Aria Wine Bar NYC, Ombre e Cicchetti at a new favorite in Greenwich Village

ARIA is open for business again, after the storm. Applausi, Congratulazioni....

Tanya Hira's exceptional wine bar, Arai, has become our new favorite downtown wine bar. Her international wine list consists only of wine by women wine makers or directors and it is exceptional.

We love Tonya's other two places Xai Xai and Braai up on 51st street and have been meaning to get here for some time. We drank a lot of wine and had a little food. We're looking forward to getting back soon to taste more wine and some of the very tempting dishes on the menu. What they call Ombre e Cicchetti . A Venetian custom of the “ombra” (a glass of wine)…that you just can have without some cicchetti…"small snacks or side dishes." We learned a lot more about this on a recent trip to Italy.

Started off with two white wines, a sensational Pecorino Passerina from the Marche by a very interesting woman named Ntsiki Biyela who made her name in South Africa. Pecorino wines from the Marche have become juice I treasure. They are medium bodied full fruited wines, with intriguing flavors that are a nice alternative to Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc. Diana had a very sumptuous Albarino from Verdemar vineyard in Riax Baixas, by the famous Maria Martinez. It was one of the best Albarino's I have ever tasted.

A Bruschetta Ai Funghi E Montasio, mushroom bruschetta and montasio cheese, arrived and we paired that with some red wine. A Pinot Niro from Cescon vineyard in Veneto, a winery founded by Ital Cesco in 1954 and now managed by his the grandchildren Gloria, Graziella and Domenico. The wine is very drinkable with black cherry flavors, full but gentle tannins and a long finish.

We also enjoyed an exquisite Malbec from Familia Cassone an Argentinean vineyard managed by Eduardo Cassone and his wife Florencia Ferreira Funes. I enjoyed this vineyard's exceptional Bonarda on a trip to Argentina last year. This wine presented a very delightful openness for a Malbec yet had rich complex raspberry and black currant flavors.

The hip crowd that filled this place were clearly enjoying themselves, as were we.