Reserve wine bar to open in downtown Grand Rapids with a happy surprise for 'Open Water' fans

Deborah Johnson Wood

Billed as one of the Midwest's premier wine destinations, Reserve wine bar will open next week in downtown Grand Rapids. Inside, wine lovers can treat their taste buds to 270 wines while they treat their eyes to a mix of contemporary and vintage design elements as well as artist Ran Ortner's "Open Water No. 24," the first winner of ArtPrize.

"We're very pleased about this," says Betsy DeVos, who is a partner in Reserve with her husband Dick DeVos and Kameel Chamelly, owner of Martha's Vineyard. DeVos's son, Rick DeVos, is the mastermind behind ArtPrize.

"Dick and I didn't want to see it leave Grand Rapids," she says. "Being the first ArtPrize winner, we thought there is no way it should leave our community. We didn't have any idea where we might move it and were well into the design of the wine bar when the architect suggested the space above the cruvinet."

At Reserve, 201 Monroe Ave. NW, customers will be able to enjoy over 100 wines by the glass and another 170 or so by the bottle. A custom-made cruvinet wine dispensing system keeps wines palate-ready for about six weeks after opening, so patrons can enjoy a taste of a particular wine without having to purchase the entire bottle.

"We will have a number of different flights of three different varieties, and other wines will be by the bottle," DeVos says. "The number will ebb and flow because, if you know Kameel at all, he's always looking for new wines and new winemakers, and he's knows a lot about them."

Reserve offers a menu of small plates, wine education by sommeliers and space for private wine tasting dinners with wine pairings.

Source: Betsy DeVos, Reserve; Andrea Groom, Wondergem Consulting

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected]. Development News tips can be sent to [email protected].