This new wine bar is one of the only in the U.S. that offers a barrel-to-glass experience
When you make your way through the pastel green door that lines up against the building of the historic train depot, you’ll notice crowds of people sitting around with slate boards in front of them.
Five small glasses filled with dark red and white liquid are neatly placed on the boards. Next to them sits a beaker that people meticulously pour the liquids into, swishing them around and taking a sip before jotting down notes and moving onto the next combination.
Don’t let the beakers and glass jars fool you, this isn’t a scene out of “Breaking Bad.” This is just another Friday night at Vertigo Wines.
Vertigo Wines is not only Tucson’s newest urban wine bar, it’s also one of the only places in the United States that offers wine blending and a barrel-to-glass experience.
Wine was always something Kristel Johnson romanticized, but one experience in specific is what really sealed the deal for her.
When she lived in a tiny town in Italy, people would visit a local place to fill up whatever apparatus they had with wine that came straight out of the barrel.
It was something Johnson had never seen in America, which prompted her to start toying with the idea of making her own spot where people could serve themselves straight from the barrel.
Not only can you get your wine served straight from the barrel, but you also have the opportunity to come up with your own blend.
A special tasting gives customers a board with five carafes that each come with two ounces of the wines you choose. From there, you get to mix and match those wines in a beaker, figuring out what tastes good and what doesn’t.
You can even buy a bottle of your wine creation, which comes with your very own Vertigo Wines label that lets you check off which wines you combined together — kind of like a Build-A-Bear Workshop but for adults!