Another key element in the design of the business was to keep the pretension and intimidation about wine out of the equation. "There's nothing more intimidating to a number of people than selecting a wine blindly from a list the size of War & Peace. I purposely wanted to keep the list at a manageable size -- the sweet spot seems to be no more than 20 wines, changed every couple of weeks. Also, we do something that I think is pretty revolutionary, albeit pretty sensible: we offer a free taste of any of the wines before someone commits to a glass. Even with all the education and guidance in the world, you still don't know blindly if you're going to love something or really not care for it. We take that element of fear out of the equation. Who better to sell you on wines than you?"

"But, I believe the thing that really sets us apart is the intimacy of our place. We aren't simply "wine jockeys," refilling glasses and disappearing behind the bar. We are interested in conversing, learning, sharing information, and genuinely getting to know our customers. My philosophy is to endear our customers to our wines, to those wineries, and to us."  ...Mike Kallay

Read more about us & the business in a great article by The Reader...