Daniel B.
Yelp
Vino Venue is the home of the Atlanta Wine School. While wine is the business' main focus, there's also a restaurant, cooking school, and private event space. The business opened in October 2012, hidden in a corner of the Georgetown Shopping Center (Kroger) just outside the perimeter, right off I-285 exit 30 (Chamblee Dunwoody Road).
If you love wine, you'll probably like this place. They offer over 200 wines by the bottle which, to me, is an overwhelming amount. You can sign up for a membership into their wine club to get first dibs on new wine selections, special pricing, discounts, free tastings and more. There's a wine bar, wine classes, a retail store, and Enomatic machines if you want to sample or try wines in smaller and more affordable servings.
I think the Enomatic machines are really neat. There are three of them, one outfitted with white wines, one with reds, and one with premium wines. If you're not familiar with Enomatic machines, they are automatic wine dispensing machines that allow you to pour 1-oz, 2.5-oz, and 5-oz servings of wine into a glass while preserving (not allowing any oxygen into) the remaining wine inside the bottle and keeping it at the appropriate temperature. Vino Venue's Enomatic machines serve 8 wines each (32 wines on the Enomatic machines total).
Anyone can sign up for a Vino Venue card and load it with money. This can only be done in-store. You can't load a card online. You insert your chip-read card into the Enomatic machine and select the wine and serving size you want. Prices vary by wine, of course, but to give you an idea, I tried a 1-oz serving of Cooper & Thief's red wine blend (aged for 3 months in bourbon whiskey barrels) for $2.40. A 2.5-oz serving was $6 and 5.0 oz was $12. I think a 750 ml (about 25 oz) bottle costs about $30 plus tax, so you are paying a small premium for the convenience of the individual servings, but you don't have to commit to a whole bottle. This is a great way to sample and try several different wines.
Food-wise, Vino Venue serves French and New American cuisine. For example, they offer items like truffle mac and cheese ($11), duck confit flatbread ($12), coq au vin ($16), and ratatouille ($11). Appetizers and shareable plates typically range in price from $8-16 and entrees $10-20+ each. They offer cheese and charcuterie too. The Executive Chef is Patric Good who's previously worked at restaurants such as Chicken and the Egg (Marietta) and Max's Wine Dive (Midtown).
Cooking classes run the gamut from French and European cuisine to Southern food to even sushi rolling. Chef Melissa Pelkey Haas is the lead event chef and she teaches many of the classes. The classes run about $80 per class (some more, some less) and include multi-course meals with wine pairings. Vino Venue has a nice classroom with a demonstration kitchen.
I attended the Discover France event this past Sunday, September 24, 2017 (http://vinovenue.com/shop/Discover-France.html). This was a 2.5-hour food and wine tasting event with a smorgasbord of French food and unlimited tastings of over 70 different types of wine. Tickets were $79 per person. It was a well-attended event; I think perhaps a sellout. All hands were on deck for this event. Chef Patric, chef Melissa, and the rest of the crew were on-hand to make sure everyone had a good time.
Food included:
* Duck rilletes
* Vichyssoise soup
* Salmon mousse
* Chicken liver pate
Cheese:
* Fleur Vert (goat)
* Fourme d'Ambert (cow)
* Comte (cow)
* Brillat Savarin (cow)
* Oussau-Iraty (sheep)
* Mimolette (cow)
Charcuterie:
* Duck mousse
* Pate de Campagne (pork)
* Saucisson (pork)
* Quiche Lorraine
* Pissaladierre (French anchovy flatbread)
* Gougeres
Dessert:
* Raspberry mousse
* Croissants
* Chocolate croissants
* Pot de creme (dark chocolate)
There was also rare steak being sliced and served (with mustard and horseradish), but I missed out. It seemed to disappear within the first 30-45 minutes of the event. In general, I enjoyed the food. Aside from the imported cheeses, just about everything else was made in-house. My favorites were the Vichyssoise (leek, onion, potato, cream soup), mousses and pates, the Quiche Lorraine, and the gougeres. The Vichyssoise was flavorful, the quiche was savory, and the gourgeres were soft, cheesy, and delectable. The cheese and charcuterie were served with a variety of crackers/biscuits along with a yummy Croatian fig spread (Dalmatia).
Along with the Cooper & Thief red wine blend, I also sampled Lede de Labegorce Margaux and Domaine Bulliat Morgan "Nature" Gamay (2016). These were also red wines. I'm not a wine connoisseur, but I prefer reds and I thought these were delicious. Thank you to chef Melissa for recommending them to me.
All of the staff I met were nice including partner/manager Rob Van Leer. Overall, I had a good time at the event.
Along with the bar and dining room inside, Vino Venue also has covered outdoor seating with tables and cushioned patio furniture.