Vinology Bottle Shop + Tasting Bar
It should come as no surprise to readers that I really love the block of Bissonnet between Morningside and Greenbriar in the Southampton area. Besides a quality frame shop, a book store that specializes in murder and high crimes and misdemeanors and specialty shops, there are three wonderful watering holes including Under the Volcano, Baileson Brewing Company and, the subject of this article, Vinology Bottle Shop + Tasting Bar, 2314 Bissonnet Street, 77005.
Vinology celebrated its 8th year in December and deserves some recognition as a truly “go to” wine establishment for a total wine experience. It combines the best of two worlds, a retail wine shop with an amazing selection of international wines to sample and purchase, with the added luxury of having expert staff to explain the complexities of each bottle and asking enough questions of personal preferences to find the perfect fit for each customer. Naturally, there is no commitment to buy a bottle, one can simply sit at the large tasting bar and enjoy some really wonderful pours and pick the brains of the friendly and knowledgeable servers and staff.
Vinology provides carefully curated weekly wine flights and wine by the glass at their tasting bar. They also provide wine seminars and focused tastings led by producers and industry professionals. It has a two tiered a monthly Wine Club with exclusive access to special discounts member-only events.
It has a huge selection of hundreds of wines from around the world, primarily from small, family-run wineries. In addition to major wine producing countries like France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Australia and the US, they carry selections from more esoteric and exciting places such as Turkey, Mexico, Uruguay and Serbia. Occasionally even some wines from Croatia!
Vinology is the perfect place to host a private party because they can tailor it specifically to the customer’s needs. It has a small, semi-private space that is great for groups of up to 30 people, or you can rent out the entire shop if one has a bigger guest list or is looking to host something more exclusive. They also allow outside food or catering to be brought in. General Manager, Sarah Brennen, is a CSW (Certified Specialist of Wine) who works one-on-one with each of the food bookings from beginning to end to make sure that your party at Vinology perfectly suits your needs.
Vinology has a sister restaurant, Bombetta, at the corner of Alabama and Timmons. They have the same owners, Patrick & Emily McCray, share some staff, and carry many of the same Italian wines that are available.
Quoting from their website – “Our passion for discovering, pairing and sharing wine began over 16 years ago at Divino, our Italian trattoria in Houston’s Montrose District. In addition to our restaurant wine program, we created an innovative retail program with pop-up wine sales, producer tastings, wine dinners and cellar sourcing—all based on the idea that the best way to sell wine is to allow customers to taste before they buy. The popularity of these programs prompted the conception of Vinology.”
Vinology hosts free tastings with various wine representatives nearly every Thursday. The tastings are casual and at your own pace, which is the perfect way to try new wines, learn about new regions, and chat with other customers. They offer a 10% discount on the purchase of wines featured that evening.
Finally, Vinology and their neighbor, Baileson Brewing Company, promote the concept that I call “Cross Pollination” in that one can bring a pint of beer to Vinology or a glass of wine to Baileson’s and each establishment will gladly bring the glasses back to the other. Also, the food truck menu at Baileson’s is available at Vinology as well. Often we have been at the tasting bar and food truck steaks etc. are being delivered for Vinology customers.
Please consider stopping by. I know that you will not be disappointed.
