Greensboro’s Own: Vin Vin (A Most Unusual Wine Shop)

A new element I’m adding to this site is periodic profiles of locally owned business establishments, artists and characters.

In my first such entry we find all three.

Vin Vin is a wine shop. But it is not what one usually expects from an establishment devoted to the grape. No pretense. No attitude. No ferns. Just really well-priced wine and two guys who know their stuff.

Not only do I never feel like an ignoramus when I enter, I sometimes feel overdressed. It is a most informal place – cinder block, concrete, lumber. And the whole space is kept at the ideal temperature for wine. The lighting is low tech. There’s usually a stack of empty boxes in the corner. And you you have to drive to the back of an industrial area to get there. Just climb the metal steps, ring the buzzer and enter.

But once you’re in, you’ll find Rob and/or Richard. And they really know wine.

They’ll take as much time as you need to help you come up with what you want – even if you don’t know what that may be. That’s what my situation usually is. I don’t know much about wine. So I’ll stop in and Rob will pick out a few bottles for me. And while they carry all price ranges, he knows that if the bottle costs more than about $10 I’m probably going to pass.

I’m a cheap date.

So around Rob goes, alternately talking to me and to himself, figuring out what I should try this time. He also has a record of what I’ve bought previously, so when I tell him “I really liked that white in the tall, skinny bottle” he can figure out which one that might have been.

Rob is apt to break into a Gaelic dialect, start explaining his take on the writings of Melville, and ask about your newly married daughter, all in one paragraph. You can sit on the red leather sofa and shoot the breeze while a wine expert loads up a box of various vintages for you.

They’ll even deliver to your home – for free. Even for one bottle.

There are regular tastings. They’ll have wine tastings in your home. And if they don’t have it, they’ll get it for you.

They carry a few wine accessories but only ones they feel good about. And they carry a very few food items. Rob says they’re planning on adding fine cheeses. I hope that happens. Richard really knows his foods, they both know their wines, they remember your name when you walk in, and it’s the only wine store into which I ever walked where I didn’t feel intimidated.

Rob and Richard are innovative, knowledgeable and adorable.

And they have wine!

Drop in and tell them Casey says “hey”. And that I’m digging that Wente white.

Tagged as: Greensboro, Greensboro merchants, Greensboro wine shop, local business, Vin Vin