The weather has broken in beautiful Charm City and please please enjoy some time outside.  I must make a case for V-NO as a great outdoor spot.  They are simple, casual and low key, but with a great deal of fantastic wine choices.  Please go inside to ask for a table, there are a ton of them and they turn over quickly, so practice your patience.

As per usual, we started with sparkles.  These aren’t your ordinary sparkles – these are our new favorite Argyle sparkles from the Willamette Valley.  I probably like them because its about 60% Pinot Noir grapes giving it some interesting minerality notes.

And check out their cheese plate – lots of toasted bread, three large chunks of fine cheeses and some olives – and for only a little over $12.  A huge chunk of sharp cheddar, a soft creamy cheese and a peppery spicy one.  We continued our evening with a few bottles of white – one we have been currently drinking over at Birroteca and one from a vineyard i really wanted to visit when I was in Oregon.

I have a new found love for this place.  The have a ton of bottles chilled for immediate enjoyment and then even more bottles to choose from if you want to take a bottle to go.  The prices are quite reasonable with a $7 corkage fee.  I am getting a little over these corkage fees especially when so many of bottles are twist offs these days.  Nevertheless, a similar bottle is over $50 at some of the other nearby restaurants.