If you’re a fan on California-style wines, but you don’t feel like driving to Sonoma/Napa or Santa Ynez, then you may want check out a neighborhood wine bar in West Hollywood that’s serving up some stellar pours.
My friend, just having completed some of her sommelier training, was craving a good wine bar, so she suggested V Wine Room in West Hollywood. I was very surprised to have never seen or heard of the joint, especially considering I’m a big wino and I live in the WeHo neighborhood. When we finally ended up at V Wine Room one night after some happy hour at Connie and Ted’s, I realized why I hadn’t seen this place before.
V Wine Room doesn’t have a lot of curb appeal; its location is actually tucked away on the side street of Westbourne, off Santa Monica Boulevard. It’s easy to miss the place …even when you’re being dropped off by an Uber driver (guilty as charged). When we did make our way in, we were pleasantly surprised with the intimate décor, almost mimicking that of a library; books, lots of wine bottles, and work from local artists lined the walls. We headed for a V-shaped bar near the back of the room and asked the “bartender” to explain how things worked.
He mentioned that V Wine Room mostly served up boutique California wines that you wouldn’t necessarily find on the retail market. A lot of the wines they pour (and not just your typical California Chardonnays or Cabernets) are mostly sourced from winemakers that make very limited production wines. He was kind enough to let us taste a sample or 2 before we each ordered our own glass…and then we discovered that they had happy hour! Yes, wine happy hour is offered everyday until 8 p.m. and extended until 9 p.m. on Thursdays. Basically, they will pour out any of their open bottles of wine for $8 glass. We only had time to get one glass of wine during their happy hour but we were glad we did.