Restaurant Review: Robust Wine Bar

Last week, the family met up at Robust Wine Bar in Webster Groves.  Our family is really into wine, so Robust was the perfect place.  The wine list is very extensive and has a variety of wines available by the glass.  The menu is also uniquely organized by type of wine, ranging from "Crisp" light bodied whites to "Robust" full bodied reds, along with some fun dessert wines and sparkling wines.  Robust also invented a menu numbering system (called the "Robust Factor") that pairs up the groups of wines with each item of food on the menu.  And for the adventurous wine drinkers, like us, there are some great wine flight choices where you can choose a group of three 4 oz glasses (roughly 1 and a half normal glasses) of wine.  I decided to go with a 3-wine flight of the pinot noirs (shown below)

Pinot Noir Wine Flight

From Left to Right:

2009 APALTAGUA “Reserva”, Pinot Noir – Curio Valley, ChileFirm cherries, deep red raspberries and dried rose petals, with a dash of black pepper and smoked paprika. Earthy and well-structured. (My favorite!)

2006 REX HILL “Reserve”, Pinot Noir – Willamette Valley, OregonDark cherries, orange pulp and baking spices. Black fruits and dried sage join in on the palate. 2006 was a warm vintage, contributing a great depth of color and flavor.

2006 DIERBERG, Pinot Noir – Santa Maria Valley, California (My least favorite)Blackberries, Provençal herbs and wet stone combine with coffee and vibrant acidity. Ripe, dense fruit with mouthwatering balance.

Robust also has a great assortment of appetizers and small plates that are great to share with a group.  Note: if you are looking for a meal, Robust lacks a big meal menu, and is more for light eating and group sharing.

We first ordered a fun flatbread and a couple small salads to share.  The Heirloom Tomato Salad, with Basil, Cipollinis, Shallots, Ricotta, Parmesan, Aged Balsamic and fresh Croutons, was really light and summery.  We also tried the Roasted Beet Salad, with Roasted Beets, Goat Cheese, Oranges with a Red Wine Ver Jus Dressing.  Jessie and Joe are big beet fans, and the salad was surprisingly not as "beety" as they expected, so you don't have to be really into beets to enjoy this salad..

We then ordered the Spinach and Three Cheese Spread, which contains Spinach, Roasted Artichoke, Cream Cheese, Mozzarella and Parmesan Cheese with Housemade Crostini.  It was Yummy!  One can never go wrong with spinach artichoke and cheese dip!

We also got the baked Camembert, which is kind of like baked brie cheese topped with Balsamic Strawberries.  Again, you can't go wrong with melted cheese!

Overall, I enjoyed the wine and all of the wine choices over the actual food menu.  Luckily I wasn't starving, because the menu lacked any heavy food options and a large portion of the small plates were mainly cheese based, which I cannot base my entire meal on (unless it is mac n' cheese ;-)).  Splitting with the family was fun and I would definitely go back with a big group or just some girlfriends for a drink or two.