«We’ll become drunkards…. «, looking out of the window at the strange new restaurant, in this mysterious deserted hotel, in Malaya Kaluzhskaya, my husband made a statement.  An establishment with 850 different wines and within walking distance from home, works until 4 am – this is a real setup for athletes like us.

I’ve heard from our friends about the nightmare like «your local pub is literally in the same building you live in». And they did for some time lose their peace and sober sleep: although every day the head of the family honestly tried to slip past the bar, after his work with his eyes closed, yet each time the idea of sober evening did collapse.

When, among the rows of bottles, I saw the contented face of an old friend and desperate wine lover Igor Zigar, I stiffened and froze. «We are fucked,» I was honest saying it to my husband. Igor will get a nun drunk to the gills therefore it’s obvious what will happen to us. A lot of stories float around about this man’s wine love, but none of these stories are close to reality.

The race began. At one o’clock in the morning we “wander” with our dog at Smartwine. Our dog likes it. Igor secretly crumbles and feeds our dog with something like cottage cheese. The dog understands everything.

Then we have our vertical tasting and then the horizontal one.  And here are 5 bottles of champagne for three of us. Owners have to taste as well. And then the tasting of the «house» begins – it means that we are about to go home. We have a patient dog. And Igor is hospitable. We are fucked. As soon as you think that the most interesting is over Zigar raises his index finger to the ceiling and says this same «Oh!» meaning «there is something else we have to try». And right after he comes back with a couple of new bottles from Becka or Nappa valley, the Rhine slopes, or chalky dolomite, smoky, spicy, acidic, different and equally delightful.

Over time regulars start to appear.

The fact that around Leninsky for wine gastronomy was responsible just one Sky Lounge and for many years – it’s no secret. Now it has – no, not a competitor, rather another younger brother. Which allows people not to leave the district in search for a night glass and calmly “wander” with your dog up until dead drunk.