Coming Soon: Screwtop Wine Bar

Wendy Buckley has one of those familiar career shake-up stories (see Cakelove, Cork). She left a high paying job at AOL to follow her dreams and open a wine bar.

The Texas native gave her notice last October, and she hopes to see her vision come to fruition when Screwtop Wine Bar opens later this year, hopefully in December, at 1025 N. Fillmore St. in Clarendon.

Now that screwtop wine has kicked its low-brow reputation, why not pay homage to the cork alternative in the name. "I hope the name alone helps to convey the casual laid back nature of our place," Buckley tells Metrocurean.

The concept is two-fold: Screwtop will house a retail wine, cheese and charcuterie market as well as a wine bar with a small menu.

"Our motto is 'Drink What YOU Like'," Buckley says. "We aim to do everything we can to take the intimidation out of the wine buying and enjoying process."

The retail component will offer boutique small production wines, cut-to-order cheeses from around the world, imported and domestic meats and patés, antipasto and other specialty foods, as well as party accessories and custom gift baskets.

The wine bar will feature 24 table seats and 10 bar seats, 40 wines by the glass, a couple of beers on tap, several craft beers by the bottle, and a menu of cheese plates, appetizers, sandwiches and salads. Screwtop will also host monthly wine classes.

You can follow Buckley's journey, thanks to her former employer: AOL is featuring the Screwtop story in an online reality series called The Startup.