It must have been his years in San Francisco as part of the Kimpton Group – because Wayne Turner, proprietor of Into the Glass in Grapevine has honed the art of hospitality and fine dining.

Our first stop after the Sacramento to Ft. Worth flight from hell found us with a small intimate winemaker’s dinner at Wayne’s place.  We had an hour to kill so we set up shop in the back of the restaurant before the dinner.  Randy was desperately trying to finish up some winery business over the phone so he hunkered down in the wine closet, literally – hey, it was cool and quiet and a welcome relief from the 95 degree temperatures with humidity to match.

Into the Glass, 322 S. Main Street, is just a sliver of a restaurant, nestled in the antique district of historic town of Grapevine.  The bar sits squarely in the middle of the room and is definitely a “Cheers” kind of place – everyone is a friend as soon as you walk into the door.

Wayne knocked it out of the park with the pairing of basil buttered popcorn to compliment the 2009 Muscat Canelli Frizzante.  And truth be known, we hauled the Muscat in my suitcase – it’s always fun to surprise our great restaurants with some of the newest releases.

The Chefs owned the night with Fried Green Tomatoes paired with our 2008 Proprietary Chardonnay that earned a Gold Medal at the 2010 Dallas Morning News Wine Competition, and most recently the 2010 California State Fair Wine Competition.

And to shake it up a bit, Wayne brought out a second course that was wrapped in a white paper bag – and listed on the menu as a “sack lunch”!  Everyone was rolling with laughter as we paired a ham and cheese taste with the 2007 Merlot.  If only Mom had made those lunches while we were in school.

The evening moved through pairings with the Midnight Reserve, Petite/Petit and the Zinfandel.  We rolled up the streets late that night and made another group of great friends.