The Touchable Tasting Menu

David Rockwell, the outgoing designer of the hip W Hotels and popular Mohegan Sun casino, strolls around the floor of the new Adour restaurant in New York's tony St. Regis hotel. He halts and zeroes in on the pièce de résistance of his innovative design: an interactive wine bar. "We are trying to make wine approachable but not dumb it down," says Rockwell.

I sidle up to the bar, which opens on Jan. 28, and Adour's 29-year-old wine director, Thomas Combescot, proudly shows off his new showpiece. As he runs his hands over the bar's stretched goatskin surface like a croupier handling cards, sparkles of light project from the ceiling onto the bar's surface, following the sommelier's every move. "This is your power," he says in his velvety French accent, drawing curlicues with his fingers. "This is your magic."