| rev:text
| - Well now. I didn't think the wine bar concept had any new tricks up its sleeve, but leave it to owners Emily Rieve and Lindsay Schoenemann to prove me wrong. Wine bars are a dime a dozen, but I've never seen a setup like this. Follow along with me: a self serve wine bar with wine taps serving mostly Arizona based wines along with cheese and dessert boards you can build yourself? I can speak from experience that Arizona has some great wines that can hold their own against the beloved Pacific coast and European brands, but I've never seen a wine bar showcase them so effusively. I walked into this crazy experiment a bit confused, but I came away convinced that this concept will be a winner.
You'll find Genuwine on the bottom floor of the Union apartments on the southwest corner of 1st Avenue and Roosevelt. The interior is mostly a modern urban look, but with the comforts and the feel similar to that of a neighborhood coffee house. Seating is a mix of bar, table, and living room seating with room for I'd guess 40-50 at most. Believe it or not I was their first customer on opening day, and as such got the full run down of the operation from the two owners. Here's the deal. You walk to the front register and exchange your credit card for a wine kiosk card. Take the kiosk card over to the wine taps where you'll find two dozen wines to choose from (a pretty equal mix of whites, reds, and roses). Insert the keycard in one of the key slots and choose your wine. Next, choose the size of your wine portion by pressing one of the three buttons above the wine bottle (the portions are listed on the machine by price). Make sure your wine glass is under the tap, press the portion button, and watch your beverage pour out. A relatively simple concept, but one that will likely take newcomers a couple of tries to get the hang of. Oh and if (like me) you're not a huge wine connoisseur, don't worry. Under each bottle you'll find a description of each wine's flavors so you can make an educated decision. For the record, I got a medium sized pour of Arizona Angel Red Blend. A nice smooth red with some slight berry notes. They also have full bottles of wine for sale and I should also note they also have a couple of beers on tap (today they had Lumberyard, Mudshark, and Four Peaks brews on tap).
Now how about some bites to go with that wine? The build your own cheese board checklists are helpfully provided wherever you choose to sit in the restaurant. Grab a pencil and check which cheeses, meats, crackers, and other sides you want on your board. I'm of course the ambitious one so I got two cheeses (aged cheddar and gruyere), two meats (salami and prosciutto), assorted crackers, as well as dates and mixed nuts. Both meats were sliced and cured perfectly and the cheese, crackers, and nuts were all solid. But for me the standout items were the dates. They're grown locally and absolutely fantastic. To round it all out, I grabbed one of their dessert boards. I went as follows: Cinnamon Peanut Butter, Cherries, Butter Cookies, and Buttermilk Blue cheese. I'll admit blue cheese isn't my favorite so that didn't wow me, but the peanut butter went great with the cookies and the cherries were a pleasant (but not too tart) conclusion.
Total cost for the glass of wine, customized cheese board, dessert board, tax and tip came to just under $40. Admittedly I went all out with the cheese and dessert boards so take that price with a grain of salt. For most people a couple glasses of wine and single board will probably set you back for less than $20. Emily and Lindsay are absolutely delightful and super enthusiastic about Downtown Phoenix and their new business. Close friends and ex-teachers with Midwestern roots, Emily and Lindsay have brought forth a fresh look to the traditional wine bar by incorporating a do it yourself setup with an emphasis on local Arizona wineries. Welcome to Downtown, ladies. I've got a feeling the locals are gonna love it.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)