May 4, 2022
Bar à Vins opens in NoDa on Thursday
The wine bar/shop will serve curated, small-producer offerings
Bar a Vins is meant to look like the kind of bar you can find off an alley of an old European city. Photo by Blake Pope
The retail shop and wine bar serves snacks ranging from caviar to potato chips. Photo by Blake Pope
After years of hanging out together drinking wine at home, sommeliers Jeff Kellogg and Natalie Stewart are opening up the wine bar they wished they could go to instead. Bar à Vins opens on Thursday, May 5 in the heart of NoDa, at the intersection of North Davidson and 35th streets. The wine bar will serve the same style of lesser-known producers that Stewart is known for curating, leading to her winning our first UPPY Award for sommelier of the year.
Kellogg also has a background in hospitality, though he has most recently worked helping his wife, Stephanie, run her wine distribution business, Kellogg Selections.
Both Kellogg and Stewart will be frequently on the floor at Bar à Vins to help guests select wines to purchase and bring home, or to enjoy in the wine bar. The wine bar will also serve a few food items, including tinned seafood, cheese and charcuterie, and potato chips, as well as caviar.
“You’re going to have that sommelier experience that you would get in a restaurant — we’re going to help you pick out bottles,” Stewart says. “But then you’re paying retail pricing, and get to sit at a table, sort of that retail/wine bar combo.”
The interior of the wine bar was designed by Kindred Studio, a new business arm launched by Katy Kindred of Kindred Restaurant, and was inspired by the unassuming wine bars you find in old European cities, like Paris or Rome.
The retail hours are noon to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; the bar will be open those days from 4 to 10 p.m. Both the wine bar and retail shop will be open from noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday.
