Wine (and food) lovers, The Wine Collective should be your next stop

If you love wine and charcuterie boards, then I have the perfect place for you. As a self-proclaimed wine connoisseur, you can bet that this winery will meet all of your wishes and dreams. Located just a couple miles outside of campus is the Wine Collective, an undiscovered beauty of a winery.

In celebration of a friend’s 22nd birthday, we just had to visit a winery — it’s practically a rite of passage. My friend had been there before and heard plenty of good things about it, so a group of us got a private wine tasting room for ourselves.

The Wine Collective is a quaint and cozy place. There is a huge bar in the middle of the main room and small tables scattered inside, socially distanced to meet COVID-19 safety guidelines. The entire place was also overflowing with large wine barrels at every corner; this made for a very aesthetic, picturesque background. Thankfully the place wasn’t particularly crowded that day, but we had made reservations and enjoyed each other’s company and the wine safely in the private room. 

We were able to pick and choose unlimited wines that we wanted to try from the menu. They had a wonderful assortment of generously sweet whites to the most aggressive, boldest of reds. When the waitress brought them to us, we were off to happy land.

The winery provided a hefty variety of finger foods and charcuterie boards, as well as alternative options for those with dietary restrictions. Dare I say that their food was even better than their wine? We were all pleasantly surprised with the taste of the food and ended up ordering more and more. Now in retrospect, I’m sure we looked like we had been fasting for a week.

The Wine Collective provides many different cheese and meat options for the charcuterie boards, and they were all delectable. Higos Con Queso was a very unique and creamy dish on the menu that consisted of an unidentifiable cheese that I later discovered was stracciatella on top of a seasoned slice of sourdough bread, which was finished off with a drizzle of a mysterious sauce. It was seriously to die for; as a group, we reordered that quite a few times. 

The wine tasting was truly a memorable experience, and I genuinely had the best of times there. Not only was the atmosphere very welcoming and the wine and food beyond satisfactory, but the service was very wonderful as well. They were able to answer all our questions and really lightened up the aura of the place. Our waitress was also kind enough to take multiple group photos of us in front of the giant wine barrels. 

Overall, I sincerely recommend visiting The Wine Collective. If it hasn’t been made clear yet, it certainly makes for a fun and memorable experience. And, as someone who has quite the picky palate for her wine, I can definitely say that you will not leave this place disappointed!