The Grapevine

Just received this email that they are now closed:
Farewell from The Grapevine
For the last three years, Lori and I have had the honor and pleasure to be your hosts in what we considered to be one of the best venues around. Great wine, food, live music and an intimate atmosphere were our benchmarks and something we strove for each week.
The continuing slow recovery in the region, lack of development on Mainstreet and growing vacancy in the building along with a strong desire to spend time focusing on family have compelled us to close the doors.
We have developed many friendships in the last three years, all of which we hope will last a lifetime. Amanrog, David & Julie, Brian & Kaye, Nancy, Stu, Matt & Joyce, Eric & Amy, Nancy & Mike, Andy & Yvonne, Jill & Scott, Joanne & Brian, Karen & Mike… the list goes on and on. You all know how much you mean to us and look forward to sitting with you on the other side of the bar.
A few special thanks:
Our Staff: Chefs Dan, Wendy and Christina; Lynn, Amanda, Jennifer, Nick, Scott, Dan, and Zack. You made us what we are and we are very thankful for your dedication and professionalism.
Lee: The man, the myth, the palate.
Cal & Whitney with 2 Stones Events: You have provided us with the best musical acts in the world and without you; we could not have brought them here. We are forever in your debt.
Every musician that ever played here: You are the best!
David: You have always come through for us, starting with Day 1. We don’t know how we could ever return the favor, but somehow, we will.
Peter and Erica: Two of the best wine people in the business that never let us down. Your personal service always went above and beyond.
Brian & Tom: The best beer guys on the planet. You two have become great friends and I hope our relationship never falters.
And lastly: to all of our family and friends who stayed with us till the end. You know who you are and we love you dearly.

The staff was super friendly, knowledgeable and the wine flights were a blast.

I went here for the first time last weekend, normally I avoid Novi bars like the plague, yes this place is a little uppity especially for jazz, that coupled with expensive wine. It does look nice inside, and I’m glad they offer live music on the weekends, I might come back if I’m in the mood for live music, or if I’m with a wine lover (which I’m clearly not). They do offer good beer as well which make me happy. I support any place that supports live music.

Three words: Total Chick Bar. Yes, I’m a chick too, but I’m a different type of chick, per se. So, I have really mixed feelings about this place, and I’ll explain why. My husband and I went there last night for a jazz show that was featuring a local musician.
The space as a whole was really nice; classy, understated, and comfortable. When we first walked in, which was about 7pm, the place was packed and really loud. Several groups of families and women, all enjoying themselves and laughing.
The wine list was extensive, with a nice selection of region-​identified wine flights and bottles. My initial complaint about the wine list is that in the entire list, there was less than six options from Michigan wineries. I appreciate that compared to California and Europe our wines are not stellar, but they are very good in their own right. I would’ve liked to see a better representation. My husband and I are fairly wine saavy, although not experts. We’ve been to napa and we regularly travel to northern Michigan to tour the wineries there, and we regularly drink wine.
The tough parts:
#1 — We wanted to try a bottle of Burgundy, under $ 30 — there were two listed, yes, we’re kinda cheap. We ordered one, the server said, «I’ll go see if it’s available,» (red flag). It was, and he brought it to the table but it was a white Burgundy, not denoted on the menu, and wanting a bottle of red wine we asked for another bottle instead (the other bottle under $ 30). The server returned, stating they were out of that wine, but brought a substitution. I was initially satisfied, the wine was quite tasty, but then I noticed after drinking it that it was a Bordeaux, not a Burgundy. This isn’t an issue for me at all, except that the server did not tell me that he was substituting the bottle I ordered with another varietal of wine. I would have much prefered it if he said something like, «I’m sorry, we’re out of the wine you requested and we don’t have another Burgundy at that price point. But I do have a Bordeaux that’s similar in taste/​quality/​whatever and at the price point you want.» Regarding my red flag earlier, I noticed on the wine menu that it was from May of 2010. I’ve worked in retail, quite closely to high-​end wine buyers, and I completely understand that you only order so many cases. But reprint the menu, modify it to represent what you DO have in stock, and replace the missing item with something similar at that price point. I should also note that when the server initially brought out the white wine, he brought with him white wine glasses, but did not swap them out for red wine glasses when we substituted the wine.
#2 — My husband was conducting an interview for his radio show with the local musician who was playing that night, so I was on my own for a little while. I ordered a chopped caesar salad while I waited for him to return. When the salad arrived, it was a grilled caesar salad (the romaine had been grilled), not what I ordered. I’ve never tried a salad with grilled romaine, so I kept it. The presentation was delightful, and the homemade dressing was sparse but REALLY flavorful. It was delicious.
Overall I liked the ambiance, the service was mostly attentive despite the problems I noted. The food was impressive, and reasonably priced. I wasn’t impressed with the pricing of the bottles. While they had options for cheaper wines, they were still twice the price of what I know i could buy certain bottles for in the store. Perhaps the happy hours specials are worth another visit.

Oh Grapevine, how I love you, let me count the ways…
Go to happy hour! It’s before 7, half off glasses of wine, discounted wine flights, cheese plates, slides and pizzas. The owner Brian is such a sweetie and really knows his stuff. I’ve never seen live jazz as a previous review mentioned, but during warm summer evenings this is the place that my girlfriends and I hang out for relaxed glass of wine on their patio. It’s kind of in a weird location next to a hookah bar and Mongolian BBQ and across the street from the Post, but some oddities can be dealt with in exchange for their excellent wine.
My favorite thing to get is the Mumm champagne, which is $ 5 — a very full glass — and their Old World cheeses that includes salami and olives. I also really liked their Mediterranean pizza with mozzarella, feta, tomatos and pepperoncini, one of my girlfriends got the BBQ chicken pizza one time and that was also really really good. I’ve also had the bruschetta, which was very refreshing because it had fresh tomatoes on top, rather than some sort of tampanade-​like tomato substance. I really want to try their lamp chops because they look amazing! Not really a date place, it’s less romantic than it is just a really chill place to hang out with friends.

I went here on Saturday night for a glass of wine and a bite of dessert.
I told the waitress that I like sweet white wines and she recommended a Moscoto-​like wine. It was pretty good. And then there was this chocolate dessert brownie that was delicious. Highly recommend that one.
They had a live jazz band that night but they would not play Journey.
Then beach boy Santa came along and the party started. See attached photos :)
No smoking and free tastes. Will definitely be coming back.
Also, Google Maps says it’s on Main Street. It’s on Market Street. Unilocal’s got it right.

This wine bar is posh and swanky sans the tude and high prices. They do have high end bottles but also relatively inexpensive wines. My friend and I split a bottle of decent chianti for only $ 23. There is also full bar for non wine drinkers. Didn’t try any of the small plates but the cheese tray with salami and olives was awesome. On a recent Thursday, there was a live jazz trio. Great date place or hot spot to hit up with the girls. Also I don’t think smoking is allowed so you don’t have to worry about smelling like an ashtray.