Below are a few peoples accounts of opening a winer bar:

First, a little background on me. For the past 20 years, I have been a CPA in the Philadelphia and Baltimore areas. I was a partner in a nationwide firm for a period of my career. At age 41, I have decided to pursue my dream and open a wine bar and grille where I can share my passion of food and wine with others. I resigned my position at my CPA firm to do this full time.

My new establishment will be called Domaine Hudson Wine Bar and Grill. We have leased premises in Wilmington that formerly housed several non-descript restaurants in the past. The kitchen is fully equipped but the dining area needs extensive renovations. We have the liquor license application in the works and hope to have that wrapped up as well as the construction renovations in two months and are shooting for an opening date of 10/1/2005.

The menu at Domaine Hudson will focus heavily on smaller, Tapas-style plates and will feature selections of artisanal cheeses and cured meats. Entrees will be limited to 5 or so plus daily specials.

We will offer 30 - 50 wines by the glass, all of which will be available in 1.5, 3.0 and 5.0 oz pours. The by-the-bottle list will initially have approximately 100 choices on it. Our initial inventory will be about 1,200 bottles but we are building climate controlled storage for 3,500 bottles to handle projected future growth. I am actively dealing with many importers whose smaller production, highly rated wines are not currently available yet in Delaware.

I am starting this venture because I am passionate about wine. I am also starting this because I am fed up with a lot of the wine service and ridiculous pricing I see at many nicer restaurants. I refuse to drink overpriced, warm red and overly cold white wines from cheap wine glasses anymore!!!!!!!!!

I still have a lot of work to do on my new venture and many of my initial ideas will change in the next few months. I know and understand that.

However, the following rules (commandments?) regarding our wine service will always be strictly enforced:
1. All wines will be served in a properly sized Riedel or Spiegelau glass.
2. Red wines will be served at 62-65 degrees F.
3. White wines will be served at 55 - 58 degrees F.
4. Champagne and sparkling wines will be served at 45 degrees F.
5. All servers will have tasted all the wines by the glass and will be able to properly describe them and recommend appropriate food pairings for them, or they will ask for additional help from another staff person to make sure you have the best experience.
6. 50% or more of the bottles on the wine list will be priced at less than $50.
7. The higher priced bottles will be the best values (by far)from a wine list price compared to retail. I have a unique pricing and EXTREMELY fair system for this that I will discuss in the near future. I want to reward, not punish, those customers who appreciate the finest wines. You will be treated well with fantastic pricing.
My goal is to have Domaine Hudson be a place where advanced wine connoisseurs such as you can enjoy outstanding wines at realistic prices, paired with creative foods, superior service in an elegant, but relaxed atmosphere. I also want it to be a place where those with lesser wine knowledge can become more informed without being intimidated.

I am posting this message because I welcome your input about additional ways to make Domaine Hudson provide the type of positive, consistent, affordable wine experience we all seek.

I will keep you informed about the status of Domaine Hudson Wine Bar and Grille.

Cheers!
Tom
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Tom Hudson

Wine Bar Manager
Tartine Bakery is opening a wine bar in the Mission at 561 Valencia to be called Bar Tartine.

The menu will be simple, consisting of charcuterie and cheese plates with house made accompaniments to both. A variety of salads and simple "bar food", as well as several plats du jour. We will also have hot pressed sandwiches on the menu as at Tartine Bakery.

We are looking for a full time manager who has previous experience of at least a few years of restaurant management. Knowledge in wines and wine and food pairing is necessary. We do have a wine director at this time, however the manager will have a lot to do with the day-to-day managing of this area, and there is a lot of growth in this area for the right person.

What was the motivation for opening Bar Demi, which is just around the corner from Verbena?

AVR: I just bought so much wine we needed another outlet! No, the idea of opening a wine bar had appealed to Diane for a long time, and a lot of concepts just came together. We had the small space available. We wanted to do more with half bottles, which we feel offer the best value, and are preferable to wines by the glass [read Aaron’s tip on half bottles here]. We had about 30 half bottles on the list and we wanted to bring it up to about 70 (which is what we have now), and we had some aging half bottles in the pipeline. Diane also wanted to do more of an hors d’ouevres selection, which we do for private parties and is very popular. Tasting sizes really made sense in such a small space—you have one burst of flavor that sears across your palate and establishes a memory, and you move on. The menu is different from Verbena’s, but the food is Diane Forley’s and comes out of the same kitchen. It’s a great place to try her food at a lower cost.

AB: I like the fact that Bar Demi is truly a wine bar, not a restaurant that calls itself a wine bar.

AVR: We only offer about a dozen wines by the glass, but the half bottles provide the variety to fairly call it a wine bar, and the food is arranged according to wine types. Everything is in appetizer portions, and the dishes are grouped by three-course tiers for each wine type. What’s gratifying is that the customers have really been up for the adventure. They’re going for the stranger items. I had a couple of weeks where I sold only one glass of Chardonnay a week. I think that describes the type of consumer that is participating with us.

AB: In the six years you’ve been at Verbena, have you observed changes in the tastes of your clientele?

AVR: Yes, certainly a lot of change. Categorically, Chardonnay is no longer our biggest seller, which it once decidedly was. We’re watching the trend towards more red wine, back from more white wine. Liquor has decreased its role, while wine has increased. There is a larger consumption of dessert wines, and of fortified wines, both before and after dinner. People are also drinking more Champagne. And the consumers are more knowledgeable, which sometimes can be a challenge, but in most cases is certainly more rewarding.

Webster's Wine Bar was opened in the Fall of 1994 by two burned-out litigation consultants looking for a lifestyle change. We first dreamt of opening a wine bar while sipping on some simple local wine in a dusty old wine bar near the Cathedral in Seville, Spain while on a leave of absence from our consulting jobs. Upon returning home, we spent months doing research and looking for the right location, finally finding our spot on Webster Street and making the big leap.
It has now been several years since we opened and we've grown significantly since then, yet we still strive to maintain a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere where beginners and experts alike can enjoy a good glass of wine and escape the stress of daily life.

We hope you enjoy every minute at the wine bar, and if you have any suggestions, complaints, or comments, please don't hesitate to tell us - we want to keep you happy and coming back so that our business suits keep hanging in the closet gathering dust, and we thank you for 10 great years!
Cheers!