Despite launching more than a half dozen restaurant concepts over the past several decades, there was one concept that Hamilton Hospitality's Paul and Wendy Hamilton always wanted to open but never did: a wine bar.
“Wendy and I met each other in the travel business, on a ship, in Canada,” says Paul. “The itineraries tended to repeat themselves, so the crew would find favorite places to hang out in the different cities when we had time off. One of them was Sir Winston Churchill Pub in Montreal, nicknamed Winnie’s, which was also Wendy’s nickname growing up. We joked that if we ever opened a wine bar that would be the name."
When Charleville Brewing Company was sold and elected not to renew its lease in the building that it previously shared with Hamilton’s Urban Steakhouse & Bourbon Bar (2101 Chouteau), Paul says, the couple finally got the opportunity.
Photo by George Mahe
Located in the space between the steakhouse and Rhone Rum Bar, Winnie’s Wine Bar will have a retro aviation feel and pay homage to the time that the couple spent in the travel business.
The space (with 100 seats and a side patio) will conjure a comfy airport lounge, with leather couches and tables cobbled from old suitcases. There will be a 3-D map of the world. A series of clocks will show local time in various wine regions, rather than cities across the globe. And what’s a travel-themed joint without a vintage propeller or two on the walls?
Keeping with the theme, the wine program will focus on wine flights: three white and three red, plus a sparkling and a rose, as well as wines by the glass—30 glass pours in all to start—and bottle-only offerings. “We’ll also have several higher-end or vintage reds available that we’ll dispense and hold using a Coravin,” Paul says. “We’ve amassed a sizeable library collection of wines over the years. This is the perfect place to show them off.”
Behind the 18-seat bar are more than a dozen draft beer taps. “We won’t be heavy into local craft beers—we have 21St Street [Brewers Bar] for that," says Paul. "Since the theme is travel, Winnie’s focus will more be on beers from around the world.”
A limited number of cocktails will be offered as well, including a frozen option or two, “plus the ample bourbon and Scotch selection next door,” Hamilton notes.
Winnie’s will share a kitchen with Hamilton’s, so expect some food menu crossover, with emphasis on appetizers, salads, soups, and wine-friendly charcuterie and cheese boards.
Charleville’s former beer tank room is being converted to a 30-person private dining room, and it will double as a spot for Hamilton’s steak dinners and bourbon tastings. The exterior—currently a nondescript brown–is being repainted a lighter cream-tan color to differentiate the business from the rest of the building.
Winnie’s Wine Bar is slated to begin popping corks as soon as the liquor license can be secured. “A process that used to take a few months is now taking twice that long,” says Paul. “The space will be ready in April. We’ll open as soon as we receive the license and hope we can expedite that process."
For patrons, the wine bar could serve as a standalone destination, a waiting area for the steakhouse, or a pre-flight locale for one of the complex’s other venues. After all, the Hamilton's restaurant empire now spans a Tuscan-inspired restaurant (Eleven Eleven Mississippi), a rooftop French bistro (Vin de Set), a pizza parlor (PW Pizza), brewpub (21st Street Brewers Bar), steakhouse (Hamilton's Urban Steakhouse & Bourbon Bar), a Caribbean island-themed rum bar (Rhone Rum Bar), an aeroponic greenhouse that helps supply the ever-growing number of eateries, and multiple catering facilities. (The Hamiltons are hopeful that this year will see the return of corporate and charitable events business. “The wedding and rehearsal business came back,” Paul says, “but we have so much space that we’d really like to see the corporate business return, too.”)
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Wendy and Paul Hamilton
In 2018, pondering retirement options, the couple did what no other local restaurant group had done to date: They sold the restaurants to their full-time employees via an employee stock ownership plan. Yet their status with the company has remained virtually unchanged.
“If anything, during and on the backside of the pandemic, we’re involved more as it relates to physically filling positions,” Paul says of the lingering labor shortages. “When we get fully staffed again—and we’re getting close—Wendy and I hope to do more traveling.”
