Barra Vino

Twenty-three labels sounds like a limitation until you actually read the list — there's a Jamon Jamon Orange, a Mauro Molino Nebbiolo, and a Leitz Riesling sitting next to New Mexico sparkling and a local Chardonnay. For a wine bar tucked into a historic arts district street in northern New Mexico, this thing has a real point of view. It doesn't read like a distributor dumped a catalog on the table; someone made deliberate choices here.

The list skims across sparkling, orange, whites, reds, and dessert without ever feeling scattered. You've got the Contessa Albariño and Ciro Bianco holding down the lighter white flank, a Honore Rioja and Mauro Molino Langhe Nebbiolo for the old-world crowd, and the Goss Shiraz and Prisma Pinot representing new world picks that don't feel like airport lounge wine. The inclusion of Jamon Jamon Orange is the most interesting move on the list — orange wine in Taos is not exactly a safe bet, and the fact that it's here says something about the people running this place. Gaps exist — no real deep Burgundy or Rhône representation, and the Argentina and Oregon entries are frustratingly unnamed — but at 23 bottles in a mountain arts district bar, we're not complaining loudly.

Here's the fun part: all 23 bottles are available by the glass, ranging from $11 to $19. That's a genuinely generous pour program that lets you explore the whole list without committing to a bottle. The price ceiling is reasonable for this kind of curation, and the range means you can move from the Asi Moscato as an opener to the Mauro Molino Nebbiolo without burning a hole in your wallet.