New Italian Wine Bar - Salute

This weekend for 'date night' we tried a new Italian wine bar in River North called Salute. The location is convenient for a Friday after work happy hour or, like we did, a light dinner and drinks before catching a movie at 600 N. Michigan. It's nestled in the garden level space at 46 E. Superior, with a comfortable front patio below street level which is quite charming. Salute is next door to the popular 1492 Tapas, another favorite of ours, I hope Salute catches on - it's certainly not to be missed for fans of Italian wine.

The Food:
Salute offers a wide range of food, small bites all the way up to a full meal. From the small plates menu we started out with the Caprese salad. It was a traditional arrangement, simple and fresh, very delicious. Moving on to the large plates we tried the beet hummus. The hummus was an interesting take on a favorite dish, the addition of balsamic vinaigrette really added a nice kick. Other than too few pita for the amount of hummus, it was a hit as well. Our server brought a few more pitas out warm from the oven so crisis adverted. Finally, off the panini list we went for the "Muffalette" chock full of spicy Italian meats this hit the spot. Salute also has several salad options, cured meats and cheeses, and a full dessert list. We'll check out that dessert list next time.


The Wine:
For anyone hoping to try lots of off the beaten path Italian wines and expand their Italian palate this is the place for you. This is not your typical Tuscan and Piedmont heavy wine list which was exciting for us. In fact, Salute claims to have wines from 20 different regions of Italy and based on the size of the wine list I believe them. What a great opportunity to really get to know some lesser known varietals. Real Italianophiles will love Salute.

I told our server that I was looking for a glass of crisp, minerally, lemon lime floral white - and she knew exactly what I was talking about and brought me just that.



Fontevecchia
Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi 2007 Marche





This wine was not offered by the glass normally, but since they had it open they gave me a glass, which was appreciated since this wine embodied all that I was looking for. Its full bodied for a white, rich mouth feel and a clean dry finish. The notes were floral, citrus and honey. This was $40 per bottle at Salute, and worth it. We'll be trying to track this down locally.















We switched to red for our meal, and had several good wines, all on the recommendation of our server - so nice when a wine bar employs people who actually know about and understand the wine! The most notable red:





San Antonio La Bardina 2004 Valpolicella



This wine is offered by the glass and is not to missed if your a fan of big, spicy red wines. The nose had notes of herbs, tobacco, clove and red fruit. It was delicious with our food, very peppery and full, but soft on the finish.

We highly recommend Salute Wine Bar. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable, the setting comfortable, and prices reasonable. A novice wine drinker can find something to enjoy while the Italian wine junkies will love the diversity of the bottle list.

Salute
46 E Superior

http://www.salutewinebars.com

Cheers,
Chris & Kristina