Urban Wine Walk

This is a repost from my original blog The Alchemy of My Mind about the 4th Urban Wine Walk held in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. The style of writing is much different than the style of this blog, but should be enjoyable nonetheless. Unfortunately this is a post without any of my original photos since I left my camera at home. Enjoy!

Last Saturday my best friend and I went to the 4th Urban Wine Walk in downtown Phoenix. Thanks to my friend on twitter, I found out about it in the first place. Not being sure if I was going to go, I emailed it to my friend and she was interested. She printed out the maps and wine list. As a precaution, if you check out this list, be warned that a handful of the wines are misspelled. This I discovered as I was drafting this post.

Before I start, I want to say first that we had a great time. I now want to go to every wine walk in the future. Also I am going to write about our whole experience from what I can remember best. This is merely as a way for us to remember. If we ever want to get some wine or check out a cool bar/restaurant downtown we will have this post as a reference. And of course, it serves as some sort of entertainment/education for you readers.

I had gotten an early start on my own wine tasting the night before. Thus my friend and I stayed up late and didn't get to attend the wine walk as early as we would of liked. So around 2pm, her and I get dropped off at the closest light rail stop. We purchase our all day passes for the light rail and wait for the rail car to arrive. Within minutes our ride comes, and about ten minutes later we're already in downtown Phoenix. We enjoyed the fact that we didn't have to drive, didn't have to worry about traffic, nothing. It was relaxing already.

We looked over the map and wine list countless times and eventually decided on a route, that changed as the day progressed, but was overall quite successful. My job for the day was to direct us, to label the map based on the order of places we visited and which wines we tried, and to write a comment down next to each place we visited that would allow us to remember our experience there.

Our first stop was at Networks Bar & Grill at the Hyatt Regency hotel. She, let's call her B for ease, ordered a 2 dollar sample of Zinfandel (Red) Karly from Amador County California. This wine was quite fruity but had a beautiful deep red color and a smooth taste. We both liked it. I ordered a 3 dollar sample of Pinot Noir Deloach from California. I am unsure of the exact wines that we tried because the years were not provided on the wine list for this location. So I did my best to link to what I think the wine was. Anyways, the Pinot was quite nice, but I think I may have liked B's Zinfandel more.
As for the restaurant itself. It wasn't full at all, however it was barely 2:30pm. There were about 3 other pairs of people sitting along the bar for the wine tasting. This is when we realized that we are the youngest people doing the wine walk. We did not get carded either, a little detail I paid attention to all day. We originally wanted to find a place to eat while we were drinking because we were starving and hadn't ate yet. We realized we didn't care so much for the restaurant and decided to drink at some other places and then see if we want to eat there. This place also had a little cool glass enclosed cigar display in one of the walls/pillars.

Stop number 2 was at Steve's Greenhouse Grill. I've eaten here once before and remember liking it a lot. I was excited about the wine sample choices here because they had Page Springs wine which is a wine that Maynard James Keenan's wine partner, Eric Glomski, started. Thus, I order Page Springs 2009 Vino Deorja Fermilia or so that is how it was typed out on the wine list. After searching online, this type doesn't seem to exist, so I'm guessing it is actually the 2009 Vino de la Familia red. Whatever the hell it was, it was delicious. I've always been a big supporter of the wines that Maynard is involved in. Not only that but I'm always down for trying local wines as well. B ordered a 2009 Cabernet Sauvingnon from Guenoc which was also delicious.
This stop was highly successful, for they also had chocolate, fruit, and tasty flatbread available for us wine walkers. We realized that these snacks were quite sufficient in combination with the wine so we decided to continue on with the wine walking and get food afterwards. This is where the whole event started to get more fun. We were really enjoying ourselves. Plus one of the waiters came over to us several times. First to compliment my hair, second to point out my Alex Grey/Tool tattoos, then to tell me stories about his experiences seeing Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer in concert. He seemed pretty excited to talk about it all and told me some interesting things which I will not share online at this time. I just thought it was all funny because here I am drinking Maynard's wine too. Anyways, I would definitely love to come there to eat again and to get some drinks too.
B got a cup of water for us and continued to spill it everywhere already. Bear in mind that we are not intoxicated whatsoever and I kept making jokes about how I hope we don't spill wine at all. Also, all these samples throughout the day were only 2 ounces.

Stop number 3 was at the Icon Lounge of the Wyndham Hotel. This place was super fancy and super packed. We managed to get through all the people into a line to get our wine. I was excited for this because this was the first place thus far that had samples of Riesling, one of my favorite white wines and one that I haven't had in quite a long time. Both B and I ordered a sample of the 2009 Riesling from Chateau Ste. Michelle. As we were waiting in line for our drinks we noticed the snack table just got freshly loaded with cheese to accompany the crackers already there. We both got a little wide-eyed and excited. After we got our wine, we grabbed the little napkins and piled cheese and crackers on the best we could. We decided to sit outside since it was empty and there was not a single open table available inside.

We were gobbling up our cheese and crackers and still noted that we're the youngest individuals at the wine walk. We also still have not been carded either. As we are sitting there, I noticed across the street that there were a couple of the Phoenix Ambassadors, and one looked just like a friend of B's. We couldn't be entirely sure because she was a distance away, but it looked damn close like who I thought it was. B decides to call her, the ambassador reaches into her pocket, confirming it was the person we thought, but she looks at her phone and just puts it back into her pocket. We were rejected, and laughing. B decides to call again, and she then answers and eventually joins us as we catch up for some time.
The restaurant and hotel itself was gorgeous but so packed that we didn't really get to enjoy it. But the good news is that that was the best Riesling we had for the day.

Stop number 4 was at Province at the Westin Hotel. The photo above is the picture of their patio, which was reserved for the wine walkers. It was a pretty neat set up, except just imagine this but with the sun directly overhead. We managed to find couch in a somewhat shady area. The wine list for this place was interesting because it had a European wine, making this the first place so far with that option. As you may assume, I did order the European wine, being a 2007 Condesa De Eylo Verdejo from Rueda Spain. As the guy hands me the glass he says that I got a bit more than the standard sample size because it was the end of the bottle. I replied with a big smile "Sweeeeeet!" and sat down. Unfortunately, I had no idea what the wine name meant, thus I was not expecting it to be a white wine at all. This being somewhat of a let down to me. I prefer red wines anymore. It wasn't a bad wine by any means, but not the best. B ordered a 2007 N2 Red from Napa Valley [click on the N2 Red 2007 for a description], which would of been my second choice. B really liked this wine, and I thought it was good too. We sat there, basking in the awesomeness of this whole experience and how young we were compared to everyone else.

When we first arrived, we actually went to use the bathroom, in which we had to follow long hallways to get too. There was a little waiting area that was decorated very IKEA-like, which tons of books on shelves, cute chairs, patterned carpet, cool lights, and pretty paintings. We arrived to the bathroom in which both stalls were occupied. To pass time we admired the design of the bathroom. There were little lights above the sink that were from IKEA. B decided to touch one and caused the light to turn off or burn out. Couldn't fix it, so we just giggled like little girls. After we both finished in the bathroom, I was using the automatic paper towel dispenser and it broke some how. It only gave out one sheet of a paper towel and wouldn't work after. We exchanged confused looks, giggled some more and left.
There was water and snacks available here as well. There was a waitress that would come around with different little appetizers every other minute. The first snack we got was a pico de gallo and salmon mixture on a fancy spoon. This spoon had the handle bent backwards with a flattened bottom that allowed the spoon to stand up just like this. We were amused by the spoon as well as the food was tasty. Next we saw her bring out some crunchy puffy ball of something in which she ran out of before she got to us. She came out again and brought us some flatbread with sausage. As she bent down to offer the food to us, she says to me "Are you a Scorpio?" For whatever reason this startles me briefly, then I answer her and ask if she is too. [This happens to me somewhat often because of my necklace]. She is a Scorpio, which provokes me to ask when her birthday is. November 4th, the same as me. Pretty bizarre because I've never met some stranger who had the same birthday as me, usually they have a different day. She was very pretty too.
We realize at this point that we're actually getting kind of full, especially after ALL that cheese we ate at Icon. As a result we probably don't need to go eat somewhere, while the snacks and wine will suffice.

Stop number 5 is at District American Kitchen and Wine Bar. This place was fancy and quite pretty. I didn't navigate it much, but B went to grab snacks for us and noticed a whole other section full of comfy chairs. Here, the wine was pre-poured so no waiting was necessary. I ordered a 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon [Cabernet is one of my favorites] from Louis Martini. It was a bit dry, but something I still enjoy nonetheless. I was a little sad that my portion happened to be a lot smaller than the rest. B ordered a 2009 Chardonnay from Layer Cake which happened to to be a much larger portion. She thought it was quite disgusting. At first the Chardonnay seemed alright, but gradually got worst. I personally haven't had good experiences with Chardonnay and was disappointed that this only contributed to it.

However, the food here was especially delicious. B grabbed as much as she could for the both of us while I got our wine. They had cute little dishes full of pico and shrimp, another with a small chicken leg that was super crunchy with unique flavor and a little bit of honey. There were also chips and salsa, one of my weaknesses. Despite the really small portions, it was all really great.
B is trying to overcome the bad taste of her wine while I'm trying to enjoy my small bit. We decided that we wanted to visit every place on the map, but we only have an hour and a half left to visit about 7 more places. So we chug our wine and we're on our way.
Here I realized that you can never get away with cheap white wine. I can drink cheap red wine any day and not really have an issue, but cheap white wine is almost never good.

Stop number 6 brings us to Brick Pizzeria & Wine Bar at the Arizona Center. Although I cannot find a decent picture to reveal so, the inside of this place was cool and they had really funky but comfy bar chairs. Here I decided to order a Malbec since I don't think I've ever tried it. This time I had to make sure it was red wine first. So I ordered a 2009 Malbec from Zolo. B ordered a 2008 Pinot Grigio from Benvolio.
Before I discuss the wine, I need to tell you about our experience at the place. First, our waiter was a beautiful man that had some feminine qualities. He was a short, skinny Native American or of some Asian descent with long beautiful jet black hair. He had large loop earrings, cool jewelry, a pierced septum, and some tattoos. When he brought our drinks out we realized that our wine glasses smelled like soap. They were freshly washed and still kind of warm. This ruined the whole wine experience because we couldn't smell our wine at all, let alone really taste it. However, I did love the Malbec but my experience was still diminished due to that horrible soap smell. Unfortunately, B hated her Pinot Grigio, which she definitely says is in part to the soap, but still unpleasant. We left this place pretty fast because of the aforementioned circumstances. However there was tasty flatbread with roasted tomatoes and avocado.

Stop number 7 was at the 1130 The Restaurant also located at the Arizona Center. Here we waited longer than we ever had to for wine. Surprisingly the whole day there was really fast and convenient service. It wasn't like this place was super busy either, they just kind of ignored us, despite our position right at the bar. Finally we got service and we ordered our wine, the bartender asked for our IDs and this is where I made a comment about him being the first to do so all day. He says "Well, what can I say, I'm really good at my job." I outwardly disagreed when he walked away.

I ordered another Malbec here, and B did the same because she knew it definitely would be safe compared to some of the negative experiences she has had with white wine for the day [the other two choices were in fact, white]. It was a 2008 Malbec from Pascual Toso. These were served in tiny plastic cups almost like medicine cups, which is cute but also kind of annoying. I feel this was the smallest sample we had yet. The wine was good but I don't think it was nearly as good as the Malbec I tried in the previous place.
Behind us were snacks, crackers, lunch meat, sauce, and grapes. It was getting to the point where I was getting quite full of wine and food, no longer really hungry. However I did eat some grapes. For the most part we weren't really pleased with this place, particularly the service, as a result we left pretty fast.

Stop number 8 landed us at Sam's Cafe, a place I originally wanted to eat at because it seemed promising when their snacks was listed as chips and salsa. This is a Southwestern style restaurant, loaded with fancy bottles of tequila.  Here we did get carded by a nice girl. The way the samples were listed didn't make exact sense to us, but in the end we realized what was going on. It ended up being quite awesome. 4 dollars got you a sample of both options. So we both got samples of each, one of a Red Sangria with CK Mondavi Merlot wine and a White Sangria with CK Mondavi Sauvignon Blanc wine. As I waited for our sangria, B went to grab us some chips and salsa. Despite my full feeling, I can never turn down chips and salsa.
The sangrias were super delicious, we both finished the red one quickly and saved the white one for last because that one was just so good! We were also drooling over the homemade chips, much like pork rinds with cinnamon, sugar, and chili powder that combined to make the most awesome sweet and spicy mix. The salsa was also incredible. We couldn't stop talking about how good it all was. They had white chocolate wrapped in the paper the use for tamales, also very tasty. We definitely want to come back and check out that place.

Stop number 9 was at the Nobuo at Teeter House. I really liked the location of this place which was right in Heritage Square, yet I had never noticed it before. And it was a cute Japanese styled place. Unfortunately this place was completely out of wine for the tasting. However, they did have sake listed on the wine list. I asked if they had the sake still which she replied that they do for everyday use, implying not for the wine walk. The sake listed was Tengumai "Dance of a Tengu" Junmai sake. So we left due to that let down, but we were highly amused because there was a table outside in which several guys sat around with empty wine and sake glasses covering the entire surface of the table. We figured some people probably started off the wine walk there.

Stop number 10 was next door at The Rose & Crown which appeared to be an English bar/restaurant. Luckily they still had some wine left. I ordered a 2010 Riesling from Kung Fu Girl, however as I said about stop 3, this Kung Fu Girl Riesling just wasn't as good as Chateau Ste. Michelle's Riesling. B ordered a 2008 Merlot from 14 Hands. She didn't like the Merlot all that much, stated that it was too dry for her liking.
We sat outside on their deck where a giant industrial fan blew air at us that felt incredible as we noticed a man with long cool traditional style dreadlocks. We left in a hurry because neither of us cared for our wines as much and we still had two places to visit in such a short time.

Stop 11 brought us to our final place, as we decided so during our walk there. Kincaid's Fish, Chops and Steak House. We had one other place we intended to go to, The Arrogant Butcher, but decided not to since we already went there for First Friday this month. I chose this picture above because we sat in the left-most booth. I was amused by the antlers. We were quite exhausted by this point, especially with this place being at the end of several flights of stairs. We decided to relax a little. I also decided to finally get two samples as I been meaning to. I ordered a 2009 Cabernet by PenFolds Rawson's Retreat and a 2008 Shiraz from Oxford Landing. Both of these are Australian and both are delicious. B also ordered the 2008 Shiraz, we both liked the Shiraz very much. I preferred the Shiraz although the PenFolds wine was still pretty good too. Speaking of this awesome wine, here's a little blog post I found about the Shiraz and these super smart Australians.
I liked the way the place looked, the whole setup. It made me feel like we were in a fancy ball room...or more so a billiard room. Something from an older generation. It also had a nice touch that overcast in the sky had started as we were arriving to the place. So the window view to the darker sky was cool.
The great thing was that the waiter brought us our check but charged us for 2 samples rather than 3, thus making one of my samples free. B looked at the check first, scoffed and set it back down. I was concerned but then I saw what he did and commented about how it was about time that finally happens today. I generally get lucky at places I go to, whether it's for alcohol or food, something ends up being free at some point. I left a bill down under the check for him. When he came by he did an awkward grab for the check and looked at me. He was more so looking at my chest then up to my face, as his hand kept slipping of the check. He finally grasped it on his third try. It was pretty hilarious and then we were out the door and on our way to the light rail stop to head home.

I will assure you that we did not get drunk, more so we were full and exhausted by the end. We seriously did have a blast and a lot of good laughs at every place. We both definitely want to check out more similar events. It's also fun being the youngest of the crowd, makes us feel more like adults in a comical way. I honestly wish I could do something like that every weekend. I hope you enjoyed this epic wine and restaurant review post.