When David Gummer moved from British Columbia to Edmonton, he immersed himself in the restaurant industry. But, eventually, he wanted to focus on a different side of the business, so he opened Vines Riverbend Wine Merchants, a premier wine boutique. “David’s a wine geek and fan. He loves his wine. That was his passion to start off with,” says William Bincoletto, manager and principal sommelier of Vines Riverbend Wine Merchants. “He lives around here and looked at this place – which was all farmland at the time – and he thought it was an up-and-coming area.”
It turned out the boutique’s owner was correct. Vines opened in 2004, and grew into a big expansion in 2016. The shop’s wooden racks, filled with bottles of every wine variety, a massive table for special events and tastings, and the huge wall covered in whiskeys from all over the world, all evoke a sort of golden warmth and a pleasant sense of home.
