Well it’s been very hectic at The Vineyard Wine Bar since I wrote last, and I appoligize for taking so long in getting you an update.

The electric was much more involved than the plumbing. The plumbing, as you can imagine, was mostly in the floor, where as the electricity replacement was in the floors, the walls, and the ceilings. There were, (in some cases still are), holes everywhere where new wire had to be fished through walls, and beams and joists, but Tony and Mike, (the 2 very capable dry wall experts), are doing a great job of patching everything up and making it new again, and in a couple days everything will look great!

We passed electric inspection on Thursday of last week…. Yea!!! (Sorry I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had time to drop you all an update until now)….. and so now we move on to electrical “finish work”.

What we accomplished this past week was:

• The bathroom walls and ceilings are now in.
• Sub floors have been put in.
• Tile has been laid, (we chose a really nice “slate” look with swirls of gray, olive and burgundy combined with a light gray grout. The bathrooms are going to compliment the colors throughout the lounge and bar area very nicely, and are going to be comfortable.
• The toilets and sinks are now in and we have running water for the first time.
• The prep room has been outfitted with new walls, sub-floor and ceiling, and the kitchen is being worked on.
• The walls were run for our office and the rest room divider was put up.
• The Fireplace is now in place with the venting being run.
• The new furnace and central air is now fully in place, and operative.

The painter starts on the tin ceiling this Wednesday and then the walls in the lounge and wine bar will follow next week.

We started building the new bar frame on Thursday, and picked out the furniture grade wood that will become the face of the bar. We also picked out the cabinets for the back bar and they will be in place by the end of this week…. then our furniture maker will start the custom shelving build out.

The final measurement for the custom Granite bar top was done on Friday morning and the 20 foot slab will be made, polished and finished in 2 weeks.

We’ve had numerous meetings with our food purveyors and started finalizing the menu choices, and we’ve also met with wine distributors and started the long and difficult task, of finding the BEST wines available, from the best wine growing regions of the world, at the best prices.

As we move further into this week, and for the next couple weeks…. along with finishing the front bar build out, placements of the cabinets, building of the back bar shelving, painting of the ceilings and walls…. We will also install the bar floor, install the floor tile in the kitchen and prep rooms, install a new hardwood floor in the bar area, and carpet in the lounge area, finish the rest rooms, and office, hang lighting fixtures, and continue to build out the kitchen, along with starting to empty out our garages and basements by bringing furniture and equipment that we’ve been storing there.

In our spare time we’re also working on finalizing the glassware, plates, silverware, napkins….. Wow, the list just goes on and on.

The next few weeks will consist of long, hard days, but the place is starting to look like a wine bar and we’re starting to see rewarding results from all our hard work.

As you probably know by now, we are off schedule and won’t be making our target of a Labor Day weekend opening….. but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and feel we’re not too far off from opening.

Thanks for being a part of the progress, for all the well wishes, and for all the support we’ve been getting from all of you.

Joe Lertch and Jarrod Cronin