New Wine Bar Celebrates Grand Opening In Zionsville
Photographer / Michael Durr
Sarah Hine, owner of Cork and Barrel in Zionsville, was tired of the lack of wine available at local breweries and restaurants. So, she decided to do something about it. Along with her husband, Alex, and mother, Suzanne Taylor, Hine opened Cork and Barrel on September 21.
“I’ve always really loved wine, and I wanted people to have the chance to really experience multiple different types of wine and a variety of different brands,” Hine says. “There are just so many thousands of wines out there and, for me, I just wanted people to be able to taste so many of those different ones, which is why we carry up to 300 different ones. They really have a chance to know what they do and don’t like.”
As a unique twist, the wine bar carries up to 300 different wines and will rotate them in and out throughout the season — most establishments only carry about 40-50 different wines. It also offers a variety of different ways to taste its selection of wines.
“You can pay to taste any of the wines that we have in the bar,” Hine says. “You can do a wine tasting flight, you can do a regular wine glass flight, you can buy a glass, you can buy a bottle, you can buy a bottle to take home because the wines that we carry here are boutique wines.”
Because Cork and Barrel carries boutique wines, its selection doesn’t include mass-produced bottles that you can find in the grocery store or liquor store. It’s Hine’s goal to introduce the community to other wineries that they’ve never heard of.
For its decoration, Hines wanted to create an atmosphere similar to patrons being in their own living rooms.
“It’s a real casual, laid back environment,” she says. “It’s couches, love seats, sofas and chairs where you can just kick back and relax for a while. We have a few high-top tables in there, but we really wanted an environment where people can learn more about wine but just feel very comfortable and like it’s your own home or your own living room.”
As for food, Cork and Barrel offers a selection of meat and cheese from Indiana-based companies. It will have charcuterie available from Fair Oaks Farms and Smoking Goose Meatery. Additionally, it’ll offer fruits and vegetables, humus, paninis, desserts and chocolates. Also available for purchase are gift baskets, wine tumblers, wine bottle lamps and various other wine items.
For Hines, choosing to open shop in Zionsville was an easy decision.
“We live in Zionsville, and we have loved this area for a long time,” she says. “I’m originally from Indiana, but my husband is from upstate New York. I moved him out here for the first time in 2007 and it was quite an experience for him. He really loved the area and, for us, it was bringing something back into the community of where we live and work. My husband works for the post office here in Zionsville.”
Now that it’s been open for more than a month, Hines says business has been great.
“Opening day was good,” she says. “We had a steady flow, a lot of people have been waiting for it for so long. We’ve been doing events and different things around the community for the last year and a half. I really wanted to see if people were interested in it and having a wine tasting bar. We’ve just gotten such a great response from it. Everyone has been excited because a lot of people, especially moms who aren’t necessarily beer drinkers, they still go hang out.”
Cork and Barrel is located at 6625 Whitestown Pkwy in Zionsville. It has an event space that guests can rent out. For more information about Cork and Barrel, such as upcoming wine and painting events, visit them online at corkandbarrel.wine or call 317-366-3316.
