Get Your Vino In Fells Point: Q and A with Mark Bachman, Owner of V-No Wine Bar
The Wife and I were wandering through Fells Point three Fridays ago when V-NO Wine Bar pretty much fell out of the sky and greeted us. Sitting out on a nice spot facing the water, the place had a scrappy elegance about it when we walked inside. The menu (and retail section) is organized by type rather than by varietal or region. Instead of seeing “Chardonnay” or “California Reds” on the menu, you’re going to see descriptive words like BUBBLY, CRISP and FRUITY. Not a big food menu yet, just a cheese plate and some other nibbles. Eat before you visit, I suggest the sushi place sitting right next door.
V-NO has a retailer’s license, so you can take home bottles of something you like off the menu or check the shelves for something else. The “cellar” section of the bar houses pricier selection of Napa Cabs and Bordeaux names. The bottles in there will run up to around $100 but are priced well given the culty labels on the front There’s a cooler full of whites and sparklers and even a big shelf of liquor if you’ve run through Cabernet and want to move on to Jameson.
Mark Bachman, one half of the husband and wife proprietor team, was nice enough to answer some questions of mine over email recently.
Vinotrip: You started V-NO with your wife Kristina. What did you both do before launching the wine bar?
Mark Bachman: My wife Kristina and I both have had experience in the service industry in the past. Kristina just recently left her position of nearly twenty years as a nurse recruiter to focus on V-NO. I originally moved to Baltimore twenty years ago as a chemical engineer to start a sales office for the G.E. Engineered Thermal Plastics. For the last seven years I have been involved with real estate and mortgage financing. Our passion for wine and the desire to work for our selves drove us to create V-NO.
VT: I know launching a restaurant or bar is a long process and nothing came as easily as you hoped I’m sure, but what was the biggest challenge in getting V-NO from idea to opening night?
MB: Although we have friends that have open successful ventures, nothing can prepare you for the amount of red tape that is thrown in front of you to open a new business, especially when a liquor license is involved. It was a learning experience though, and if we decide to open another location I think we could cut a couple of months off of the process.
VT: Do you have plans to offer flights of wine or happy hour specials?
MB: We are considering these ideas as well as organized tastings and vineyard tours. We just need to get a little more time open under our belts first.
VT: I liked the grouping of wines by style rather than varietal and region. Whose idea was that and is it working so far?
MB: This is a concept I thought about a couple of years ago. Just like being handed a twenty page wine list, walking into a wine store with thousands of selections is an overwhelming experience for most people. If you know that you like crisp, bright tasting white wines, all you have to do is go to the “Crisp” section and you know that any selection you make will be a winner. We have even gone so far to color code the signs for each section that most closely match the color of the wines. In addition, we have placed a quick description next to every wine we offer.
V-NO is off to a great start, the place was packed when we were there and that was on their second night. The whole place is like a breezy summer white, a simple place to get into wine with some friends.
V-NO
905 S. Ann Street
Baltimore, MD
410-342-VINO(8466)
Open Tuesday through Sunday 4-12.
