Wide-framed home windows give strategy to a Rocky Mountain backdrop whereas a Steinway and Sons live performance grand piano sitting beneath a proscenium casts a sublime attraction on the room. The wine served is of the best high quality and the assorted furnished conversational areas supply a quaint communal ambiance for company to get pleasure from.

The area is named 217 Wine Bar – The Stanley’s newest providing for company and local people members to roister in. 217 is positioned inside the Stanley Hotel most important constructing, filling what was once the Music Room.

During the top of the Victorian Era, this music room was used because the designated women’ tea room. Women would maintain seances, play playing cards and sip tea – now that tea-sipping has remodeled into spirited wine tasting.

217 Wine Bar opened to the general public in late July and has been servicing since. The grand opening, nevertheless, remains to be within the works because the ending touches are nonetheless being added to the area. Nonetheless, the wine bar nonetheless has lots to supply to prospects.

217’s Maitre D David Czapp gave a tour of the area and all it has to supply on Monday, Nov. 14.

“John Cullen [owner of The Stanley] wanted to offer customers a different kind of experience than they could get anywhere else in town,” Czapp stated, talking on the thought behind the wine bar. “You can buy wine at places all over town, but there is no place that looks like this. It’s a low-pressure environment and we have fun with all of the customers on a regular basis.”

217 Wine Bar presents a choice of over 50 wines – crimson, white and glowing – with a portion of the menu altering based mostly on buyer choice. One of the perfect sellers on this listing is the home 217 Cabernet Sauvignon. Those who buy a bottle of this delectable crimson are in a position to personalize the emblem and have it positioned upon a ceiling raptor inside the bar as a logo of remembrance.

“We’ve had this wine bought for birthdays, anniversaries, engagements, you name it,” stated Czapp. “People love celebrating with this bottle, and it’s actually of pretty high quality.”

217 additionally presents a good number of regionally brewed beer and non-alcoholic choices that make the spot all-inclusive.

For meals choices, prospects can get pleasure from charcuterie boards in parts of two-meat-two-cheese or four-cheese-four meat, paired with crackers and recent fruit. A vegetarian hummus can also be on the menu for one thing a bit lighter to snack on.

Speaking on the meals, Czapp defined that because of The Stanley’s Michelin Star Chef – aka better of the perfect – the meals provided pairs glorious with no matter drink mixture one might select.

“I honestly don’t know how he does it,” Czapp stated laughingly. “It doesn’t matter if it’s red wine, white wine or beer. Whatever the chef makes tastes good. The menu also just works great with wine tasting itself because it’s not a full meal – people can enjoy their wine and not feel bloated.”

While 217’s wonderful wine and refined design increase the bar for competitors – the one-of-a-kind leisure provided on the wine bar units it aside from every other place within the Estes Valley.

As talked about beforehand, the presence of a Steinway and Sons live performance grand piano already begs for an leisure issue, whereas the proscenium it sits beneath makes the potential for common acoustics.

The Steinway has a definite historical past of its personal. The authentic proprietor of The Stanley – F.O. Stanley – gifted it to his spouse Flora in 1909 after the lodge had been constructed. Since no microphones or audio system had been accessible to amplify sound on the time, the proscenium was constructed to hold out that impact.

In easy phrases, sound admitted inside the proscenium displays off the sleek curve of the dome-shaped ceiling, which permits it to journey all through all the room at a relative quantity degree.

With these two instrumental masterpieces current, company are provided the prospect to play the Steinway. As Czapp defined, nevertheless, solely these worthy sufficient to the touch the keys are permitted.

“You can normally tell by the reactions of their friends if the person can really play or not,” Czapp defined light-heartedly. “If the friends are in awe of the playing, they’re usually up to the task, but if they’re sitting there playing chopsticks with the friends cracking jokes, they’re probably not.”

Aside from this classical fashion of leisure the piano taking part in brings, the so-called “wine songs” sung are what supply a novel expertise for purchasers.

The story behind these tunes is that when Czapp was employed, he was requested to seek out wine-themed songs to sing to prospects.

“The purpose behind this entertainment is to give people something to talk about,” Czapp stated. “You give them some sort of show which carries on a conversation. People have good conversations and good wine – that is what we want.”

The drawback with these wine songs that Czapp discovered, nevertheless, was that they had been a bit too miserable. Thinking creatively, Czapp got here up with an answer to this problem – taking songs that exist already and make a wine-based parody out of them.

Czapp’s plan was to take musical-based showtimes that transfer a plot and make these wine parodies out of them. Once the plan was hatched and Czapp began performing to the viewers, the purchasers started writing their very own parodies, and the thought caught fireplace.

“Billy Joel, Frank Sinatra, Queen, Johnny Cash, you name it, someone has done a song about it,” Czapp expressed. “The Righteous Brothers, Gloria Gaynor, Hellen Reddy, they’re all in there, and it’s all fun.”

Czapp’s telling of this newfound tune parody pattern was made clear when he held up a ebook crammed filled with lyric scribbled notes from prospects who tried their hand at writing their very own parody.

Along with these wine tunes, Czapp additionally shares historic tales, tells ghost tails and offers background on The Stanley’s story.

“We incorporate this entertainment to give customers an experience, that is what we are shooting for, and that is what we’re seeing,” Czapp stated.

In the following phases, earlier than 217’s grand opening, a chocolatier is deliberate to be included to pair with wine tasting, and a brand new bar prime is to be put in to finalize the refurbishing course of.

217 Wine Bar is open seven days per week – 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and a couple of p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends.