A Closer Look at the Bar and Club Awards: Best for Wine

Robynne Tindall, Contributing Editor | Dec 17, 2016 5:00 pm | Add a comment | 1781 reads

With the "A Closer Look" series, we raise our glasses in recognition of the Beijinger 2016 Bar & Club Award winners, before giving a toast (in text form, of course) about why they were selected by our readers.

Taking home the award for "Best for Wine" this year is enormously successful homegrown retail franchise, Cheers. Just five years ago, Cheers was a little-known wine wholesaler but now with dozens of stores in Beijing, plus stores opening practically every week in second-tier cities across China, those days seem far behind them. The secret of Cheers' success? Accessibly priced entry level wines, a try-in-store-before-you-buy model, and a constantly updated program of fun events, including tastings and lectures. Their eventual goal is to have 888 stores in China and if they keep up the good work, we've no doubt they'll get there.

Rosewood Beijing's Mei Bar swept up one of the two Outstanding Awards for Best Wine. This sophisticated lounge offers an impeccably put together list of old and new world wines, including some very (and we mean very) pricey bottles of red and Champagne. The main attraction here though is the killer live band, Rhythm Nation. This seven-piece ensemble lay down danceable classics and pop hits that get even the cooler than cool fashion crowd off their stools dancing.

Mei Bar

Last but not least is La Cava de Laoma, which has unfortunately closed since the awards were announced. We'll miss this diminutive wine shop in Sanlitun Soho, with its singular focus on wines from Chile (with some excellent bottles among those), but owner Mariano Larrain is still around town and we're sure we'll be seeing more from him in the future.

Opening too late in the year to be considered for the awards, we felt we had to give a mention to new Japanese-style wine bar Vin Vino, which opened near Maizidian back in September. Vin Vino has entered the market as one of Beijing's most affordable wine bars, with bottles from RMB 240 and glasses from RMB 38, plus a menu of "wine inspired" cocktails such as spritzes and a delectable G&T made with Nordés gin, which is based on a spirit distilled from Albariño grapes. The bar menu of Western-Japanese fusion tapas goes down a treat, too.

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Photo: Uni, courtesy of Mei Bar