Past the security checkpoint at American Airlines’ new terminal 8 at John F. Kennedy International Airport, around the corner from the fast food joints such as Wok ‘n’ Roll and McDonald’s, the airport’s first wine bar, called Vino Volo, has opened.
It’s the fifth in a San Francisco-based chain of airport wine bars that chief executive officer Doug Tomlinson expects to grow to 50 by 2011, the New York Sun reports.
The first opened in 2005 at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C.
The wine bar revelation came to him in his previous career as a management consultant, Tomlinson said: “It was at a large airport in the center of the country which shall go unnamed. I was ending a project, and the team knew that I loved wine, but we chose beer instead because, at that time, the airport world had not been introduced to any concepts of caring about wine. After you feel like you’ve been strip-searched at security, a good glass of wine is what you need.”
Each glass of wine served at Vino Volo comes with a brief, jargon-free wine note (“Blueberry & Graphite” is the header for the Bedell Merlot).
“There aren’t enough opportunities out there for wine to be fun and un-intimidating,” Tomlinson added. “The mistake often made is that people confused the romance of wine with the elitism of wine.”
