Introducing the LaVelle Wine Bar & Grille!

When we moved the LaVelle Wine Bar and Bistro from the 5th St. Market to the Riverbend district we had an opportunity to do certain things differently. We loved the campus look of the Riverbend business park and we were delighted that we had ample, free parking for our customers. We knew that with 8,000 people working within a one mile radius of this location, that we had a good shot at building a new branch to our customer base from the "after work" crowd from businesses like Symantec, Riverbend Hospital, Royal Carribean, Pacific Source, Richardson, Fed Ex, etc. etc. etc. More importantly, our lease no longer prohibited us from selling non-LaVelle wines or from selling beer on tap, and our relationship with Willie's Restaurant meant we could create a menu that gave our customers many more food options at much more reasonable prices.

At the time of the move, we felt it was important to come up with a name change that reflected this expanded definition of our products and services. Since we now had wines and beer on tap, one of the staff recommended a name that combined the the public's understanding of the terms "tap house" and "tasting room" - thus was born the name LaVelle Tap Room. It was not a bad idea, but it was not a concept that people intuitively understood, and in fact, we have found that when people hear the word "tap" they automatically think beer. Of course, we wanted folks to know we sold beer, but we are not a brewery. First and foremost, we are a winery and our Riverbend location is first and foremost a tasting room.

Our lease ended and we had to close the 5th St. Market location on June 30, 2013, before work on the new location was complete. We rushed to open our new location so our club members would have a place to pick up their wine club shipments, so we never really finished the interior decor. We intended to have a wine themed interior, designed around the "bones" of the space which is built in a contemporary, upscale, industrial style. Those of you who understand the resource limitations that face all small businesses will appreciate what I mean when I say that we intended to do these things, but once we got the place open, other priorities overwhelmed our good intentions. For 18 months we have struggled with a name that doesn't reflect who we really are and a space that looks more like a sports bar than a tasting room. Now we are going to fix all that.

We will host a grand opening of the newly renovated and renamed LaVelle Wine Bar and Grille with a party on Saturday night, April 18th, and a Wine Club open house on Sunday afternoon, April 19th. There will be new signs, new interior decor, and personal touches that will better reflect who we are - a small, family-owned winery that is solely focused on the Eugene/Springfield market and our customers who live and work in this area. I don't want to say a lot about the decor, but you will notice a major difference in the look and feel of space. We are excited about this new episode in our company's evolution so put these dates on your calendar and watch for more details as the grand opening gets closer. We hope you will come out and see what we've done to the place.

Cheers!

Doug and Matthew and the entire staff at LaVelle Vineyards