“Like that musty yet undeniably romantic Madrid hangout where you pretended to practice your Spanish during your college year abroad, this loud, chaotic, crowded, sometimes steamy wine bar never strays far from your thoughts.” — Portland Monthly, April 2008. Portland’s Best Wine Bar.
HISTORY
Noble Rot, the fungus, is the nickname for Botrytis Cinerea, the beneficial grape fungus that transforms ordinary grapes into furry little critters that produce intense, viscous, sweet wines. The most famous region for these wines is Sauternes, France.
Noble Rot, the wine bar, opened in May 2002. It has gained local and national attention including the NY Times, the Wine Spectator & Gourmet. The Willamette Week named Noble Rot “Restaurant of the Year” in 2003. The best way to plunge into the Rot is through the wine flights that are offered each day. They also display a large bottle selection and all the wines are available to go. Noble Rot’s highly regarded, locally sourced, seasonal food menu is made up of small plates with intense flavors. Rotating dishes might feature duck breast over chanterelles and potatoes or wild salmon with corn, tomatoes and basil. Menu standards include an endive, beet, blue cheese & hazelnut salad, an onion tart, a celebrated macaroni & cheese and a wicked good crème brulee. In February of 2009, the folks at the Rot moved to a new location. It is perched atop the fourth floor in an award winning, environmentally sound, Leed-platinum certified building (the greenest!) which includes a fantastic west facing city view. With its outdoor patio seating, it is one of the best places in the city to watch the sunset. It has a 3000 square foot roof top garden which supplies most of the vegetables and herbs during the long, warm summer months. The Rot has its own aquifer which not only provides a cheap water source for the garden, but it is also pure and tasty.