The Wine Fairy

Want to drink great wine while feeling like you’re inside a secret club (because you kind of are)? Let me clue you in on one of DFW’s hidden wine oases, Buon Vino Cellars.

Buon Vino Cellars is a concierge wine store and locker club located just off the Dallas North Tollway. Normally, it’s a bottle shop with weekday retail hours and private events in the evenings. Once a month (third Saturdays) it opens to the public for a special “Bar Vino” tasting event.

We stopped by in May to mingle with wine collectors and enthusiasts and savor a flight of selected pours. Nothing gets the weekend started like a nice, thick Malbec at 2 PM…wine is basically fruit so it’s healthy, right?

I don’t know how to communicate just how inconspicuous this wine shop is. Just driving by, you’d never find it–and for many years I lived in the neighborhood and never did.

There’s no signage that’s visible from the street. The bar and cellar are tucked away inside a non-descript office building. Until you cross the threshold, it looks just like a law office–suite number, acrylic plaque and all.

It’s like a speakeasy bar, but you don’t have to search for a password on Instagram or dial a code on a hidden phone or anything so corny or cumbersome. You find Buon Vino just where Google said it would be. The door swings open and you are transported into a dream-like cave that smells of barrels and fruit. The walls are lined with bottles and the paint-pen signatures of winemakers and other distinguished guests. From the corners of the room, vineyard vistas flicker hypnotically on the overhead TVs.

There’s a hush in the air in this temple of wine. You turn your head sideways and squint, slowly making out the names of legendary Chateaux and vineyards on the labels behind the bar as your eyes adjust to the light. Suddenly parched, you refresh yourself from a carafe of chilled water and take a gander at what Bar Vino is pouring today.

The wine flight is curated by Buon Vino’s wine director, Adam Price. Adam (who was the somm on duty and is also a recent WSET Diploma awardee–congrats!) is an extraordinary host. Do you need more water, an extra glass, a recommendation, a moment to think? Whatever it is, it’s at the ready, and in here the time just melts away.

The wine selection is global, and the Saturday tasting took us to France, then Spain, then Argentina, then California. In between, we nibbled on salted nuts and exchanged tasting notes with the fellow wine nerds gathered around the bar.

First up was the Domaine Faiveley Montagny, from the Côte Chalonnaise. This is exactly how I like my Chardonnay–bright acidity and florals, but with a bit of oak and some texture and ripeness on it. A balanced, well-priced white Burgundy just in time for summer.

The next pour was Familia Torres “Secret del Priorat” Red Blend (I reviewed this bottle a couple of months ago for the blog). It’s a lighter take on Priorat, a mostly Grenache-Syrah blend with subtle floral and tea-leaf notes.

The Tapiz “Black Tears” Malbec came on strong, all ripe black/blue fruit and creamy new oak. Adam said to let this one chillax in the glass for a while and he was right. It mellowed out and revealed beautiful layers of violets and spice. The tasting concluded with a big and brambly beast of a Bordeaux blend, the venerably vinous BV Tapestry.

All the wines this month were yummy and it was hard to pick a favorite. It was even harder to pick something to follow it up with. Because Buon Vino doesn’t regularly operate as a bar, offerings by the glass are limited at Saturday’s Bar Vino pop-up.

Alas! Sarah and I had already tasted our way through the four selected wines, but weren’t ready to go back out into the harsh light of day just yet. Aware of our love of Italy (and not-unlimited budget), Adam very kindly located and decanted a young Dolcetto that fit our mood, the tart and pleasantly tannic Luigi Einaudi Dogliani.

So how can you get in on some of this wine action? During the week, Buon Vino’s retail store opens from 9 AM to 5 PM. The shelves hold a revolving selection of high-end but good-value wines of the world. Napa Valley and Burgundy are well-represented here–but so are Spain, Italy, and the Rhône satellite regions.

There are multiple sommeliers on staff, so when you stop in you’re certain to talk to someone who knows their stuff. If your wine crew has an appetite for rare and delectable pours, the tasting room may be reserved for private events and customized tasting experiences. (Upcoming public and member events are listed on their calendar.)

One more hot tip: Buon Vino also has perhaps the Metroplex’s best selection of 375 ml wines. I stop into the store occasionally when I want a small amount of a killer wine to go with a special meal. (They once sold me a half-bottle of a 2016 Pessac-Léognan Rouge that made me cry when I tasted it. I was actually relieved when it was gone–I don’t think I could’ve handled another drop and it might have ruined middling Bordeaux for me forever. )

Anyway, this is just my regular PSA to say…support your local independent wine shops. You don’t need 60 aisles of wine to choose from when so many of the best bottles have been gathered into tiny dark rooms at the ends of unlikely corridors.

And the next time you’re bumper-to-bumper on the Dallas North Tollway wondering what could possibly be inside all those shiny, mid-rise office buildings that stretch as far as the horizon, don’t despair! Remember that at least one of them contains a secret wine hidey-hole where you can enjoy a curated tasting or pick up a memorable bottle.

What: Bar Vino (Third Saturday of every month, 2 PM – 6 PM)

Where: Buon Vino Cellars, 2800 Dallas Parkway, Suite 105, Plano, TX

How much: Varies depending on the wines, usually around $30 for 4 3-oz premium pours.

Wines tasted:

Domaine Faiveley Montagny Chardonnay (2022)

Familia Torres “Secret del Priorat” Red Blend (2021)

Tapiz “Black Tears” Malbec (2019)

BV Reserve “Tapestry” Red Blend (2022)

Poderi Luigi Einaudi Dogliani Dolcetto (2020)

Review disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products for this review. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.