The Local Vine

I love The Local Vine!
They have THE BEST Quinoa Tots EVER with rubarb ketchup. Who need tater tots when you’ve got these healthy little numbers? You simply MUST try them!
And a nice little factoid, quinoa is grown in the Andes Mountains and is known as the perfect protein as it is both a grain and a protein; so you can feel good about enjoying them at happy hour or on the side for dinner.
The Local Vine also makes EXCELLENT drinks both alcoholic and non-​alcoholic.
But, don’t take my word for it, go check it out yourself!

My local neighborhood (though this isn’t my neighborhood) wine bar. I seem to spend alot of time on the hill, and when I’m not interested in a craft cocktail a beer… I go for a glass of vino.
What first catches your eye when you walk in is the decorum. I tend to go for the lounging couch area by the windows… feels more intimate.
The staff is always super helpful and their selection of vino is pretty extensive. I’ve come to rely on my server to help me find the perfect bottle. I’ve discovered a many great bottle from the suggestions of my server. What helps get my decision juice going is the fact they offer a quick pour to help you decide what wine you would like… sure makes deciding easy.
While I have never eaten the food there… the wine is enough for me. Care to grab a bottle of vino? Cheers!
4 I-am-not-drinking-any-f*cking-merlot stars out of 5

I came here last weekend for a friend’s birthday event. My friend had the back room reserved, so it was slightly private, while still enjoying the ambiance of the entire place. I loved the look and feel of this place, very cozy with modern décor.
Honestly, I didn’t look at the wine list or menu and just let our server know what kind of wine I was looking for. We had snacks provided, which was the white truffle popcorn, I couldn’t get enough! The service was amazing, our server was very attentive, even for our group of 20+. He never looked stressed or overwhelmed and had a smile on the entire night. I would love to go back to try out their food and have more wine!

If you are a wine lover… you came to the right place!
The space is elegant, modern and very comfortable. LV has affordable flights of wine both local and International. I like that the food is close to home… Local. Sustainable. Organic. Flavorful.
We had the chance to come here a couple of times. The first time was not a good experience since a friend was over charge for couple of lemon drop shots for $ 35 each so it ruin a good evening when we were here to celebrate our good friend becoming a doctor. Also, a Havard reunion made the place crowded so I was bumping into many people.
The second time was more positive enjoyable experience. I was able to try out the happy hour on both wine and tapas in a more quiet atmosphere.
Ordered:
*Charcuterie Plate — Duck Prosciutto, Hot Coppa, Italian Dry Salami, & Prosciutto de Parma ($ 5 each) — Great deal… very meaty and goes well with any red or white wine.
*gnocchi with sauteed mushrooms — special on the menu. Don’t remember the cost.
*Bucket of truffle popcorn ($ 9) — addicting snack.
*Candied Bacon ($ 8) — porky, sweet & savory… moist flavorful meat.
My favorite was the Chianti Classico 2008 from Tuscany, Italy — Ruby red in color. Intense flavors with notes of cherries, plums, and violets. Rich flavors of cherry & leather.
Interesting categories of the reds from cheerful, engaging, earthy, lush, bombshells and spicy.
Perfect place to bring your date to S.W.A.G. = Seduce Wine And Grind on your date. jk — you might get slap!
Pro Tip: Happy Hour 4pm to 6pm Daily. Glass of red or white was about $ 6. Also, try the Flights of Fancy pairing with cheese, bacon-​wrapped Dates & candied bacon, shopaholic recovery, Italian Sausage flatbreads and sweet tooth desserts.

I had a
voucher and not only was TLV in our neighborhood, but it seemed the only decent place that takes
(please correct me if I’m mistaken).
The wine menu is fun to read. I loved the Weird Reds flight, in particular the Pinotage, a grape for which I’m always on the lookout since becoming fairly addicted in South Africa.
The salads were solid (though included the overly-​done ends of the steak); the grilled cheese fine, though to me it’s not true grilled cheese if pressed/​Panini style. The thick, salty, sweet candied bacon was To. Die. For. (albeit the item most likely to die from)!
Terrific interior and music and service. I was waiting for someone so got there before 10PM and spread out over one of the low, well-​cushioned window seats. My companion didn’t show up until 11:20, by which time I was the only one in the place, but the lovely waitress let me order hot stuff in advance, kept the kitchen open for additional snacks, AND flagged us a cab. Will definitely make this a regular stop!

I came here for their Champagne & Sparkling Wine event and I must say that it was quite impressive. This was my first tasting event ever, so I walked in completely clueless about what to expect. That being said, I came out one happy little camper!
Servers were totally super friendly with their big smiles and warm welcomes. The venue is fairly small and cozy area with dim lighting. I completely spaced on looking at the décor with the overwhelming crowd. They had only 3 – 4 stool tables out, I’m guessing to accommodate the need for walking/​standing space. I was lucky enough to snag a table about 30min after I arrived to put my plate and glass down so I could comfortably flip through the booklet of wines while munching on some yummy hors d’oeuvres.
There were 6 tables lined up around the room with each offering 2 – 6 different wines or champagnes. I gotta say, it was a bit much for me but very enjoyable. I ended up favoring 3 champagnes and 1 sparkling dessert wine, fantastic indeed. The food was super delish and they kept it replenish well throughout the event. There was also black truffle oil popcorn, it was the best thing to eat while tasting everything!
I’ll have to come back on a regular day to give another review but for the event, it was a great experience for me. I can’t wait to attend another one.

Came here somewhat accidentally last Thursday for HH with two girlfriends. We originally were going to check out another place that had (unbeknownst to us) closed. So headed here instead, and I’m glad we did.
It’s a place I’ve walked by 1000x, but never made it in. I’m not sure why, but I now regret waiting so long. We came hungry, and everything on the menu looked great. Fortunately our minds were smarter than our bellies, so we ordered three plates and figured if we were still hungry after, then we would order more. We had the quinoa tots (who knew that could be so tasty?), the sweet onion dip (okay, but needed something more), and the red wine meatballs (the best of the three). We were pretty full after.
As for wine (the real reason we were there, let’s be honest), we each had a flight. I had the WA reds wine flight (since I’m moving from the state and wanted my fix), another friend had the exotic reds wine flight, and the third had the bubbly flight. Though I consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable when it comes to wine — I learned something that night. I had no idea you could have bubbly pinot noir. NO CLUE. Though I now feel silly for not knowing. But it was so yummy that I decided if and when I have a special occasion that requires toasting — there will be no champagne, only bubbly pinot noir.
Well, after our flights (and we all sampled each others), we then had a full glass each. The server was very helpful in giving suggestions between a few choices when we couldn’t decide. And no, he didn’t just say the higher priced one. In fact, once he said the cheapest one. I found it to be very affordable overall and I wish I had made it in sooner.

Fabulous start to a Saturday evening bar tour with my girls. Although I really loved the wine wall look of the old location, this one feels more open yet still intimate. There is also an adorable wine classroom to the left of the bar.
So many wines and flights to choose from, yet the style of the wine list makes it easy and much less complicated to make your selection and, dare I say it, less bourgeois ;-)
I got a chance to order and taste the following:
— Charcuterie Plate: fantastic value, for $ 21 dollars you get a heap of 4 different meats, plenty to share between 8 ladies. Duck Prosciutto was salty, tender and slightly gamie — just how I like it.
— Cheese board: perfect compliment to the above.
— Local Vine version of deviled eggs, creamy and delish
— Quinoa Tots, I love seeing anything quinoa on the menu!
A few glasses of crisp Malbec and smooth Pinot, and you’ve got a classy evening of engaging conversations.

More glasses (and flights!) of wine available at more affordable prices? Yes.
Great happy hour deals, on both wine and food? Yes.
Excellent service (Ruben, we mean you!)? Yes.
TLV is settling in excellently to their space on 12^th Avenue. It’s been almost a year since my last visit, that lengthy elapse of time being mostly due to my disappointment at a lack of more affordable wines shortly after they opened. I’m thrilled that on my visit with the wonderfully enthralling Marissa S, we found lots of value on the menu.
At happy hour there’s a glass of red and of white for very cheap: $ 6 and $ 4 tonight, if I remember correctly. We sampled the quinoa tots (rhubarb ketchup is better than I ever imagined!), as well as two wine flights, one of sparkling and one of rosé. At around $ 15 for three two-​ounce pours, it’s a great way to test out a plethora of taste profiles without too much commitment. Or if you want to settle in with a full glass, a generous pour might appear (along with a small decanter with a bit extra!). Not to mention that if you love something you try, it’s highly likely there’s a bottle of it available for sale on the wall to take home.
There are many glasses for less than $ 15 on the menu now, and as usual the categories are geared to group wine by taste profile (including body, acidity, depth of mouth-​feel and so on, but with more fun words like «racy») as opposed to region or varietal. I’m warming up a bit to that approach to wine categorization, since it does reflect the varieties of terroir in a way that simple varietal lists don’t.
Given the sleek but welcoming space, the big windows opening up to 12^th, and the fact that I can not only taste but purchase wine here, TLV’s back in my wine bar rotation for the foreseeable future!

Met some friends out for drinks for a birthday celebration. Even though I was the latecomer, a waitress made sure there was room for me at the table and was really great about making sure I got a chair and water and silverware.
I had a glass of gewurztraminer, and it was fabulous. Also nibbled on the snack plate and a bay shrimp salad — also quite good. I really liked the ambiance and the service — think I’ll be back.

Place sucks! well sorta! I didn’t have a very good experience here. The waitress was a mess and definitely duped me.
I stopped by here to celebrate a friend becoming a DR!!! Yay what a better way then doing shots right? Wrong since I didn’t realized I was being charged gratuity plus over priced lemon drops.
First off I went to the bar so I could order two drinks since it would be easier since I wasn’t really with the party but just to get a drink with the new doc. The waitress that was waiting on the party stopped me and told me just to order with her so I did.
I know my friend is not much of a drinker and so I asked the waitress what would be good she said lemon drops and that she could do it with grey goose. Great granted they are lemon drops not full shots of goose which are just normally ten bucks a shot.
tell me why my bill comes out to $ 35 for two LEMON DROPS? wtf? seriously.
I stop the waitress just to ask how come I was charge gratuity and she said because you are with this large party. Umm did she not stop me at the bar and tell me to order with her. Had I known I would of just order with the bartender. Tell me why she deserves 6 bucks worth of gratuity just to deliver two shots?
And then she proceeds to tell me that she didn’t make me order the drinks and that it clearly states on the menu that gratuity would be be added to 6 people or more and that she didn’t have time to go around to every person and tell them that. DUH!!! you idiot maybe if I was ordering food I would have noticed that but I ordered two LEMON DROPS.
The manager came out and just charged me 10bucks each for two lemon drops cut the gratuity and just added tax. I was just pissed at the level of customer service.
Never coming back here again.

Not sure about that last review, kind of suspect. Wine bar boring? Dude it’s a wine bar! What did you expect, hot chicks with cleavage out waiting on you hand and foot? Slow jazzy music not your thing? Go 1 block down to pike, I think that might be a little better suited to your tastes.
Ok, that felt good. Anyway, if you like trying new things, i. e different wines, you should go here. If you like to be in a relaxing atmosphere, while hanging with your friends go here.

3.5 stars. Cute concept wine bar with simple, clean layout, accessible feel. Wine list w/​international and local varietals across diverse palates and price points, thoughtful descriptions and flight options offer an enjoyable experience for a range of guests, nouveau to enthusiasts.
Avoids being pretentious despite ease of becoming so, friendly staff consider your taste preferences and offer articulate recommendations (willing to take a stance/​offer their own thought vs. typical diluted/​commercialized non-​statements).

THE perfect place for wine! Just went here for the first time last week with a large group of friends. It’s not very far from home so I will definitely be back because I am a huge wine enthusiast!
Our server was super nice, she gave us some great suggestions for some tapas appetizers, and we got several bottles of wine. They play great music there, their wine selection is great, the atmosphere is pleasant, chill, charming, I really liked it. They have glasses and bottles for a variety of prices, so whether you want a good glass for a decent price or want a finer bottle, you can find it all here.
If you love a good glass of wine and a chill place to enjoy it, stop in to The Local Vine on Capitol Hill!

The Local Vine hosted my party of about 25 people during their happy hour on a Thursday. They were extremely well organized and the space looked beautiful when we arrived for the event.
All our friends came and it was a blast. I proceded to get addicted to their kale chips. So delicious!
Their service was awesome, even during their affordable happy hour. Our server went and got tasting notes on a bottle she hadn’t tried, just so I could have a comparison… it was a genuine gesture.
I enjoyed a double magnum of merlot with our party as well as a bottle of pinot. I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking to host a fun get together :)

Laid back wine sippin on the hill brings in a atmospheric chill and relax. I found the place to be a fantastic addition as well as much larger (than say Pocco) so your guaranteed a seat in the house.
Staff on hand, consistently friendly and always there to refresh your glass.
I hadn’t a chance to try the food, but was pleased to find they had about 3 menus on hand for the wines and food. The wine menu is defiantly friendly to the amateur wine drinker — everything is fairly cheap, detailed, and organized by its bodies and notes.
Certainly this places caters well to its wino customers. I’ve turned a new leaf over to The Local Vine.

The Local Vine makes everyone feel like a wine expert. This new gorgeous space has the same charm, great wine, great food, and great service as their old location… but now they’re closer to my house! 5 stars JUST for that.
I also love their wine menu and how it’s formatted. If you know all about wine you don’t need the help but the menu is outfitted with a legend that tells you whether the wine you’re selecting is local, whether it’s made by women, whether it’s a favorite of the owners, etc. I love this feature because I feel like I can’t go wrong. Last night I enjoyed a chardonnay wine flight as well as a Bordeaux (ish) flight. Both collections were fabulous as each wine selected was unique in that they were from different regions and highlighted different flavors.
In addition to the great ambiance and wine, the food was effin’ SPECTACULAR! There’s no such thing as bad bacon. But there is such a thing as better bacon. Here they have a dish of bacon that’s thick cut and cured with jalapenos and drizzled with maple sauce. Oh Em Gee. This was definitely the best bacon I’ve had in a while. Even if you’re not a big fan of wine, The Local Vine has some amazing dishes (including this bacon) and it’s worth it to come for the food or the wine. The fact that everything they do is so great is a huge bonus!

*Sigh*
It’s not that Local Vine is doing things horribly wrong, it’s just I’m not into it. It’s strayed to the far side of pretentious and a lot of the wine choices are, while very good, way expensive.
I went for Happy Hour, ordered the $ 7.00 ‘Happy Hour’ glass of Cabernet, but the bartender informed me he wasn’t serving it that afternoon and could I make another choice. I ordered a glass of Nero d’Avola (great, by the way) assuming that they’d honor the $ 7.00 Happy Hour price on the Cab they couldn’t supply me with, but no I got the regular menu $ 10 price. I guess Local Vine doesn’t understand that the Happy in Happy Hour comes from lower prices!
However, to be fair, it does look like you get a pretty decent break on a lot of the food items.
With so many other choices in this neighborhood and so many excellent Happy Hour opportunities, sadly, Local Vine isn’t for me.

For a wine lush such as myself, I was pretty excited the Local Vine had made its way up to the hill and is housed in a beautiful space amongst places such as Barrio & Tavern Law. However, I find it a wee bit on the expensive side.
Case in point — $ 15 for a mediocre glass of red wine.
While they carry a lot of good wines, I’m more inclined to go to Esquin to pick up a bottle for myself @ $ 40, than spend $ 10 – 15 per glass.
Or maybe I just didn’t see enough jammy wines on their list.
Or enough people in their restaurant. Who knows.
On the other hand, I hear their bites are good, so perhaps I will head back in and try those out instead and give their wine list another go.

The Local Vine moved from Belltown up to Capital Hill — right next door to Barrio and across the street from La Spiga. 12^th Ave is hopping!!!
The space is beautiful — cozy, tall ceilings, pretty lighting, nice throw pillows… They had a little cute munchy menu which was cool Tried their happy hour which had some nice affordable choices:
* mac — n — cheese (… it’s ok. Don’t get too excited)
* truffle popcorn (worth the $ 3 happy hour, not sure about $ 5 popcorn)
* sweet potato wedges (not bad. Nice dip with it too)
* cabernet wine + a white one (I forget which). Meh, it was ok.
They have a very nice and large wine selection — interesting way of tagging the wines: female wine maker, organic, local, etc… But overall, pricey for the bottles. There are some «affordable» ones — but I’d say, there are better places to drink close by. Probably if you have a larger group, this would be a nice place to meet up with everyone.