Tag: wine

Avondale Estates has a new neighborhood gathering spot: the Book Bird, a recently relocated and expanded independent bookstore at the Dale. It pairs carefully curated shelves and gifts with a full coffee shop and a thoughtfully programmed wine bar. Owned by Brittany Smith and Amie Waltzer, the space invites visitors to linger—whether browsing for books or settling in with a cup of joe.

Most restaurants build menus around food. Under Pressure builds them around wine. For their upcoming wine bar, Michelin award–winning sommelier Juan Fernando Cortés (the Chastain) and Adam Berlin (Buena Vida Tapas Bar and Chicheria) will design its menu by choosing wines first, then creating dishes designed specifically to match those flavors.

Though many consider it a recent fad, orange wine is actually crafted using an ancestral technique first developed centuries ago in Georgia (the Eastern European country). Propelled by a renewed global interest in low-intervention, low-impact wine practices, which the style often aligns with, orange wine is undergoing a resurgence, especially in Atlanta.

“I think it’s very strange that the expectation is, if you are at a wine bar, you are going to get some flatbread—some, like, uninspired food,” says Madeira Park partner Tim Willard, a well-traveled sommelier who opened the Poncey-Highland spot with Miller Union’s Steven Satterfield and Neal McCarthy. “But you are there for wine, and the snacks are just to kind of keep you full or get your palate salted so the wine tastes better. We had no interest in that.”

James Beard Award-winning chef Terry Koval, owner of the Deer and the Dove and B-side in Decatur, launched his newest venture: a wine and amaro bar called Fawn. At just 35 seats, its designed to be intimate and inviting. Located next to Café Alsace, it offers a flexible menu easily allowing guests to stop in for a drink and snack, full meal, or dessert and nightcap.

More than 65 esteemed winemakers converge upon Atlanta this weekend, celebrating food, drink, and art. Now in its 33rd year, the High Museum Atlanta Wine Auction has raised more than $41 million for the museum. Tickets are still available for tonight’s event under the tents at Atlantic Station.

New Year’s parties are all about popping that special bottle of bubbly. Whether it’s champagne, cava, or a pet nat sparkler from Portugal, the sound of the bottle go pop! is an unmatched, ceremonious welcome to the year ahead. But it doesn’t need to be limited to alcohol. The N.A. sparkling wines I sampled at Soberish were still accompanied by that joyous cork pop.

Joshua Fryer is passionate about food and wine. Although most Atlantans know him as a front-of-house guy—he served as general manager and beverage director at 8Arm—Fryer graduated from culinary school and worked in kitchens prior to finding a home behind the bar. By founding Long Snake wine bar, Fryer is revisiting his original passion, serving a tight menu (primarily small plates) and Lo-Fi wines, with vinyl playing in the background.

Owners Adam Rosenfelt and Maureen Meulen recently announced plans for AlcoHall, an aptly named, first-to-Atlanta drinkery. Initially, it will house seven stalls, each pouring a distinct type of alcohol, from Japanese whisky to South African wine.