A marble-top bar with just 20 seats has quietly staked a claim as one of the only dedicated wine spots in Mott Haven. Pour BX Wine Bar opened at 63 Bruckner Blvd., the first hospitality venture for owners Cyndi Bajema and Vish Deasmoney, according to Bronx Times, and it's already drawing neighbors curious about a corner of the South Bronx dining scene that has mostly meant beer and cocktails until now.
Pour BX celebrated its official grand opening this past weekend, according to Bronx Times. The couple met in 2022 when they struck up a conversation about horses at the Belmont races in Long Island, a chance encounter that eventually led them into business together. Deasmoney grew up near Intervale Avenue and spent nearly 20 years in the mattress business before pivoting to wine, while Bajema, a Midwest transplant, worked as an aerospace engineer before retiring and turning a longtime passion for wine into a full-fledged bar.
Bajema developed her interest in wine early in her career and kept chasing it during travels that took her from California vineyards to France, per the same account. She has said the Bronx market had room for a bar built specifically around wine, and Deasmoney has credited her with teaching him the ropes of the business they now run together.
What's Actually in the Glass
The space itself is small by design: 20 seats total, eight of them lined up at the marble-top bar. The rotating list includes familiar names like Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc alongside a Cannonau sourced from Sardinia's so-called blue zones, a region known for its concentration of centenarians, as noted by Bronx Times. Pour BX's own website lists a broader rotating selection that also includes Riesling, Orange Wine, Cava, Cotes-du-Rhone, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Rose and Cabernet Sauvignon.
For drinkers who want variety without commitment, the bar offers flights of three wines, each poured in three-ounce glasses. Non-alcoholic wine and a charcuterie plate round out a menu that the owners say will soon add sandwiches, though the timing of that addition has not been detailed. Pricing posted on Pour BX Wine Bar's website lists beer at $6, wine and Aperol Spritz at $13, Hiyo Social Tonic at $8 and soda at $3.
For a limited time, the bar is also running an all-day happy hour with $8 wines, $5 beers and homemade peach bellini jello shots for $3. The idea, in the owners' words, is to bring the joy of wine drinking to a part of the Bronx that hasn't had many places built around it.
Filling a Gap Neighbors Noticed
That gap is exactly what caught the attention of Brenda DaSilva, who told the outlet the neighborhood has plenty of bars serving basic alcohol but few dedicated wine options. DaSilva and Sami Yearwood, wine aficionados for more than a decade, attended Pour BX's opening night. DaSilva said the two of them usually just buy a bottle of wine and hang out together, making a proper wine bar in the neighborhood feel overdue.
Another attendee, Antonio Marroquin, enjoyed a bottle of Pinot Gris with his wife at the opening and suggested the bar consider hosting tastings and community pairing events going forward, an idea that fits the space's intimate scale.
A Neighborhood in Flux
Pour BX took over the address once occupied by SOBRO Juice, joining a run of turnover that has reshaped Mott Haven and neighboring Port Morris over the past decade as new housing, bars and restaurants have moved in. Bricks and Hop, which had introduced craft beer to the neighborhood, closed in 2024. Bronx Times also reported that Beatstro, a onetime favorite for comfort food and events, closed in recent years — though Eater has described it as a Mott Haven speakeasy still serving Sunday brunch with bottomless mimosas alongside soul food and Puerto Rican dinner dishes, leaving its current status unclear.
Elsewhere in the neighborhood, Chocobar Cortes shuttered after a string of burglaries, according to owner Carlos Cortes. That space was later reborn as Nourish, a nonprofit-owned restaurant that served its first official dinner on Aug. 8, 2025, with a mission of preserving a dining option in the South Bronx and supporting other local businesses. Eater notes the broader South Bronx dining scene is being reshaped by development and urban-renewal projects, pointing to newer entries like Melrose's Minato, which opened in 2023 with Japanese cuisine, and Mott Haven's Mottley Kitchen, a Moroccan American cafe known for grain bowls and vegan soup. Longtime staple Pitusa Bakery, open since 1995, remains a fixture through all the change.
