A Tuscan Wine Window Comes To Times Square
Florence, Italy, has over 150 wine windows chiseled out of building facades. Buchette del Vino NYC will be bringing this ancient Florentine tradition to bustling Times Square this June.
Partners Chef Jack Logue and Chris Biller of The Lambs Club at The Chatwal Hotel have reimagined this concept with a custom-designed street-facing window in a pedestrian plaza in the busy NYC theater district.
Reviving A Florentine Legacy
Buchette del vino (variously called wine windows or wine holes) emerged during the Black Plague that swept over Italy in the 1600s.
To prevent infection, buyers placed a bottle or flask in these little windows to avoid person-to-person contact. The seller used a metal scoop (routinely disinfected with vinegar) to collect payment.
Although the windows were usually found in palazzos or other nobles’ houses in Tuscany, they can also be found in other regions. Those that still exist look like miniature doors. Usually arched and similar in size, the design of each handcrafted window is one-of-a-kind.
There was a resurgence of wine windows in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they largely fell into obscurity many years ago after the innovation of bottled wines and wine sales in wine shops.
However, during the pandemic, some traditional Buchette del Vino began using these windows to sell gelato, panini, and cappuccino in addition to wine. It enabled them to reach customers while remaining socially distanced.
Buchette del Vino NYC Reimagines Wine Windows
At Buchette del Vino NYC, visitors can order espresso, gelato, draft beer, salads, panini, tramezzini, and a pasta of the month—all made with high-quality Italian ingredients. The culinary team brings more than 40 combined years of Michelin-starred experience to the project.
Chef Logue spent time in Italy and recognized how sipping a glass of wine or a cup of espresso on a relaxing piazza is a daily ritual for many Italians.
“The wine windows of Florence capture that spirit perfectly,” he says. “Bringing that experience to New York feels like a natural extension of what we are doing at The Lambs Club, blending tradition with creativity in a way that feels joyful and welcoming…”
This fast-casual food option, situated on a pedestrian plaza in Times Square, will likely attract residents of the neighborhood, theatergoers and other tourists, and those seeking an Instagrammable experience.
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N.B.: This is not New York’s City’s first wine window. In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the Please Tell Me wine bar opened wine-window service in April 25, 2025.
The Chatwal, now part of the Hyatt Unbound Collection, is located at 132 West 44th Street, around the corner. The wine window offers another reason for tourists to choose the hotel for their New York stay. The iconic Lambs Club at the hotel is a modern American restaurant located in a historic 1905 Stanford White building.
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