Home > The M.O. > Archives > 2008 > December > 10 > Entry
Your A-List: Best Place to Sip Wine
The wave of condos downtown, as well as on the east side and SoCo, has been accompanied by an explosion of wine bars.
While these new bars have seen varying degrees of success and patronage, you’d have to drive a little further north to find the winner of the Your A-List poll for Best Place to Sip Wine.
A little over a mile up Guadalupe St. from The University of Texas, bordering Hyde Park, you will find Vino Vino, winner with 19 percent of the vote.
Opened in October of 2006 by Jeff Courington and Kelly Bell, the refined yet warm and inviting bar offers tables for groups of all sizes and an impressive collection of over 300 bottles of wine, priced from $17 - $80. The establishment, which initially offered only full bottles of wine, has since expanded to include wines by the glass ($6 - $15) as well as a delicious menu that can meet any appetite, with offerings ranging from small plates (cheese assortment, calamari, charcuteries, etc.) to full meals (pasta, beef short ribs, fish).
The wait staff is always affable and eager to assist the non connoisseurs, with the house’s “random red” (a daily house selection ranging in price) often serving well as an introduction for those who are intimidated by wine lists or simply indecisive. (For you beer lovers, Vino Vino also offers Real Ale, Chimay and Full Sail drafts.)
Outside of being Hyde Park’s preferred evening destination for dates, groups of friends and families looking to sip wine, the folks at Vino Vino also offer Saturday tastings from 3 p.m. - 5 p.m. and larger-scale events, such as its springtime Pink Fest, where they offer samplings of 44 roses, and its fall Turkey Fest.
This weekend the good folks at Vino Vino will be celebrating the fizzy stuff, with its Oodles of Bubbles Fest ‘08, which allows customers to pay $10 to sample all 41 of the bar’s bubbly offerings. Ooddles of Bubbles takes place in Vino Vino’s parking lot this Saturday from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Vino Vino
4119 Guadalupe
465.9282
Others receiving votes
- Cru, 14 percent
- Malaga, 14 percent
- Cork & Co., 12 percent
- Uncorked, 8 percent
- Vespaio, 7 percent
- Wink, 6 percent
- Green Pastures, 5 percent
- House Wine, 5 percent
- La Traviata, 3 percent
- Enoteca, 2 percent
- Zoot, 3 percent
- Saba, 1 percent
Write-in: Vino 100, The Grove, Salt Lick
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By carmella
July 11, 2010 9:31 AM | Link to this
Oodles of Bubbles Fest ‘08, which allows customers to pay $10 any chance that could happen again