VinElla @ 6 Months

[stevebody]

This is a general rave for everyone on this forum who so generously offered advice on what we should include in our concept for VinElla.

We've been here 7 1/2 months, now, and we're still not out of the woods but things are trending just the right way. Based on your suggestions, we gave the place a lot of color, artwork, music, hardwood floors (more for Judye, since it's a lot easier for her to get her chair across hardwood than the usual knee-jerk commercial carpeting), comfortable seating in the form of two red leather loveseats and matching barstools, and an open, casual atmosphere that, in retrospect, seemed a little poufy for me at first but now seems like a life-saver, since the standard for tasting room opulence here in WDVL - with Ste. Michelle, Columbia, DeLille, and several others - is pretty high. The number one thing we get graded highly on by our customers, though, is service and we've worked relentlessly at that since Day One. I reserach the wines we pour thoroughly and try to find interesting facts about the winery, vintners, and land to keep the tasting talk from becoming drier than a roomful of electrical engineers. We haven't gotten that many bodies through the door, yet, but the people who do find their way here tell us they really like the place and they come back. 90% of the people who came in the first month are still coming in at least weekly.

I have a bunch of pictures of the place and as soon as I get them uploaded to a photo hosting site, I'll post the link so you can take a look.

Thanks again for all the help from everyone, especially Foodie, whose comments were dead on and helped form the core of this joint.