Title: Uncovering the Secrets of Shanghai’s Most Luxurious Wine Bars: A Journey Through Elegance and Indulgence
For adults living in the city, it’s hard to stay away from alcohol.
Especially on a cool autumn night, a breeze and a glass of wine will kick off a slightly tipsy evening.
After getting tired of flashy and endless cocktails, people have started to chase a new trend in drinking in the magic city – Wine bars.
Tasting, high-end, elegant, slow drinking, these are the words that always surround wine, but after the author consecutively visited four Wine bars, it was discovered that drinking wine can also bring a delicate drunken dream.
This article will present an incomplete map of Wine bars in the Shanghai.
1. San Nian Jian
At four o’clock in the afternoon, I walked into Yongping Lane, which is full of markets. This small art district, located next to Hengshan Road Metro Station, has the typical elegant tone of the Hengfu area.
I once stumbled into it when I was young, and also entered today’s first stop – San Nian Jian, but at that time I obviously didn’t understand the beauty of wine, so I ordered ice cream in a very unsuccessful way.
However, this trip went straight to the point. After passing through a few outdoor tables and chairs and entering the door, I quickly came to the bar and ordered a glass of wine.
This wine, named Fransouvila Mermaid, was one of the three glass-selling red wines recommended by the bartender that day.
The fragrant violet aroma that entered the nose was really delightful.
The sweetness of ripe fruit in the aftertaste was also equally wonderful.
As a Wine bar with more than ten years of history in Shanghai, San Nian Jian is the perfect place to have a drink in your spare time.
The very relaxed and open space makes people feel extremely comfortable, and many glass-selling wines are casually placed on the table for you to choose from.
If you really don’t know what to choose, just listen to the bartender’s recommendation, which is also very friendly to novice beginners who don’t know much about wine.
And the price is quite reasonable, with a glass-selling price of 59 yuan, you can get 120ml of wine.
In addition to wine, San Nian Jian also sells coffee and ice cream, but the wall full of various wines still reflects its professional level.
San Nian Jian – Address: Room 103, 1st Floor, Building 2, No. 692 Yongjia Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai
2.ENOTECA
After saying goodbye to the bartender at San Nian Jian, I took the relatively empty Line 1 subway for two stops and arrived at an even more fashionable and high-end commercial area – IAPM Mall.
However, the destination this time was not a coffee shop with alcohol, nor a Western restaurant with selected wines, but a professional wine store.
The store is called ENOTECA, located on the fourth floor of IAPM Mall, and is a professional and high-end wine store.
Because not only does the store retail expensive wines, but it also has many selected glass-selling wines, and the glass-selling wine list is updated frequently. And among the many expensive famous wines sold by the bottle, the price of glass-selling is quite affordable.
Because I had just had a glass of red wine, I tried a glass of dry white from New Zealand at ENOTECA.
The well-chilled Pinot Gris showed a rather strong sweetness, not a very obvious acidity, which was just right for the second glass of wine on this trip.
And very fortunately, what I tasted this time was also a newly opened bottle. (Opened by the sommelier in front of me)
It can be seen that this hidden treasure in the mall has not yet been discovered by wine lovers.
There is a bar and scattered seats in the store, although there are not many seats, but fortunately there are not many customers, and the overall atmosphere is quite quiet, suitable for sitting down and having a good drink.
Or if you are tired of shopping in the mall, you can sit down and rest while having a drink.
ENOTECA – Address: F4, IAPM Mall, No. 999 Middle Huaihai Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai
3.Wine Universe
If this Wine bar map doesn’t include some heavyweight stores, it would definitely be incomplete.
So the author’s third stop is the currently popular Wine Universe by Little Somms in Shanghai.
The reason why it can gain high popularity and a great reputation in Shanghai, where there are many wine bars and high-end Western restaurants, is mainly due to its dazzling and incredible selection of wines by the glass.
The red wine king from France – Romanée-Conti, truly top-level Burgundy wines, and Conti, which can be more expensive than the 1982 Lafite, can be sold by the glass at Wine Universe! Although the price per glass reaches 3,000 yuan, it is indeed sold by the glass.
However, the 3,000 yuan per glass Conti is still not the most expensive wine by the glass at Wine Universe. Domaine Leroy, another top-level winery from Burgundy, occupies the most expensive glass pour at Wine Universe and even in the whole of Shanghai.
However, although there are many famous wines from the grand cru, in the author’s opinion, Wine Universe is a great place to taste interesting wines.
As soon as I pushed the door open, the already well-known store manager Wang Tuoyuan, also known as Gou Ge, warmly welcomed me, a novice.
And because I didn’t have a reservation, I sat at the bar counter where he presided, which was quite stressful.
Wine Universe doesn’t have a menu in the true sense, only daily rotating house wine by the glass and relatively resident famous wines by the glass.
For the former, the sommelier personally communicates and recommends, and the guest only needs to describe their needs and expected flavors, which is a bit similar to a blind tasting at a cocktail bar.
For the latter, you can choose relatively expensive white wines by the glass on a blackboard, and enter a special red wine display area to select red wines by the glass.
Because I wanted a refreshing dry white, Gou Ge first recommended a Sauvignon Blanc. However, since it can be included in the rotating glass pour at Wine Universe, it naturally has to have some outstanding features.
This Sauvignon Blanc has a unique oxidative property. Therefore, unlike the generally crisp and dry Sauvignon Blanc, it has a slightly special nutty flavor.
Sure enough, hidden under the enticing citrus and floral aromas is a unique flavor similar to nuts. At the first sip, you can feel the taste of peanuts, which is very wonderful.
Although the price is not cheap, it is still worth the money – 95 yuan/120ml. Especially this unique Sauvignon Blanc, which is also made by a well-known winemaker.
Although there is a fourth place to go, since I’m already at Wine Universe, how can I just have one glass and leave? After persistently asking about two famous sweet whites and getting the answer that there are no glass pours, I had no choice but to reluctantly choose a fuller-bodied dry white from the blackboard.
PVG Meursault Les Grands Charrons 2018, a Chardonnay with a special background, from the famous appellation of Meursault in Burgundy, France.
The sommelier carefully measured out 40ml from a whole bottle using a special wine thief, poured it into a measuring cup, and then into a pre-chilled wine glass. (It was already differentiated from the previous house wine in terms of the choice of wine glass)
This young but full-bodied white wine has a unique buttery and cheesy flavor, leaving a lingering aftertaste and endless memories. It is an extremely suitable white wine for slow and careful tasting.
Of course, as a highly popular Wine bar, Wine Universe not only has an extremely exaggerated lineup of wines by the glass but is also second to none in terms of food.
I ordered a plate of cold cut meat platter to pair with the wine, and the combination of sausage, ham, pickles, and nuts made the taste even more outstanding.
Even more stunning is Wine Universe’s signature dessert – TBA sweet wine ice cream, an ice cream made with TBA sweet white wine from Austria.
I originally thought it would be ordinary in appearance like most alcohol-infused ice creams, but unexpectedly, it was served with the plating of a Western restaurant, with a bed of barley underneath.
Wine Universe by Little Somms – Address: No. 769-1 Yuyuan Road, Changning District, Shanghai
4.Living Wines
With a slight intoxication, I pushed the door open and walked out of Wine Universe. In the night and autumn breeze, I walked west along Yuyuan Road and arrived at the last stop of this trip – Living Wines.
This store has a very relaxed wine atmosphere, but unlike San Nian Jian, Living Wines is more focused on wine, and although it only operates until 10 pm, it almost exclusively sells wine.
This also sets a certain threshold requirement for customers. On a large blackboard, there are more than a dozen house wines to choose from.
However, I still couldn’t drink the sweet white by the glass, so I had no choice but to choose a rosé with a relatively sweet aftertaste as recommended by the staff.
As a New World rosé from Australia, this glass pour priced at 90 yuan also has its unique features – it is a natural wine.
The so-called natural wine is a very popular type of wine nowadays, which means that no yeast is artificially added, and no filtration or clarification is carried out, resulting in a more natural and original wine.
Therefore, natural wines often symbolize natural and wild power.
This rosé showed the characteristics of natural wine in its aroma – it was sour and had a variety of aromas similar to tomato juice. In terms of specific flavors after entering the mouth, it was also vastly different from ordinary rosé.
However, possibly due to the chilling, the sweetness in the aftertaste mentioned in the recommendation was not obvious.
Living Wines – Address: No. 1086 Yuyuan Road, Changning District, Shanghai
Walking out of Living Wines, I was already tipsy and flushed. So although the autumn days in Shanghai in October already had a slight chill, it was still dissipated by the alcohol.
Perhaps on the next lonely or lively night, instead of walking into an ordinary cocktail bar, you can get drunk at these niche Wine Bars.
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