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Savor wine by the sample at Try Wine

 
Chrissy Wilcox chooses a half-glass of Michael David Rapture at Try Wine in St. Petersburg on Wednesday. The bar sells bottles of wine as well as single pours through a preservation/vending system.
Chrissy Wilcox chooses a half-glass of Michael David Rapture at Try Wine in St. Petersburg on Wednesday. The bar sells bottles of wine as well as single pours through a preservation/vending system.
Published Sept. 30, 2015

I won't try to predict what the next big trend in bars will be, but if you were to tell me it's combination retail and tasting room spaces, I'd believe you.

The concept is pretty new in the bay area, with the addition of draft beer in liquor and grocery stores and dedicated businesses like Brandon's Craft Beer Cellar still in their infancy. On the wine side of the business is St. Petersburg's Try Wine, which colorfully brands itself as a Retail Tasting Lab.

The process is simple: You start a tab and get a card loaded with $50 in credits. There are 88 wines on tap, which Try Wine claims is the largest selection in Tampa Bay. Insert your card into the card reader once you find a wine you want to try, put your glass under the spout and press a button to select your pour size — ½ ounce, 2 ½ ounces or 5 ounces. If you find a wine that suits your fancy, just grab a bottle from above the tap station and bring it to the counter. Return your card, settle up your tab and you're all set!

The balance between retail shop and wine bar is near perfect. If you want to pop in to buy a bottle, you'll find plenty, with descriptions and tasting notes for each provided on the electronic screen of the tap setup. If you want to sample before you buy, you can try as little as ½ ounce.

And if you want to just come for a few drinks, you'll find Try Wine as cozy and attractive as any dedicated wine bar. Whereas most wine bars opt for a dark, sophisticated look, Try Wine is decidedly minimal, with the floors, walls, and even furniture crafted from plain, unfinished wood. A little colorful flair is added to the quirky wood chairs, which are covered in funky, patterned carpet squares. In the daytime, the east-facing entrance is bathed in sunlight, reinforcing the breezy, casual feel of the interior.

Try Wine is the creation of a serious wine lover. Owner Oliver Motschmann has added features that more casual wine drinkers may have overlooked, such as fresh water and dump buckets at each pouring station (to rinse your glass before switching to a new wine), or a collection of books on wine to peruse while sitting at the one-seaters near the entrance. There are few distractions, like TVs or loud music. It's an immersive experience.

The result is a retail shop where you won't feel rushed to make a purchase and get out. One could easily spend a couple hours in Try Wine, tasting, learning, and talking grapes with the staff. If you decide to purchase a bottle or two at the end, you'll know you're buying something you like, and you'll know more about the product than you would from just picking it off the shelf at a typical wine shop.

Of course, Try Wine is quite nice as a wine bar alone. Sampling wines is cool enough, but there's also a small food menu, a simple but diverse beer and cider selection, and floral Champagne cocktails. Espresso is served, and there's a small list of cigars.

Although the wine selection rotates, you'll have no trouble finding suitable choices among the 88 wines on tap. There are even very rare options available, like the selection of vintage ports. If you've got $5,600 burning a hole in your bank account, consider a bottle of 1863 Taylor Fladgate. It went into the barrel more than 150 years ago, and only 260 bottles were shipped to the United States during its recent bottling. The good news is that it is available to sample, though the sizes are smaller than with standard wines (¼ ounce goes for about $65).

I'm admittedly only a casual wine drinker, but I always love trying and learning about new wines. Try Wine is as ideal a setup as I've experienced: unintimidating, easy to follow, extremely fun. The combination of retail and tasting room elements works so well at Try Wine, it's unbelievable that more places aren't doing something similar. Could this be the next big thing? You know, it really could.

— jg@saintbeat.com; @WordsWithJG.