Chateau La VIn

I agree with Tom J...this is a pretty cool little wine bar. It opened in Oct. 2011 and the owner is very friendly. He left the corporate life to follow his dream. He has a nice selection of wines for under 10 bucks and some really nice wines for a lot more. There is also a small selection of domestic and foreign beers.

They sample wines every day and have a larger wine tasting every Friday from 5pm to 10pm. They do have a small selection of cheese and crackers, but the owner told me you can bring food in anytime. That's a nice offer. You can also sign up to receive  updates on events and other specials via email.

As of this writing, the owner is currently building an outdoor patio that will cap off a fun venue for wine drinkers. Can't wait to go back.

We stumbled upon this very cute little wine bar and shop after a brief walk through Reifschneider's Grill and Grape (too crowded, too noisy).  We were looking for a quiet place to have a couple glasses of wine and a snack.  This was perfect - brick walls, a few pub tables and a nice little shop.  They've been open about 5 months and are located between a couple of restaurants; Joe Boccardi's and Who Dat's.  Downtown Columbia has always been a charming place and in terms of its look and feel, hasn't really changed in years.   There have been a couple of nicer restaurants added in the last 5-10 years, though, and It's becoming a cool little destination.

We were pleasantly surprised to find they were doing a tasting on a Saturday night.  We tried three and they were all new to us and quite good.  We bought a bottle of one of the reds and a cheese plate (from the cooler - prepared in advance by a local chef).

There's not much of a food selection here, just these cheese plates and a couple different crackers.  I could see this as an area for improvement.  Per the very friendly owner, they will be having a couple of wine pairing dinners coming up in a couple of weeks featuring the same chef who made the cheese plates (which was good, by the way).  They offer several wines by the glass.  If you're not sure what you're after, this is a great spot to learn and taste a couple of different options.

It's a nice little spot to stop for a glass of wine, definitely.  They also have a decent selection of wines in the shop, although I don't pretend to be an expert.  Prices ranged from $7 on up.  The selection is kind of small, but I'm sure that's because the store is new and he needs to sort out the customer demand.  Anyway, being a cheapass, I was happy to see the $7 bottle was Alias, which our regular wine shop had sold out of, so I grabbed one for later.

New Wine Store in Columbia, IL. Great location, neat space, still building inventory, but prices are reasonable. I think the plan is to offer cheese plates, but they do not mind you bringing food in from area restaurants and enjoying a good bottle of wine with your meal. Looking forward to many visits and exploring new wines!