Wine shop and tasting bar has lots to offer visitors

Sarah Cook, reno.com
February 28, 2007

Who doesn’t love a tasty dish of assorted cheeses, grapes, and sourdough bread to accompany a fancy wine? Better yet, who doesn’t love a FREE tasty dish of assorted cheeses, grapes, and sourdough bread to accompany a fancy wine? Free food is always a plus, especially when it so nicely compliments the endless quantities of wines that are available for consumption at the Vintage Wine Shop and Tasting Bar.

So first off, you’ve got your free food. That in itself is enough reason to hang out at this place. Secondly, you’ve got entertainment, and not in its basic form, mind you. At every table inside The Vintage, there’s a deck of cards, each packed full of random questions to keep you and your posse entertained while you indulge in more than 50 different wines by the glass, not including the hundreds of bottles available for purchase as well.

Now, these aren’t your every day tabletop questions, so prepare to be a bit thrown off. The first card I pulled asked me what I miss about being single. What a jerk! How about what I miss about being in a relationship? Luckily, as the card-pulling proceeded, the questions got easier to answer, and eventually, they succeeded in starting a huge discussion between myself and two friends over whether or not assisted suicide is OK.

Alright. So far, you’ve got your free food, your endless options of wine, and your make-everyone-talk-their-heads-off tabletop card questions. What else does The Vintage have to offer? Besides providing a comfy couch for guests to sit on, they are also a fabulously-stocked gift shop, full of wine memorabilia and anything and everything you could think of that has to do with grapes.

They’ve got these awesome gel- based wine candles that seriously take eons to burn through, as well as hi-tech corkscrews, hats that say “The Vintage” on them, table games (yes, that’s right, the question cards are available for purchase,) and really evil 8-balls that have yet to say something positive in response to one of my questions.

My favorite thing about this place is (if you decide to drink wines by the ounce or glass, instead of by the bottle), you get to purchase a wine card that provides you with any given dollar amount to spend on tasting various wines, as you literally just jump from spot to spot, tasting bottle after bottle of absolute deliciousness. It’s really a blast. My personal favorite is this Chardonnay they have…I’ve still never figured out the name of it, but I can tell you that it’s the only white wine available for tasting that has an eagle in a purple sweater hangin’ out on the front of the label. If you like sweet wines, that’s most definitley the one to go for.

The Vintage also has wine dinners that they put together frequently with the Blue Plate restaurant, as well as weekly wine tastings for all those educated winos out there who take pride in the various flavors of the aged grape. Basically, this place is totally awesome, and if you haven’t been there yet, what in the world are you waiting for? Get down there and help contribute to this place’s business, so they no longer have to charge a $5 corking fee to stay alive.



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