Vino Venue serves as one-stop wine shop

By DELANEY TARR delaney@appenmedia.com

DUNWOODY, Ga. — For the past decade, Vino Venue has been a onestop shop for all things wine related in Metro Atlanta. As a retail space, restaurant, wine school, private event space and travel hub, the store aims to educate everyone interested in wine.

Michael and Lelia Bryan went on their first trip as a couple to Napa Valley, California in 2001. Lelia was a wine lover, but Michael Bryan was new to the spirit.

“He absolutely fell in love with it,” Lelia said.

Michael returned and decided to start teaching wine classes. In the early 2000s, Lelia moved from Brookhaven to join Michael in Dunwoody and the pair opened the Atlanta Wine School on Holcomb Bridge Road. The school was a success, but the couple wanted to expand.

“We had so many people who would taste wine during their classes and want to buy them, want to learn more about them, want to be able to sample different wines,” Lelia said. “It really just made sense to have a place like Vino Venue.”

In October 2012, they opened the doors to Vino Venue, a so-called “wine emporium” with a retail store, cooking classes, tastings and a tapas-style restaurant. One month later, Michael Bryan was diagnosed with sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. He passed away five years later, in 2017.

Those five years were challenging for Lelia and the couple’s daughter, Willa.

“When he did pass, it was my goal to really just keep the vision he had alive,” Lelia said.

Vino Venue now sees 3,000 visitors annually for wine and cooking classes and conducts about 300 private wine events a year. The emporium also hosts a variety of guided wine trips throughout the year to destinations like Portugal and Piedmont, Italy.

The establishment has grown since it opened 10 years ago, but Lelia said she tries to maintain Vino Venue’s initial goal.

“We want to educate people who wanted to know more about the passion around wine,” Lelia said.