by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
There’s a new wine bar in town that is aptly named Tastings. Though wine is the focus, they do have a great little menu that will tickle your taste buds even if you aren’t into the vino.
They’ll pour you wine at the bar, but the real gimmick is the wines they have on tap. The process keeps them fresh with a vacuum seal and nitrogen. This lowers the oxygen content and helps the wine to keep as fresh as the day it was uncorked. High-end wines are not often available by the glass because wines only keep for so long after they’ve been corked. Good wines especially, can turn in flavor sometimes within two days, so whatever patrons don’t finish that night is often used in sauces. Most restaurants can’t spare the expense of offering top vino by the glass. By putting their wines on tap (which keeps them super-fresh), Tastings can offer you a taste, half-glass or full glass of the good stuff. Who wants to buy a bottle of expensive wine that you might not even like? They also have a retail store, so if you find a wine you fall in love with or might be perfect for a friend, you can take it home that day!
The first Tastings opened just two years ago in St. Pete. The owners of the franchise, who are wine enthusiasts, happened upon a wine bar in Italy that had machines dispensing the wines. They loved the idea so much that it was nurtured into Tastings. Jacksonville is only the second location of the franchise, but this fresh and innovative idea is sure to catch on.
Here’s how it works: you buy a Tastings card and load it with cash, using it to buy a taste, half-glass or full glass. Each wine has a display above it which cycles through the prices for each. Scan the card, select your size and place your glass under the spigot. It’s simple and fun, sort of like an upscale arcade of wine.
But, as I said before, it’s not just about the wine. The simply prepared but excellent food will be bringing me back. The menu is carefully crafted to complement wine for a lovely interplay of flavor. Those who work in the area are just discovering it as a low-key, mid-priced place to catch a tasteful lunch, with or without wine.
On nights and weekends, Tastings gets quite a crowd. Despite that, the place still has an intimate feel. Only about eight weeks old, they’re still the new kid on the block, but according to Chef Ian Gabbe, they’ve already started to garner regulars.
And it’s no wonder. Chef Ian has quite a resume here in the Jacksonville area, having worked at Pastiche and Crush, among others. Because this Tastings is only the second in the franchise, Chef Ian has the opportunity to help develop some of the menu himself, a task to which he’s aptly suited.
“They’ve been very open about my suggestions,” said Ian as he chopped heirloom tomatoes, tomatoes that, by the way, make for an awesome and flavorful bruschetta. The bruschetta plate is also served with a goat cheese and wild mushroom spread. The goat cheese is cut with cream cheese, making the flavor more subtle and improving the texture so that it can be spread on bread. Two types of flat bread came with this dish—a kind of toast cracker and bread that was fluffy in the center and crispy on the outside, like a tiny sliced baguette. Cute and tasty. Who knew?
Wine and cheese lovers will enjoy the thorough selection of more than fifteen cheeses. I discovered their Humbolt, a goat cheese with vegetable ash, which tastes like a combination of standard goat cheese and creamy cambret
Chef Ian’s favorite salad on the menu is the Anitpasto Chopped Salad of Romaine, Salami, Sopressata (slightly spicy dry-cured salami), asiago cheese and provolone tossed with an aged balsamic vinaigrette.
The most popular salad on the menu, though, is the Spicy Salmon Skewers & Baby Spinach. It’s a salad that pops with flavor. Even as I write this, I’m craving another taste of that seasoned but lightly spiced salmon set apart with the lemony taste of the deliciously simple vinaigrette.
I can’t resist dessert, so when I was offered a taste of their chocolate cake, I gave in to the Dark Side and had a piece (despite looming bridesmaid duty in a dress that makes me look ten pounds heavier). I didn’t swoon over this cake, but the fresh fruit that came with it, the pretty presentation and the presence of chocolate earned it a solid B-. That was until they served me Rosa Regale, a sweet bubbly that launched the taste of the slice into the stratosphere. It helped me discover depths of flavor in that chocolate cake that I hadn’t known before.
And that’s the point really, the wine enhances the food and the food enhances the wine. Tastings just helps in the quest to eat, drink and be merry.
Located at 1515 Prudential Drive, next to Chart House. Call (904) 346-0605 or visit awineexperience.com.
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