Wine, wine everywhere. That could well be the story of the year for the New Orleans hospitality industry. It is not just wine bars that have been springing up around the city, including, I have learned, a brand new wine bar under construction in the old Bouche space at 840 Tchoupitoulas near La Boca. The last 16 months have witnessed a veritable explosion of retail wine options offering thousands of by-the-bottle choices to build your cellars or entertain friends. I recently visited six New Orleans retail wine shops that opened since January 2014, and together, they offer a real boon…
Having a true affection for, and being a part time resident of the city of New Orleans, I have always planned for the New Orleans wine scene to be a part of this blog. In this and coming weeks I will be exploring the growing wine scene in New Orleans’ Warehouse District and Central Business District. In the past couple of years there has been a veritable explosion in wine retail options in downtown New Orleans, but this week I will be looking at the Wine Institute New Orleans (W.I.N.O.) the first of the wine shops in downtown New Orleans,…