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Business & Tech

Home Wine Kitchen's GM Explains His Unique Wine Menu

The restaurant's wine menu is as fluid as its food menu.

Home Wine Kitchen's wine list is not what you would call normal. 

General Manager and co-owner Josh Renbarger created his own method on purpose, after years of experience analyzing other wine menus working for a wholesale wine distributor.

"I don't prefer traditional menus based on varietals and regions," Renbarger said. "The result is that flavors are all over the place and there's no cohesion."

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Instead, Home Wine Kitchen's menu remains flexible so it can always reflect the food, Renbarger said.

"Wine is food to me. It's just as much a component to a meal as anything else," he said.

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With a weekly changing dinner menu, that flexibility creates a foundation of flavors that make sense.

Renbarger gained valuable experience working with boutique Italian and French wines in addition to his distribution work.

"I learned about everything," he said.

The way Renbarger structures the menu also makes it extremely accessible to patrons, by making each wine the same price.

"You don't feel like we're trying to sell you something," Renbarger said. "Instead, you just pick what you like and get recommendations if you want, without feeling intimidated."

Too often in his 10 years working the wine industry has Renbarger watched flummoxed customers not know what to order. Often times, customers would opt for a mid-priced wine whether it paired with their meal or not.

Renbarger said he and wife/co-owner/chef Cassandra Vires continually bounce ideas off each other to ensure that pairings are always a main focus for the evening. 

"If I don't have a Cabernet Sauvignon on the menu, it means I'm not supposed to," Renbarger said. "It's because the food doesn't call for it."

Another beauty of the same-priced wines is that if a customer wants a glass of wine not normally offered by the glass, Renbarger can accommodate them and simply add it to the list.

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