Wondering where you’re going to get your fix of pizza and natural wine this week? Problem solved—this evening, wood-fired pizza junkies PREAM will be joined by Ardor, a natural wine bar whose home is usually the Red E Café four nights a week. PREAM you already know about—“For all its high-class trappings and toppings, PREAM has a dive-bar edge,” said our esteemed food critic—while Ardor’s passion is for small production natural wines and bringing them to the attention of a wider audience. On their regular nights their list has a European focus, but there’s also a solid Willamette Valley contribution, making it an excellent way to explore the natural wine world, especially with glass pours from $5 and bottles from $12. The atmosphere is one of enthusiasm rather than pretension, welcoming to novice and geek alike.
Today's offering is a special pairing of food with Balkan and Georgian wines. Before going, “Eh, what the?”, these eastern European regions are currently enjoying a resurgence based on traditional winemaking techniques that use indigenous grapes. The result is some of the most interesting wines around. Ardor hopes that the pairing of an unfamiliar wine with a more familiar food will make it more accessible; the wines will be available with recommended food pairings as a glass pour or taste pour. So be adventurous—or at least impress your wine snob friends—while chowing down on great pizza.
Pream + Ardor, 2131 SE 11th, June 9, 5 pm–10pm
Ardor, 1006 N Killingsworth, Wed-Sat, 7 pm–midnight
