-RANDOLPH STREET TASTING ROOM
By Lisa Youngblood

A wine bar should offer a comprehensive list combining interesting and unusual selections that might appeal to all levels of wine experience. The staff should be educated yet unpretentious. Wine-friendly snacks should be available to complement the wines and to soak up the alcohol.

The Randolph Street Tasting Room offers all of the above and more. Owners Perry and Brenda Fotopoulos, who have visited wine regions across the globe, have created a “total environment for the enjoyment of wine.” The comfortable second floor couches offer an unparalleled view of the city skyline, while downstairs tasters can choose to belly up to the limestone bar or cozy up at tables for two or in a loveseat. A tasty cheese and charcuterie list presents international selections offered singly, or in flights (cow, sheep, or goat) accompanied appropriately and attractively with fruits, nuts, and breads. Recently the Tasting Room added a lovely menu of light fare including a Provencal pizza and a Tunisian pumpkin soup.

The best way to experience the array of wine offerings (on a given night, up to 120 wines are poured by the glass) is to sample one of the cleverly named flights. “Monsters of the Midway” (a huge zin, cab, and syrah) and “The Birth of Cool” (cutting edge wines from hot wineries) were two recent appealing selections.

Every selection on the wine list (and more, they carry over 1,500 labels) can be purchased, anytime, from Randolph Wine Cellars next door. Perry Fotopoulos seeks out the “cream of the crop,” working with importers and distributors to obtain bottles they can’t normally get, including some fine estate bottled champagnes, and gorgeous international selections. The store was designed with the perfect lighting and temperature conditions for wine storage in mind¾including a cellar where wines are held at the ideal 58 degrees, 65 per cent humidity. Hence the Tasting Room offers perfectly cellared wines, at remarkably low prices.

The Tasting Room is not a bar, it’s not a club, it’s an unintimidating place to go to learn about and enjoy unique and unusual wines in a completely comfortable atmosphere.

THE RANDOLPH STREET TASTING ROOM
1415 W Randolph St., Chicago, IL
312-942-1212