Monalto Wine Tasting

Located just north of Atlanta in Dunwoody, GA, Vino Venue is an extremely impressive facility which offers wine tasting and education with world class sommeliers, cooking classes and team challenges with professional chefs, and the perfect atmosphere for almost any occasion.

“Vino Venue is a new multiple choice wine bar and retail emporium that offers shopping, tasting, dining, education and entertainment under one roof."
ATLANTA JOURNAL & CONSTITUTION

Hosted by Michael Bryan, Managing Partner of Vino Venue and Founder of Atlanta Wine School, we were welcomed into a world of wine. Michael invited us to partake in a wine tasting competition during lunch and, of course, we were more than happy to oblige!

First up, we were each presented with two samples of white wine, and were asked to guess the type of wine, the region each was from, and which one of the two glasses was more expensive. The only piece of information we were given was that the two glasses were both the same grape. One point was awarded for each correct answer. (Thanks to plenty of prior sampling!) Paula was the white wine queen and took the points in round one.

A bistro cuisine style lunch was served by the friendly, knowledgeable and professional staff and, of course, was delicious (we recommend the bacon-wrapped jalapenos as an appetizer!). Then it was on to round two of the wine challenge with the Monalto team’s competitive spirit in full flow now! This time it was red wine, and Kevin’s knowledge of reds (or complete luck and guesswork!) proved the difference leaving a tiebreaker situation between the Breed siblings.

The tiebreaker was a one question, true-or-false, winner takes all ($25 in Vino Venue credit and office bragging rights!). With a perfect poker face, Michael asked “True or false: there is at least one winery in each of the fifty states.” With the answer “true” Kevin claimed victory in the Monalto wine challenge.

A simple, small scale lunch had turned into an awesome team bonding activity where each of us had plenty of laughs, gained a valuable wine education, and created lasting memories.

We highly recommend you give it a try.