Friday night my good friend Martha and I tried out LoDo’s newest uber-trendy wine bar, The Wine Loft. Since I was expecting a decidedly snotty crowd, terrible service and high prices, I was extremely surprised to be greeted with fantastic service and a fashionable but normal crowd – but unfortunately did experience the high prices.

Martha and I first tried the wine & cheese plate flight, which included 4 different cheeses and 4 different wines picked to accentuate the various cheeses. The pours on the flight were fairly generous for a sampling. The cheeses were delicious and were of good size. The roasted & oiled almonds they served with the cheese were exquisite. The wines were good – a couple really did shine, including a Chardonnay from California that was amazingly light and lacked the trademark oakiness that I’ve grown less fond of over the years. The Franciscan Vineyards Cab was fantastic – so good that I ordered another glass after the flight. That glass cost me $14. I just about peed myself. Thankfully they were giving good pours behind the bar that night. But still, $14 is just simply outrageous for a glass of wine, even if it is a great one.

Still peckish, Martha and I ordered up the Filet Mignon salad, which was tasty, and more reasonable at $12. The wine & cheese flight we had earlier was $15 each, which wasn’t terrible in my opinion, but not cheap. The salad was delicious, even if there were a mere 3 slices of meat meekly arranged at the side.

The overall atmosphere in this place is unique – the ceilings are really high and instead of table groupings, there are couches, sofas and oversized chairs strewn about with coffee tables. Some people on Yelp have complained about this, but I found it to be relaxing without a bunch of tables crowded in. On a sidenote, the bathrooms were gorgeous.

If someone asked me if I’d go again, I would definitely say yes, however I might go back during their Happy Hour, or just stick to the $8 glasses of wine, which I still think is too expensive. I still wish Denver would take a hint from L.A. and allow B.Y.O.B. at restaurants. But then again, that would totally diminish the whole point of a bar.