Denver's Restaurant Scene Tempts Diners with Dramatic Wine Wall
Displays
By Tom Davis, AIA LEED® AP
Trend-setting restaurants such as Elway's
http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Denver/Dining/Default.htm, Venice Ristorante
http://www.veniceristorante.com/, TAG, http://tag-restaurant.com/, and soon-to-open
Charcoal http://www.facebook.com/pages/Charcoal-Restaurant/177962835592617 in
Denver are using the time-tested merchandise presentation technique of mass display
with accent lighting to excite, entertain, and suggest purchases to their clientele.
For most people, a fine dining experience is incomplete without the right choice of wine
to accompany the meal. The best restaurants have trained staff to provide information
on the complicated task of sending diners home with pleasant memories of wining and
dining, but now restaurant design is facilitating the wine selection process. What is
behind the rise of this trend?
Suggestive Selling
Charcoal (opening in late August 2011 in Denver’s golden Triangle)
Davis Wince recently created Charcoal, a new restaurant concept based on adapting
traditional bincho-tan charcoal-style cooking to contemporary European cuisine. The
European fusion menu is complemented by a minimalist, yet warm dining interior with a
reserved focus on concealed light sources and natural materials.
The restaurant’s design features an open kitchen with the bincho grill in the center. At
the grill is a seated bar, similar to a Sushi bar, where one may observe the food
preparation. A bar and bar lounge area are separated from the dining room seating area
by a transparent wine wall which is visible from both the lounge and seating area. The
wine wall is multi-functional as space divider, light fixture, display element, and dominant
representation of the wine menu. No matter where seated, diners are constantly
reminded of the opportunity to have wine with the meal.
Venice Ristorante
Another dimension of the wine soft sell is the wine area at Venice Ristorante, also in
downtown Denver. Like Elway's the dramatic display is visible in all areas of the dining
area, but here the presentation is more than a wall. It is a walk-through library of fine
wines where wait staff can escort clientele and educate them on the qualities of various
wine choices. With a selection of 800 Italian wines and 300 international varieties, the
wine vault is a potent selling tool that also adds to the visual pleasure of an evening out.
Market positioning
Denver's TAG, a place where the young and hip meet to be part of the scene, offers up
an incredible selection of unconventional dishes such as sushi tacos, Korean pork belly
ssam, and duck-fat French fries.
TAG restaurant in Denver's LoDo area
The owner aptly refers to the menu as "Continental Social Food." In this establishment
the wine wall is part of the entire ambiance package of polished wood natural brick and
burnished metal, gleaming with warmth, and arranged so that the restaurant feels
crowded and alive even on a slow night. The wine wall is part of an environment that
attracts the city's young cognoscenti and keeps them coming back.
Elway's
Elway's, located in Ritz Carlton Hotel in downtown Denver and named for Denver
Bronco's quarterback John Elway, is a steakhouse that caters to an upscale business
crowd. Here the curved wine wall highlights a refined interior that features multicolored
light, soft wooden walls, blown-glass sculptures, and posh leather chairs. The wine wall,
focal point of the dining experience, helps position the restaurant as the select spot in
Denver for business meetings, entertaining clients, and having a top-notch steak dinner
while traveling.
The future of the wine wall
Some innovative examples of wine wall design can be found in Manhattan and Hong
Kong where two restaurants have moved the concept into new territory. Manhattan's
Brasserie http://www.patinagroup.com/restaurant.php?restaurants_id=55 incorporates
15 LCD screens into the wine wall that announce the arrival of new patrons by projecting
snapshots of their entry into the restaurant. Ozone in Hong Kong's Ritz Carlton Hotel,
incorporates the wine vault is part of an off-the-wall package of signature elements
created by the Japanese design firm Wonderwall http://wonder-wall.com/#project/en.
The Brasserie, Seagram's Building, Manhattan
Hong Kong
Ozone, Ritz Carlton,
Will wine walls serve as a suggestive selling or market positioning in restaurant design of
the future, or will they be essentially part of the design package? Will function win out
over form? There's room for both in the world of creating the ideal customer experience.