Vintner’s Table by Folino Estate Winery is on the ground floor of One Ardmore on Cricket Avenue.
Part wine bar and bottle shop, part Italian restaurant and fashion boutique (really!), Vintner’s Table is a Main Line first: a place where everything poured comes from the owners’ own winery in … wait for it … Kutztown.
Originally targeted for last fall, the third Vintner’s Table from Folino Estate Winery is finally open in the former Twenty One Pips space at 24 Cricket Ave. in Ardmore.
To call this undertaking ambitious would be an understatement.
Wine and dine in the 70-seat restaurant and 12-seat bar, which anchor the cavernous space.
OR climb the stairs to private dining for 48 on the mezzanine.
OR browse the extensive bottle shop and take home the wine you just enjoyed with dinner.
OR step through an archway into Andrea Folino, a sumptuous women’s fashion boutique stocked with Italian pieces handpicked by the winery’s style-setting co-owner.
The Andrea Folino boutique carries distinctive Italian-crafted shoes, handbags and clothing at reasonable prices. Servers pull daytime shifts at the boutique, which is currently open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
In sum, it’s A LOT. But here’s hoping this tenant sticks around longer than its predecessor, the board game café, which lasted just under two and a half years.
Certainly, the place looks inviting: creamy walls, stone accents, soaring ceilings and cozy half-moon booths. “It’s old-world charm with the light and airy feel of southern Italy,” Vintner’s Table hospitality manager Brandon Bunce tells SAVVY.
A view of the dining room and a peek at the women’s boutique through the archway.
And despite the 22-foot ceilings and hard surfaces, you can actually hear yourself talk. The owners were smart to install tin-look acoustic ceiling tiles and wavy stone accent walls to curb the din.
On the menu: piccolini (small plates), $9 – $19; build-your-own salumi boards priced by the ounce, or shareable house boards, $34–$39; soups and salads from $9; piadina (flatbread sandwiches), $17–$19; pinsa flatbreads, $16–$19; homemade pasta, $22 – $26 (protein extra); sides, $6–$9; and sweets and gelato, $9–$15. Weekend brunch plates run $14 – $18.
The Chopped Italian Salad and Ricotta Egg Toast with pancetta, a brunch item.
Naturally, each dish comes with a Folino wine suggestion.
Wines come in 6- and 9-ounce pours, by the bottle or in flights. In this age of lighter drinking and stretched wallets, a six-ounce, $11 glass meets the moment.
We tasted three reds, each a revelation. Who knew a Kutztown winery could turn out such polished pours? Indeed, three of its Signature wines have won prestigious awards.
“These aren’t the super-sweet reds typical of PA wines,” says Bunce, who credits much of the label’s quality to winemaker Zack Bremer, brought on two years ago. Besides French varietals that grow well in Pennsylvania, like Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc, Bremer has focused on quality Italian varietals and smooth blends. Four Estate wines are made with Kutztown-grown grapes.
Not wild about wine? There’s a full roster of cocktails.
The kitchen is still working out early kinks. Our Caesar salad arrived without dressing, and the white lasagna was too gloopy for our taste. But our neighbors raved about the tomato soup and the homemade pappardelle with red sauce, which they swapped in for the heavier garlic cream sauce on the menu.
All wines, including this Legacy Blend, are from Folino Estate Winery which sits on 54 acres in Kutztown. At right, roasted tomato soup topped with mascarpone and parmigiano crisps.
Marco and Andrea Folino planted their first vines in Kutztown in 2014. Five years and 23,500 vines later, they opened the first Vintner’s Table in Phoenixville. Five years after that, they brought the concept to Wyomissing.
Why Ardmore? According to the manager Bunce, the couple and their investors had a lot of “interest in the area.” Translation: Ardmore draws a sophisticated, relatively well-heeled crowd.
And how ‘bout this bold mission statement, printed on the menu: “Let us be your third place between work & home, a place to meet friends, linger over a glass of wine, and make time for connection.”
Sure, we can drink to that.
Vintner’s Table by Folino Estate Winery, 24 Cricket Ave., Ardmore. Open Sun. – Thurs. 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.; Fri. and Sat. 11 a.m.- 9 p.m. Brunch Sat. and Sun. 11 a.m.- 2 p.m. $18 Italian lunch weekdays 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Live piano Thursday nights. The Italian Happy Hour, Mon. to Fri. 3 – 6 p.m., features discounted snacks and boards, $12 wine spritzes and sangrias, $15 flights and $5 cans, served with free aperitivo bites: cheese, grapes and Italian pickled vegetables. Andrea Folino Italian fashion boutique is currently open 11 to 6.
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