February 13, 2012
Wine While Traveling: Vino Volo
Recent weeks have brought me to Tampa, Frankfurt, Monte Carlo and Miami. I’m a big fan of wine, but let’s face it, the selection is just not that great on airplanes. And if I am going to be paying $7 for a small bottle of wine, I want to enjoy drinking it!
Usually I travel in the morning, but my trip to Tampa brought me to Newark Airport in NJ (just outside of NYC) in the afternoon and I headed straight to Vino Volo. Based in the San Francisco Bay area, this company is located in many major airports and they take their wine seriously. Current airports include this massive list:
- Baltimore (BWI)
- Detroit (DTW)
- New York (JFK)
- Newark (EWR)
- Oakland (OAK)
- Orange County (SNA)
- Philadelphia (PHL)
- Sacramento (SMF)
- San Antonio (SAT)
- San Francisco (SFO)
- Seattle (SEA)
- Washington, DC (IAD)
Straight from their website, they describe their concept as:
“Vino Volo aims to revolutionize how people experience wine. Each store is a comfortable post-security retreat for air travelers, combining a cozy wine lounge, restaurant, and boutique wine shop. Vino Volo (derived from “wine flight” in Italian) offers wines from around the world by the glass, in tasting flights, and by the bottle for guests to take home or have shipped. Operating successfully in airports across the nation, Vino Volo is the only airport wine bar and wine retail concept with a depth of experience and a proven track record.” www.vinovolo.com
I found the bartender to be extremely knowledgeable and friendly; someone you can really discuss the qualities of wine with. The menu offers small bites that are suggested to pair with white, red and sweet wines. The wine list is extensive for an airport establishment, offering glasses or carefully arranged flights. Each glass or flight is served with a helpful coaster indicating the wine, cost of a bottle, country of origin, winery, grape, year, tasting notes and suggested food pairings. Very helpful if you want to pocket this and take it with you on your trip to remember later!
Even more helpful is the fact that you can purchase bottles to go. Before you head out for a trip, invest in a bottle you know will be good for your hotel room or resort, don’t pay the expensive fees there! They also produce small, airplane-size bottles to purchase individually. Now, I thought I was told that you could bring these to drink on the airplane. The flight attendant told me otherwise, so be careful!
All in all, at the airports listed above, a good wine experience is waiting out there for you. Bon Voyage!
