by the bottle or the glass, a variety of martinis and exotic cocktails and an unusual dinner menu. All the food has been prepared with minimal interference: steamed or raw and blended with fresh herbs in tasty combinations. The selections, which run along the lines of sushi, sashimi and carpaccio, are divided into delicate, medium and spicy categories. For starters, there's a raw bar of oysters and clams, and a nice choice of desserts with which to reward one's self for having had such sparse and healthy entrees. €€€
Via degli Specchi, 6 tel. 06.683 8989
Open continuously 12:30 pm - 2 am. Closed Sunday lunch, Monday dinner. (Campo de' Fiori)

Enoteca Spiriti
In a quiet street across from vine-covered buildings, this little enoteca makes a pleasant stop for an appertivo. Tables spill out onto the street in warm weather, while for colder days there’s a classic wooden bar and small tables indoors. The wine list is not overwhelming, but contains many good selections. And the small plates that can be taken with your glass are excellent. Try the bruschetti or go for something more substantial: pasta, polenta, soups.
Open for lunch and for drinks and light meals after 6 p.m.
Via San Eustachio, 5 (Pantheon)

Enoteca Lungaretta
Sitting at an outside table here on a warm Saturday night, you’ll feel like you’re watching a parade, as throngs of people, tourists and Romans alike, make their way down the little Via Lungaretta towards the Piazza Santa Maria in search of Trastevere’s many attractions. Inside, the sixteenth-century building has retained much of its original character with beamed wooden ceilings and terra cotta floors. The wine selection is extensive, including some rare old vintages. Try the degustazione, a tasting menu of select wines and cheeses. Or stop by for lunch or dinner.
Via della Lungaretta, 86 tel. 06. 5659 Closed Wednesday. (Trastevere)

Bar del Fico
In a tiny piazza behind Piazza Navona, the bar sits under a big fig tree. Inside, it's funky in a good way. Outside, under the tree at night it's lovely. Open from breakfast until the early morning hours, the crowd changes with the time of day, from locals who come to read the paper and play chess, to stylish Romans and young tourists out on the town who come in for pre-or post-dinner drinks, or stop in for a break in the midst of club-hopping.
Piazza del Fico, 26-8 tel 06.686 5205 Open daily till 2:30 pm (Piazza Navona)

Fluid
A super-modern bar, with a decidedly liquid theme. Some of the seating is on plastic cubes resembling ice, the bar is composed of hundreds of white stones trapped in a wire net, and the walls and ceiling are sculpted to give the impression of an underwater grotto. In the back room, a huge video installation simulates a waterfall. The service is congenial and the wine list is respectable. From 6 to 8 pm, there’s an appertivo buffet and for the after-dinner set, there’s a dj beginning at 10 pm.
Vial del Governo Vecchio 46/47 tel. (Piazza Navona)

Gloss
A small but pleasant spot, its walls hung with a changing exhibition of work by contemorary artists, Gloss is a gallery, a wine bar and a place to kick back after a long day. guest dj's play soul, funk, rare grooves and lounge music. Happy hour includes a buffet from 6:30. Open till 2 am
Via del Monte della Farina, 43 tel 393 3350 185 (Largo Argentina)

'Gusto Wine Bar
The wine bar of this trendy restaurant mega-plex stays open late and offers up live jazz after ten on Thursday nights.
Via della Frezza, 23 tel.06.322 6273 (Piazza del Popolo)

H Club Doney
The lounge at the Excelsior Hotel extends onto the Via Veneto, with red awnings and banquets. It's open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but it comes alive at cocktail hour and on into the evening when the dj plays lounge music and it becomes a meeting place for beautiful Romans.
Via V. Veneto, 141 tel. 06.470 82805

The Library
No bigger than a living room, this cozy space does its best to make you feel at home. Small tables with embroidered tablecloths, wooden armchairs, vintage lamps. Open from brunch until after dinner, serving light food, wine, coffe. A nice place to hangout, attracting more than its share of English-speaking visitors.
Vicolo della Cancelleria 7 (Piazza Navona-Chiesa Nuova) tel. 333.351 7581

Palatium
This recently-opened enoteca, a project of the regional argriculture council, specializes in showcasing the products of Lazio, including wines, olive oils, cheeses, cured meats. The simple modern decor, with polished wooden tables, makes a nice atmosphere in which to enjoy a glass of wine a while sampling traditional local dishes. Open for lunch and dinner, as well as occasional wine tastings and seminars.
Via Frattina, 94 (Trident)

ReRé Wine Bar
Stepping through the door of this wine bar is a revelation. You find yourself in another world, decorated in red velvet, roses, leopard skin and gold-framed mirrors. Couches, low tables and chairs are arranged to create cozy areas where groups of friends come in to have a cocktail or a glass of wine and relax. At apertivo time it's always full of stylish people, and late in the evening, the place revs up again as the after dinner crowd takes over. Easily the most stylish place in the area, it's been immensely popular since it opened two years ago. Your handsome young host, Brando, always impeccably dressed, makes his way among the tables, taking care that everyone is having a good time. Buffet lunch beginning at noon, flows into high tea beginning at three, immediately followrd by the happy hour apertivo buffet which is served from six onwards. Beginning in November, ReRé will host a Sunday gospel brunch with singers from a local choir. Live music Thursdays and Sundays. Patio seating.
Via Flaminia Vecchia, 75 tel. 06.334 0483 (Ponte Milvio)

Salotto 42
You have your choice of three restaurant/bars in the Piazza di Pietro, but this is our favorite because of its location, away from traffic in the middle of the square with a view of the Tempio di Adriano, which dates back to the first century BC. The place is terminally trendy — a flat screen with video projections over the bar, walls-lined with style-conscious books on the order of Andy Warhol and Lou Reed coffee-table numbers, comfortable, sixties-style couches. The wait staff is young and beautiful and full of attitude. It’s a pleasant stop for an appertivo — there’s an appetizer buffet from 7:30 on. And in the mornings they serve a breakfast of coffees, fruit smoothies, quiche and baked goods. Or stop in late —the place stays open until 2 am — and have a stuffed baked potato, soup or salad or a dessert. One of the owners, a Swedish model, has sprinkled the menu with dishes from her native country. €€
Piazza di Pietra, 42 Closed Monday. (Pantheon)

Sud Café Sabir
Just a few steps from the beautiful Piazza di Santa Cecilia, the rooms of this little club are decorated in a style that recalls Morocco, reflecting its “Arabo-Siciliano” theme. Lots of candles, cushioned benches and small, low tables, a wine list heavy on the Sicilian selections, and a buffet that includes both Sicilian and North African specialties. Cozy and unassuming.
Via Santa Cecilia 30/c-d tel. 06.583 34581 Closed Sunday (Trastevere)

Vinoteca Mimi & Coco
This neighborhood bar opened just a couple of years ago, with tables stretching out onto the sidewalk. The atmosphere is convivial, snacks arrive with your drink order and you can relax into the dusky hours. In the mornings, the place transforms itself from a bar to as café, well-suited to a lazy cappuccino. Open from 8 -2 am.
Via Governo Vecchio 72 tel. 06.682 10845 (Piazza Navona)