Las Vegas – this city seems to have a million restaurants and is a wine lover’s dream! Wine cellars that appear to have been built on the backs of gambling profits… I love it.
I was in Vegas for a week but only devoted one night to serious wine enjoyment. I use the term enjoyment here because I took no notes and just enjoyed the experience. I think it was a good way to finish off my week in Vegas and to get ready to start Wine School on September 10!
My research showed me that there was a free wine tasting every Friday at Onda Ristorante, an Italian restaurant in the Mirage hotel. They were pouring four wines, all Italian – one white and three reds. I found it to be an interesting group – some seemed to be locals and there were a few tourists mixed in. It was definitely worth a stop.
After the wine tasting I made my way back to my hotel and changed for dinner. It was Las Vegas Restaurant Week which meant that a number of top restaurants had specially priced prix fixe menus. A three course meal at Aureole (located in Mandalay Bay) was $50.08 with optional wine pairing for $30. Seeing as how Aureole is considered one of the greatest restaurants for wine, how could I not select the wine option?
Aureole is famous for its four-storey tall wine tower which can hold close to 10,000 bottles at proper temperature and humidity. The wine is retrieved by women, dressed in black, who are known as “wine angels”. They are attached to mechanical hoists and fly up and down the wine tower, retrieving and delivering wine. There is also a separate cellar used to store the more valuable, less retrieved bottles of wine.
The food and service at Aureole was excellent. The wine was also very good – although there were no pairings that truly made me stop and say “wow”. After reading so much about this restaurant, I think that my expectations were maybe too high. I would definitely recommend the restaurant to those who want to watch some wine angels – the entertainment there is pretty neat – but I would be far less satisfied had I ordered the more expensive tasting menus.
I am definitely looking forward to returning to Las Vegas (although next time I definitely want more cash with me)… I can only see a trip there improving with increasing wine knowledge.
