NO SNOBBERY HERE, WINE IS THE HERO

A small, new wine bar with big ambitions opens in Bengaluru. The menu is simple but it plays second fiddle to the drinks

- Ruma Singh

Wine in Progress. That's not just the name of Bengaluru's newest, littlest wine bar but its W raison d'être. The 12-seater bar boasts of a small, frequently changing wine list and champions the cause of the "wine curious", people who are not necessarily wine savvy but have a keen interest in exploring wine.

For the uninitiated or the timid, wine appears to come with baggage often regarded as intimidatory-complicated technical jargon, a bewildering array of choices and protocols, and a propensity of catering only to those who know their Sauvignon from the Savagnin. Even in wine-friendly Bengaluru, where there are several restaurants that serve wine or have suitably impressive wine programmes, there is a dearth of places where one can order a fuss-free glass of wine without a five-course meal attached.

So, Wine in Progress (WIP)-which opened end-January and is located in the Courtyard, a hive for buzzy culture-based communities, centered around food, art and culture may be a game changer. The Courtyard has multiple nooks, crannies and floors, including an open to-sky courtyard, and in one corner has sprung up WIP, all of 250 sq. ft.

"I have always wanted to do something with wine," says Akhila Srinivas, Courtyard's owner and WIP co-founder.

Srinivas is an architect and urban planner, who has, since 2018, conceptualised various cultural events, including successful culinary pop-ups featuring visiting chefs.