{fave spot} whole foods: wine loft.

last august, charlotte became one of the cool kids and got a whole foods. we all watched with anticipation for over a year as it took quite some time to build this giant grocery store. finally, august rolled around and we finally got to go inside!

along with the never-ending aisles of yummy/healthy/trendy food, their fabulous hot bar, and their delicious selection of amazing cheeses, our whole foods has a bar/wine loft called queen's corner. it is located in the back right corner of the store, and on the main level, there is a small bar home to several different rotating beer taps. there is also some seating down on the main level, as well as seating around the bar. once you have purchased your "wine card" from the bartender downstairs, you take the industrial-like stairs up to the wine loft.

 

{wine bottle chandelier}

 

 

 

{the loft}

 

the coolest part about the wine loft is the enomatic self-dispensing wine system. you take your wine card, grab a glass, insert your card into any one of the 3 machines, and choose how many oz. you want. you have the option of 1 oz, (taste)  2.5 oz. (half glass), and 5 oz.(full glass) pours. there are 8 bottles in each machine, totaling 24 bottles of wine. they change the bottles out frequently, so every time you go there is something different being offered. the prices vary from about $3-$20 a glass, but there are always plenty of options at a reasonable price.

 

 

 

 

{inspiration wall}

 

there are daily specials at queen's corner:

 

monday: $3 pints

tuesday: "half ff the loft" (a great deal!)

wednesday: $5 beer flights

thursday: $3 wine feature

friday: sommelier selections

saturday and sunday: $5 cheese plates

and if you get lucky, a nice gentleman from the cheese world may just bring you a yummy little treat such as this....

 

{warm goat cheese & jam on a cracker, topped with toasted walnut; smokey chocolate bites}

 



 

this has quickly become one of our favorite spots in charlotte. sometimes we'll even grab dinner from the hot bar & bring it up while we enjoy our vino. queen's corner is open from 12pm-9:30pm daily. if you are a charlottean, be sure to grab a glass next time you're in the southpark area!