A Paris bar with Pa. wines on tap

WHEN I walked into Paris Wine Bar, the newly opened adjunct to London Grill at 23rd and Fairmount, it was as if I'd walked into a wine bar in another, parallel dimension. You see, Paris Wine Bar is a wine bar that serves no wines from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Argentina, Chile or even California, Oregon or Washington state.

"All of our wines are from Pennsylvania," Cristina Tessaro, the bar manager, informed me. I looked around for hidden cameras to make sure I wasn't being punked.

I took the menu and pointed to a gruner veltliner described as having "grassy notes" and "minerality." No, this was not a gruner veltliner from its native Austria. This one hailed from Berks County. And it was not poured from a bottle, either. Rather, from a tap. Um, OK, barkeep, draw me a Berks County gruner veltliner from the keg!

I'll be honest, here was my initial reaction: WTF? At first, the concept seemed really strange, a little like opening a chocolate shop and only offering Butterfingers, or a cheese shop and only offering havarti.

I'm still searching for the grassy notes and minerality in that gruner veltliner - I might add "cloyingly tart candy notes" to the descriptors - but after I talked further with Tessaro, and owner Terry Berch McNally, I started to gain an odd admiration for the concept.

"This is the future," said Tessaro, refering to the wine-on-tap system. For sure, in countries like Austria and Germany you will see a tradition of tavern wines from the tap, and the eco-friendly trend is catching on in the U.S. But the snag in Pennsylvania is that selling wines by the keg is prohibited - except wines from Pennsylvania, due to a loophole.

A bill was introduced in the state legislature last year by state Rep. Michael O'Brien that would allow keg wines from outside Pennsylvania to be sold to restaurants here. The bill is in committee and it's not clear when it will come to a full vote, said O'Brien chief of staff Mary Isaacson.

"This is just the beginning," Tessaro said. "We see having a whole wall of taps. From Europe. From California. From Jersey. From all over the world."