Wonderful Wine Emporium

IF you haven’t yet visited Vinum La Enoteca, you are in for an experience, both oenophilic and architectural.

The original Escazú emporium, in Plaza Los Laureles on the old road to Santa Ana, west of San José, opened in 2002. It’s an ultra-modern, sleek showroom and tasting room with a glass ceiling and darkwood wine racks covering every inch of wall.

In the new Curridabat store, east of San José, you feel as though you have walked into a genuine wine cave. The cool rooms are shaped like huge barrels, and an aluminum ladder on a track allows staff to climb up and around the wine studded walls. Architect Jaime Rouillon, who designed the Sí Como No hotel in the central Pacific tourist town of Manuel Antonio, is the architectural mastermind at

work here.

The stores offer wine tastings and courses (in Spanish or in English by special arrangement) and private dinners. The Escazú store also hosts events for the Vinum La Cofradía wine club. The two showrooms, run by Vinum Aura, S.A., are open 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Monday-Thursday, and 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Friday-Saturday. In Escazú, call 289-5917; in Curridabat, 524-0374; or visit www.vinumlacofradia.com.