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Austin wine bar Wanderlust Wine Company launched a wine cave speakeasy at its recent location in the Zilker neighborhood. Wanderlust Wine Cave is located underneath the wine bar at 1601 Barton Springs Road as of September 1.
Though Wanderlust is known for offering wines on tap (to reduce waste, among other reasons), the speakeasy serves wine out of bottles, with a rotating focus on different regions (currently, Spain, Portugal, and the Canary Islands). The bottles can be purchased at the retail store upstairs, but are only available for tastings in the wine cave.
The tasting includes eight wine pours paired with eight tapas from couple Alexander and Carlotta Danon, although owner Sammy Lam plans to host different food providers each month, including from hotly anticipated Japanese restaurant Tare and current winery food trucks Tacos TJ and B. Cooper BBQ.
Reservations, which are $99 per person, are available online. The intimate wine cave can only hold 24 people.
Lam was inspired to create the space after visiting Gordon’s Wine Bar in London while studying for his Master of Wine certification. He also plans to bring the wine cave experience to the downtown location of Wanderlust in early 2024.
Wanderlust Wine Company opened downtown in 2020, and expanded with a second location in east Austin in 2021, and a third on Barton Springs in April.
The wine cave has seatings at 6 p.m. or 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. or 4 p.m. on Sundays. Because of the confined space, all tables are two-tops.
