Wine Premiere Green Bay, WI

Restaurant Review of Vino Wine Bar in Green Bay, WI

By Patricia Summerfield
January 6, 2011
I went to check out Vino Wine Bar which is housed in the retail store, Wine Premiere. It is located in Bellevue on the far east side of Green Bay near 172. As you walk in you are hit with optimum class and style. The interior delivers good taste with an inviting and warm atmosphere. There is an array of seating styles to choose from: high top tables, low tables, seating at their small bar or two cozy sitting areas in the back corners which houses a leather sofa and comfy looking chairs. Hanging from the ceiling are a variety of paper lanterns, a few musical ornamental instruments, and unique lights made of empty wine bottles located above the bar. The flooring is all done with hardwood and next to the exposed brick side wall are shelves filled with a huge array of enticing clear wrapped wine gift baskets available for purchase.

The menu consists of mainly tapas and desserts all featured with top-drawing ingredients and helpful suggested wine pairings for each item. My server was friendly and very attentive and brought out ice water which was served in a crystal clear medium sized glass. For my selection of tapas I chose four. I began with the beef tenderloin medallions for $10.00 which is served medium rare with three dipping sauces of gorgonzola, mushroom, and red pepper. Second I chose stuffed mushroom caps with crab meat for $8.00; there is also a choice of sausage for $7.00. Rounding my selections were the classic bruschetta for $7.00 with herb seasoned tomato, baby mozzarella, pesto, red onion and balsamic reduction, and their wild mushroom and goat cheese bruschetta for $8.00 with roma tomatoes, fresh goat cheese, mushroom, fresh basil, and drizzled with balsamic reduction. All the tapas were beautifully presented and were all served on white plates which accented the colors of the varieties of all the different ingredients.

The beef tenderloin medallions had nice sized pieces and all were cooked to a nicely consistent medium rare; they were very tender but not well seasoned. The three dipping sauces added flavor to the tenderloin, the mushroom sauce had a good earthy flavor, the gorgonzola cheese sauce had a deliciously creamy salty flavor, and the red pepper sauce tasted like fresh pureed pepper with not much added seasoning to taste. The stuffed crab mushroom caps were a variety of sizes from large to medium and small. The mushrooms had a nice delicate flavor and were made with fresh crab. The classic bruschetta had many nice sized pieces of crostini bread placed on top with thick slices of mozzarella cheese and heaped over with diced red onion, tomatoes with pesto and thick balsamic reduction which was drizzled over everything; it tasted wonderful. The wild mushroom and goat cheese bruschetta tasted fabulous; the goat cheese was of good quality and permeated well with all the other ingredients. As an added enjoyment Vino Wine Bar features different solo musicians and this particular evening Chris Salerono was performing and sang contemporary and Brazilian jazz. She had a soothing smooth voice which was very relaxing but not too loud so that you could still carry on a conversation.

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Bar Review of Vino Wine Bar in Green Bay, WI

By END
November 11, 2010
The gorgeous weather this week has been awesome. I have no problem with Mother Nature forgetting to cover Green Bay with snow and ice. Even though the days are filled with warm sunshine, the nights keep getting cooler. And on cold nights, sometimes a beer simply won't do. This is when I crave red wines. Wine goes right to the head and heats up my body, two things I really enjoy. So on a chilly Saturday night, Vino Wine Bar was greeting me with open arms, and a bottle of wine.

Vino is located in the Bellevue neighborhood and it's actually the wine bar inside Wine Premiere. Wine Premiere is the local go-to wine shop. If you haven't already been there, then I suggest you go. Not only is it a wine shop, but you can park you and your new purchase in their bar.

On the night when my girlfriend and I went, there was live music playing. You can check out their website, call them or look on our event calendar to see when the next acoustic show will be. For the most part it's mostly on the weekend nights and runs from 7PM – 10PM. The bar part is set up in the back and they have a pretty decent sized bar with plenty of seats surrounding it. The lights hanging above the bar are old wine bottles, which look really cool. There are also hi top tables and regular sized tables if you prefer. We sat at one of the hi tops with a perfect view of the crooner, Kurt Gunn, (who by the way rocks) and a server came right up immediately and handed us menus. They have bottled beer, martinis and other specialty drinks and of course, WINE. The martinis will run you $8 and the wine starts at $6 and goes up. As for what kind of bottled beer, they have: Blue Moon, Bud Light Lime, Spotted Cow, Fat Tire, Bell's Lager, Leinies, New Castle, Clausthauler, Guinness and Redbridge. I was pleasantly surprised to see Redbridge. It's a gluten free beer and it tastes delicious. You just don't see it around town very much. And if you're more in the mood for wine, you're in luck! They have a good selection of wines by the glass, or if you see something in their wine shop that looks better you can have that too. If you do go with the second option, be advised, there is a corkage fee of $15. But I think you'll easily be able to find something for everyone on their selected menu. We arrived on the early side, closer to 8, and by 9 the place was really crowded. If you want good seats, get there early!

I know that this place is actually a wine shop but they did a great job creating a warm environment for a wine bar too. My partner in crime and I had a nice warm night on a cold chilly evening. We will be back.

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