Sonder Wine Bar wants you to relax. That's the whole pitch, and in a city that can wine-snob with the best of them, it's a good one. Now open at 90 Cannon Street, Sonder is part wine bar, part retail shop, dropped into Cannonborough-Elliotborough among heavy hitters like the Michelin-starred Wild Common and Pink Cactus. It's the work of longtime food-and-beverage pros Michelle Kauczka and Jill Schenzel, who set out to build a room with zero attitude.
"Anybody with any level of wine knowledge or beverage knowledge can feel comfortable," Kauczka told the Post & Courier.
The format is flexible by design. Order a glass, drink a bottle on site, or grab one to take home. The list ranges from celebrated regions in Italy and France to the off-the-beaten-path stuff, wines from Uruguay and the Republic of Georgia, the kind of bottles that give a sommelier something to talk about without making you feel dumb for asking.
The food keeps it loose too. There's caviar if you're feeling fancy, a Caesar, and the runaway favorite: a "dirty martini dip" of housemade whipped feta with green olives, olive oil and lemon zest. Settle in at the 40-seat bar and lounge or drift out to the breezy back patio. Hours run afternoon into night, Wednesday through Monday, with happy hour specials from 4 to 6. Cannon Street keeps quietly turning into one of the best low-key eating-and-drinking corridors on the peninsula, and Sonder fits the block perfectly: serious about the wine, unbothered about everything else.
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