If you’ve ever wanted to sample a few wines from a really great wine collection, The Wine Room on Park Avenue in Winter Park should be on your list of places to visit. In fact, this cellar-like wine shop has over one hundred of its tremendous bottles uncorked each and every day of the week. From your basic chardonnays to the cult cabernets to a bottle of the great Sauternes, Chateau d’Yquem, the ever-changing options make for a much more difficult decision than you might imagine.

The Wine Room is able to offer this wide selection because the bottles are loaded into an Enomatic wine serving system. These machines keep the bottles chilled to the correct temperature, air-tight, and ready to dispense in pours of one to four ounces. That’s exactly the right size when you’re out to try something new.

Unfortunately, each of these pours are not on the house. You pre-pay to fill a Wine Room debit card that is then deducted from each time you select a wine, with the prices ranging from just over a $1 per ounce to well over $10 an ounce for the likes of d’Yquem.

When you’re not filling your glass, a seating area with couches and chairs is available where you can relax and enjoy your wine in good company. On Friday and Saturday nights, these seats - along with most of the available standing room - are taken up by patrons looking to unwind from a long work week.

If you want to extend your relationship with The Wine Room, try joining their mailing list. A few times per month, they host tasting events in the “Vault” for groups of 25 or so. The “Wine and Chocolate” tasting my wife and I attended in this setting featured nine wines paired with nine different chocolates. I don’t know if there’s a more pleasurable way to experience palette fatigue than that combination.

Map of The Wine Room’s location

Popularity: 1% [?]