Decor: A kind of musty off-yellow theme throughout, which, frankly, I didn't care for. It kind of felt like an old person's living room, updated to seem modern and trendy. Strange, and unsettling. Yellow light theme = bad skin tones. Plus, the bar is hideous- shellacked with a roughly hammered layer of aluminum or some shit, that has no place being anywhere but a conspiracy nut's helmet. What ever happened to simple, elegant wood under about 800 layers of lacquer? Was there a new fire ordinance passed? Finally, there's a bigass iron chandelier, with a single ugly bulb in the middle, and wine bottles arranged radially - which would look awesome in a more rustic, relaxed setting (as would the very nice and humongous wine racks behind the bar), but which didn't fit with the fancier appointments in the rest of the place. Overall, decor is confused, and not very successful.
Food: Didn't have any, but it looks good if not very creative. That said, they serve several dishes using an unbelievably poor method, which is a bigass rack that stacks three plates vertically, almost like your at afternoon tea in Britain. I didn't like this method then, and I seriously hate it now, served to a couple at a very small two-seater, such that they had to lean to the side to fucking see each other. This is the worst kind of stupid, pretentious shit that has no place in a quality drunkery.
Wine: Fantastic. World-class. Awesome. Pick a word. They were out of Carmenere, which was too bad, but I discovered a few others that were straight up great. A glass'll run you 9-10 bucks, but the service and quality makes it worth it (see below). One small problem was that the wine is served in glasses sporting the Vintage logo. I find this really stupid.
Dude:
"Damn, this malbec is great and all, but where the hell am I?"
(looks down)
"Oh, right! I'm at Vintage! Thank you, kind purveyor of booze, for alerting me as to my whereabouts. Now, pray, where might my pants be?"
Beer: Not great. A lot of generic euro pilsners, and of course the requisite belgian stuff you can get at every single other bar in the city, plus a few specials. The lone hop-lovers beer was Dogfish Head's 90 minute, which is maybe the most overrated beer on the planet. Stick to wine. They do have a rotating tap for something seasonal. I suggested they add Yard's Brawler when it comes out. Bartender looked at me like I had grown antennae.
Other booze: See above. Several ports and scotches available, but nothing all that rare to my untrained eye. Blah. But you're not here for that stuff anyway.
Service: In a word, phenomenal. Like every serious wine bar (and really, any bar period) should, they encourage tasting anything and everything. Much like a good cheese shop, they've realized that encouraging customers tasting different stuff encourages them to come back and buy more. Bravo. So head on over on a day when it's slow (Wed. night the place was dead), and spend some time sipping. Don't be shy. They'll happily chat with you about what they think of the wine (including an honest answer if they personally hate a particular wine). This is the model all bars should follow.
Overall, this place is great in the right circumstances, which is to say, go with a friend or two, for drinks and maybe a snack to share, belly up to the bar, and spend a couple hours tasting different stuff. Reward their generosity by ordering a glass or two of whatever tastes the best to you.
And if your food arrives in a goddamn tower formation, tell them to knock that shit off, deconstruct it, and hand the stupid rack back to them. They gotta learn.
