"Bar Month" at OnMilwaukee.com – brought to you by Hornitos, OR-G, Party Armor, Red Stag, Absolut, Fireball and Malibu – is back for another round! The whole month of February, we're serving up intoxicatingly fun articles on bars and clubs – including guides, the latest trends, bar reviews and more. Grab a designated driver and dive in!

We talk a lot about beer in Milwaukee, but as in most places, wine's always had a place on the table in Brew City, too. It's just easy for the grape to get lost amid the grain.

During Bar Month, we wanted to make sure the vines had a chance to speak. So, we contacted some of Milwaukee's most passionate and engaged oenophiles – including Toni Johnson, who recently left Milwaukee to take an executive wine director position at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Napa – to get their take on the state of wine in Brewtown.

Here's what they had to say:

Jessica Bell
Owner, My Wine School

I moved back to Wisconsin in 2006, and I remember being surprised to see the diversity of wines available and the overall knowledge of the trade for a city the size of Milwaukee. As owner of a wine school, I have seen first-hand over the past five years the demand for wine knowledge at both the consumer and trade levels. There is, in fact, much interest on the part of the consumer to become an informed consumer of wine, and as consumers become more educated, they put pressure on the trade to know more.

I do think it is a slow process, and certainly not uniformly happening at all levels of retail nor hospitality. I still wish those in charge of wine lists and at retail stores would take more risks and aim to include more esoteric wines in their selections, especially with wine by the glass programs, as restaurants in Chicago and New York do. It is such an effective way to inspire a more educated wine community, at both the consumer and trade level, because the investment to trying something new, the cost of a glass of wine, is relatively small.

I remember being a sommelier in New York and helping mold one of the country's best wine lists (The restaurant was James Beard Best New Restaurant of 2005) and our goal was to find wines no one else could get their hands on. I know this isn't New York and it is a completely different market, but I also think some Milwaukee restaurateurs underestimate the Milwaukee diner and his/her knowledge and/or curiosity about wine.

That said, however, I also think restaurants of a certain caliber and especially those who decide to take risks with their wine programs should have staff who can advise and answer basic questions regarding the wine list. As the Milwaukee restaurant scene continues to improve, there will be a critical mass of diners who will invite and eventually expect that their wine experiences match the quality and excitement of what's happening in some Milwaukee restaurant kitchens.

I also think that there is a significant amount of demand at the consumer level to know more about wine, but the current options for wine education tend to be inconvenient, expensive or not compatible with each person's personal objectives and /or schedules.

This realization was the driving force behind My Wine School, and in response, we have created a forum for wine education that makes learning about wine more fun, accessible and affordable.

Toni Johnson, CWE
Advanced Sommelier/Executive Wine Director at La Toque, Napa, Calif.

I think that buyers in Milwaukee are absolutely more knowledgeable than they have in the past. In some restaurants and retail outlets buyers know good producers from smaller estates and single vineyards wines and rely less on a salesperson letting them know who and what they should buy.

Great examples of retailers are Waterford Wine and Wine Cellars of Wisconsin. Ben (Christiansen) and Joel (Freeborn) have great selections of lesser known producers and can tell the story, which is great for the consumer. Anyone can put wine on a shelf and sell it. But if a customer picks up a bottle and the salesperson can wax nostalgic about the wine makers, the property, the regions etc. that's when the customer really wins. They are not just leaving with a few bottles, they are leaving with the spirit of whats in the bottle if that makes sense.

My friend owns Wine Styles in Brookfield and, although that is a huge corporate entity, Rendall (Thomas) has really bucked their buying philosophy and has tons of new interesting smaller producers and he can tell the story behind each and every one of them. It is impressive how many dedicated customers he has and how much they trust him.

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