First Crush At City Winery Shows Love For Bloomie

Thursday night City Winery tapped one of the first barrels of wine to be made in New York City since the 1960s and, appropriately, presented a bottle to the Mayor. The Van Dam Zin, named for the Winery's location on the corner of Vandam and Varick Street is made with grapes from an area just north of Sonoma that were shipped to the winery and subsequently crushed and "vinified" right at that cross section.

The barrels have been aging for the last 8 months as musical guests like Bob Schneider, Calexico, John Doe and Aimee Mann entertained crowds almost nightly. Now the barrels do more than just provide nice atmosphere. The zinfandel the barrels produced is described as having a fruit forward nose (which makes sense, since it's made from fruit), complemented by hints of spice and smoke. What did the Mayor think? Considering that the event was part of a support rally hosted by the LGBT community, we're guessing he said he liked it a lot. He probably wishes all campaign stops would come with wine.

And since Bloomie goes through great pains to be "just another New Yorker," the Winery, by extension is making the Van Dam Zin available for all NYC residents at an "all New-Yorker" sort of price: $20 a pop. Try it tonight at the Joni Mitchell Pairing (part of a regular series at the winery): 20 songs played along to complement 20 wines.