First taste: Enoteca Campo Marzio

An intimate wine-bar setting

By Anthony Minne

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In comparison to New York, Detroit is -- to say the least -- not a city with an abundant supply of wine bars, often forcing foodies and wine lovers to travel great lengths for gastronomic satisfaction; Enoteca Campo Mazio has solved the problem. Owner Nino Cutraro opened Enoteca four months ago. Cutraro was also a part owner in the now closed Intermezzo restaurant in Harmonie Park.  

Location in the First National Bank Building makes Enoteca a convenient lunch spot on weekdays for employees in the building and surrounding businesses.    

A completely unpretentious wine bar, Enoteca’s staff is passionate about wine and is focused on customer satisfaction rather than lecturing on complex subjects. That’s not to say that the staff isn’t knowledgeable, in fact they are passionate about their wines and selection of cheeses and meats. The wine list is at the control of Sommelier Robert Bassett, who stops by to educate the staff about each wine as well as appropriate food pairings.

At night the space becomes a bit darker and creates an enticing atmosphere. Dark, wooden tables and bar shelves are contrasted with modern metallic elements and a chandelier above the bar. The lighting is just enough to let customers see what’s in the glass and on the plate without being too bright.

Jazzy electronic music comes from the staff’s iPods and sets the chill vibe. On weekends, people start to fill the space around 10 p.m. and the staff will stay until 2 a.m. if there are customers around. 

The intimate setting is key to the wine-bar environment. It enables patrons to engage in conversation whether it is the staff or others around. These factors also make Enoteca a good spot to fly solo, meet new people on your own and share tasting thoughts.

Wine flights come with three glasses, filled with 2.5 ounce pours of wine in each glass. Flights are organized either by grape, to show regional differences in single varietals or by country, to explore the different wine styles of individual countries. Prices vary on flights from about $9-$14 and for what you get the prices are fair. Bottle prices are surprisingly reasonable; well a few things are expensive but for the most part there are good values.

Flights change monthly to give variety and also to eliminate things that don’t sell. “We’ve only been open for four months so our wine list is still developing as we continue to get customer feedback,” says assistant manager Stacey Magari.

Keeping in the wine bar tradition, Enoteca serves small combination plates of meats, cheeses, and bruschettas at fixed prices. Customers can choose between 15 cheeses and four meats, and create a combination of any four cheeses or meats for $11. Metromix tried a plate made up of Grafton White Cheddar, Gouda, Spanish Mahon and Red Leicester. The cheese plate comes with sliced baguette either olives or a fig spread.

For only $6 customers can select from a choice of 10 different bruschetta combinations. The choice of bruschettas goes very nicely with the array wines creating endless combinations. Choices are fairly familiar, like sautéed onions topped with parmesan, goat cheese and roasted pepper, fresh tomatoes minced garlic and fresh basil, and brie topped with green apples and drizzled with honey.