Note: Pour Wine Bar has now closed.
For the second time, I grabbed a friend and headed out to Pour on NE Broadway near Fred Meyer last night. The owners have taken a small space and made it warm and inviting with a modern touch. They have obviously spent a lot of time thinking about the interior, and for the most part, it succeeds. A portico with a curve has been added to the outside with the curve echoed inside by the Saarinen chairs. These people are REALLY into chairs, trust me, if you want to be instant friends, just ask about them. I hope they got a good deal – it’s going to take a fair amount of wine to pay for them.
More important, though, is the wine. How does it stack up?
The staff is fairly knowledgeable and tries very hard to make you feel welcome. A large selection of wines is available by the glass. Unfortunately the list was not too impressive. Though the pours are pretty good, the prices seemed high, and the group had quite a few average wines. As Marshall said “Man, that’s a really mediocre list for a wine bar. Even the things that might be more interesting (Westrey Pinot, Tre Donne Arneis, Solane Valpolicella) are vintages that I don’t like.” Furthermore, I’ve had two wines there that seemed to have a bit of heat damage, something that occurs more then you might think towards the end of the summer. Here is a current list as of 10/05. I think I got most of them. Those with two prices list by-the-glass first:
Reds:
Beau Freres pinot 2000 $15.00, 65.00
Ken Wright pinot 2001 $13.00, 55.00
Westrey pinot 2003 $8.00, 27.00
Langtry cabernet 1999 $11.00, 50.00
Matanzas Creek merlot 2002 $10.00
Flying Fish merlot 2002 $7.00
Turley zin 2001 $15.00, $55.00
Storybook Mountain zinfandel 2001 $10.00, $36.00
Marietta Angeli cuvee 2000 $9.00
Flaio Primitivo zin 2003 $7.00
Perollat super Tuscan 2004 $7.00
Cado Douro 2000 $5.00
Whites:
Vueve Clicquot champagne $10.00
Pardis pinot gris 2003 $6.00
Henry Estates Chardonnay 2003 $7.00
Sagramoso soave 2004 $5.00
Tre Donne, Arneis 2003 $7.00
Brandborg gewürztraminer 2004 $7.00
Verdiccio 2004 $7.00
La Rote Vernaccia 2003 $7.00
Bottles:
Dominus cabernet 1999 $135
Leonetti cabernet 2000, $90
Woodward Canyon cabernet 2000, $90
Terroir Napa cabernet 2002 $24
Jewell Collection cabernet 2002 $19
Folie a Deux Amador zinfandel 2001 $35.00
Ravenswood Zinfandel 2002 $19.00
Flaio Primitivo Zinfandel 2004 $19.00
Mariatta Angeli Cuvee 2000 $36.00
Dimminick-Price syrah 2002 $44.00
Summerland syrah 2003 $27.00
Leonetti sangiovese 2002 $63.00
Perolla super Tuscan 2004 $26.00
Barbersco 2002 $31.00
Solane Valpolicell Ripasso 2002 $29.00
Rita sangiovese 2003 $23.00
Micante 2003 $21.00
Philippe Grange Languedoc 2002 $22
Shooting Star Blue Franc Lemberger $18.00
Lan Crianza, rioja 1999 $19.00
Cado, Douro 2000 $18.00
Nothing terribly inspiring, but they are just starting out and really seem to be interested in making people happy. Hopefully they will adjust their prices a bit and bring in some more interesting selections.
For those looking for a bite, small plates are available. A very good cheese plate with a rotating selection, the now trendy Marcona almonds, a few panini, risotto, and macaroni & cheese. If you want to swing by for dessert, they have several including a banana flambé that is done old-style, flamed at the table.
A nice environment, nice people – all the foundations are there. They just need to work out the flaws.
(503) 288-7687 2755 N.E. Broadway, Portland.
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