Red Red Wine

The downtown scene is about to get hipper with the spring opening of Red Red Wine at 189B Main Street, the former site of American Craftworks Collection.

“We feel that wine is like music: emotional and intellectual,” said Red Red Wine owner and wine buyer, Brian Bolter. “The wine industry can be so intimidating. Wine shops have the equivalent of sherpas guiding you.”

Bolter envisions offering an accessible, laid back exploration, which should come as no surprise given that he’s made a career out of being approachable and informed: he’s the news anchor for Washington, DC’s WTTG-TV.

“My background is as a storyteller. I’ll tell about the labeling, the many regions, the family who runs the winery, the things that will help people connect with what’s in the bottle. We’re the filter, tasting the wines for you. You can’t go out and taste a thousand wines to figure out what’s good,” Bolter said.

When asked about a target age group for the establishment, Bolter shook his head. “Age isn’t the issue—focus and interest is. Millenials, second to baby boomers, are the second largest group of wine drinkers today. Twenty to 30 year-olds are open to exploring, and the baby boomers tend to know their wines.”

And everyone is “focused on value. Both the Internet and the economy have made consumers more savvy,” he added.

As for the target consumer? “The locals, tourists, legislature, when they’re in session, and employees who work around here are important to us,” Bolter said.

“Annapolis does two things very well: white-tablecloth fine dining and pub food,” Bolter observed. “It’s hard to find a great salad and artisanal cheeses and chocolates. Healthy gourmet is very different” than the standard fare currently available in the area. He wants Red Red Wine to provide an alternative “middle ground: California cuisine, healthy gourmet food. We’re not going to have a deep fryer.” His wife Lisa is “in charge of the menu and the back of the house."

“We’re a restaurant, a wine café. We want a coffee house feel; there will be an espresso machine. We think we’re going to be the most technologically advanced on Main Street. We’ll have free wifi and extra outlets. People can come here for coffee late in the morning, get a little work done in the afternoon,” Bolter said.

Upon entering the “funky and unique” space, patrons will be greeted by an entry lounge with soft seating. Antiques, including candelabras and chandeliers have been selected, and there are plans for a wine cellar room with a private seating area with shelves of reserve bottles lining the walls.

The long narrow space is slated to seat 59 people, and there will be a retail component as well, where people pick up a bottle. Wines will be organized by flavor—bold, bright, dry, earthy, and so on—not by region or type of grape.

Décor will feature an “Eighteenth-Century / Victorian / New Orleans / recording studio / rock star vibe,” Bolter described.

Bold colored walls—think lime green and deep violet—will be dramatically painted by uplighting installed in the hardwood floors. Softer accents include oriental rugs and plush fabric seating.

Red Red Wine is slated to employee between 10 and 15 people. The hours are currently set from 11 a.m. to midnight, but “We’re looking at a 2:00 a.m. license, and board members are trying to accommodate establishments like us.” It’s tentatively scheduled to open May 1.

VIN 909 WineCafé

“VIN” is French for “wine,” and “it’s also short for vintage, which describes the vintage house we’re in,” owner and general manager Alex Manfredonia explained of VIN 909 WineCafé’s 909 Bay Ridge Avenue location, previously the Wild Orchid Café.

VIN 909 could open in early spring, depending on the pace of construction, Alex said. He is co-owner along with his father Chuck Manfredonia. Chef Justin Moore graduated from the California Culinary Academy and has worked in restaurants in New York and San Francsico.

Chuck acknowledges that it takes courage to launch a new restaurant in a distressed economy, but they’re not restaurant biz rookies, either. “It’s risky, and we’re not cocky about it. After all, between the three of us we have 80 years of experience among us.”

“I’ve taken my first-level sommelier,” Alex said. “The 20 or 25 wines available by the glass don’t have a focus on one region. The wine list is very global, including Argentinian wine. They are good wines at a good price point, and they’ll pair with Justin’s food.”

Alex said he recently dined out with a relative who was overwhelmed by a visit to a wine house. “I really liked it, but my uncle isn’t that into wine so he was really intimidated. We don’t want VIN 909 to be like that.”

In addition to boutique wines, “We’ll also have beer from local breweries, and Justin and I are both big Belgian beer fans, so we’ll have that as well. We’re a wine café stylistically, and the main focus is on the menu. Sixty percent of our focus is on food, 40% on drinks."

Menu offerings will include sandwiches and small plates.

Moore explained, “We want to keep the prices down, and the small plates mean that people can try a lot of little things: salads, fish crudo. The seasonal menu will change every three months. It will feature some local organic” ingredients in a cuisine that he describes as “new American with European roots.”

Justin and Alex met in California, epicenter of US wine industry a place where they both deepened an affinity for Mediterranean food, a theme of their menu, “which will feature Italian and Southern France influences.”

Chuck pointed out that “the food is intended to be approachable with what I call, ‘eclectic tendencies.’ It will make people feel comfortable. It won’t be esoteric or ‘foodie food.’ The brick oven is for flatbread pizzas. Real flatbreads are not round like a pizza. They’re free shaped and truly flat, sometimes to the point of being thin, crisp and cracker like.” Planned toppings will include tallegio cheese and chanterelle mushrooms, and a traditional margherita pizza will be available. “Diners will have a full view of the open kitchen, and outdoor patio seating will be available. We’ll have multiple-style seating, booths, banquettes, café tables, and ottomans.”

Alex said he envisions an intimate setting perfect for a chill evening of socializing, and he has the full support of his buddy, Brendan Greeley, who said that he’s excited about VIN 909’s opening because “on the other side of the creek there are plenty of places to go and have a drink and meet someone. But there aren’t many places where I can go and have a no-big-deal date with my wife.”

VIN 909’s mood will be casual, and its interior is currently being fully renovated. It will provide about eight new jobs when it opens.