Vinum Populi

I was going to wait to come back here to review this place, but since it’s been closed for a while, I thought I would leave some parting words.
This was one of the first wine bars I had been to in LA, and I absolutely loved it. In fact, it set the bar so high that other wine bars ended up disappointing. The card system is pure genius! The wait staff was very friendly and informative. And the food, if I recall, was pretty cool too!
I guess I’ll have to try this new Ugo place and see how it compares…

I’m such a fan. I’ve been to wine shops before that have these tasting machines, but I’ve never seen them in a wine bar so I was really happy to find them here.
No, this is not a place to go for serious tasting. It’s pretty crowded on the weekends, full of all kinds — in fact there was a baby. In the bar. At around 11p. But whatever, it’s a fun, social event and a great way to try before you commit to a glass or bottle. I would guess that during the week it’s a lot less busy and would likely make a great intimate setting for a date or quiet dinner. I loved it, I’ll definitely be back.

I’ve been here a few times. Nice concept, original. Great way to try different wines. Could get pricey.

P. S. Went back to finish my card and maintain that all the wines here suck. Overheard a yupster (that’s a yuppie/​hipster hybrid, dontcha know) saying «Hmm, nothing’s really blowing me away». That’s a euphanism for: The wines here all suck!
P. S. The Winehouse in West LA (huge warehouse-​like wine store, not a bar) has a little room with the same card-​for-​pour system. But it’s a tiny room for tasting wine, not nightlife. Still, I bet their wines are actually drinkable.

Now part of UGO, this place wasn’t as dark as the pictures posted on Unilocal led to me to believe. It was quite small. I had this idea it was actually quite a large place. It’s good that it wasn’t too dark ‘cos this blind girl was having a hell of a time reading the wine labels that were sitting at the top of the bottles. What is that… gawd, can they make the font larger please? Never mind… go with the labels, try the ones with the pretty labels. Hell, try them all… you’re not paying hehehe.
Alright, tired of walking in circles, we sat down outside. Got 2 glasses of something that the waitress recommended that was closest to a cab. (Actually also the only wine I kinda maybe liked after all the tasting) They were standard $ 12 a glass. She also brought out the dessert menu which after looking over it, there was one item I simply couldn’t resist not ordering. It was a Cappuccino Gelato served in a chocolate cup. Wow, so good. Love the cup, it was almost too pretty to eat but I didn’t care. Towards the end, my side of the cup was pretty much almost gone with all the gelato oozing out of it on to the plate. Friend’s side intact… what’s up? U no like milk chocolate? Tempted to eat other side but risk looking piggy. Restrain…

My friends and I have decided this is a great first date place. You get a card, load it up with cash and then try different wines. If the date is going poorly, and you have nothing in common with the guy, you can always talk about the tasty wine you are drinking. I also love that they have a wide assortment of wines as well as prices. I cannot wait to go back!

As a youngling oenophile I find this place to be ever so helpful and fun for my tasting pleasure.
It’s on the smallish side and filled with arm chairs, dark wood and floor-​to-​ceiling windows that look out to the street. It’s warm and cozy and filled with little dispensers of that sweet grape nectar all over. You can get a two-​ounce tasting pour for anywhere from one dollar to twenty. Fill up your debit card they give you and spend your time walking around reading the descriptions and tasting those that intrigue you. Go ahead, try that bottle that sells for four hundred dollars, where else do you have an opportunity? They also have a small menu of bites that go along with your wine sipping.
My only concern is the change-​over on staff, when I went here for the first time I was told ownership of the place was changing and they were all leaving which was too bad because these chicks were super cool and knew all about the wine — how hot is that? I want to go back and see if the vibe has changed before giving it more stars.
Bottom line: You know a place has to be awesome to make a yuck date seem decent, that takes some true magic and thanks to VP at least I was able to enjoy some good wine.

It’s Modern. It’s Cool. It’s filled with Italian wines and with will give you satisfaction one wine dispenser at a time.
We all know America is filled with people who like to use plastic more than they should. Ugo wine bar takes that one step further. Now you can stretch that plastic and get your wine with the swipe of a card. Using a pre-​paid wine credit card, you just go to any of the wine dispensing machines, select your wine and await your wine to pour out…
… in very small doses. 1ounce doses to be exact.
Now, I have a sort of love/​hate relationship for this technology. Back before the robot race took over our bars, you could tip your bartender well and from then on establish a sort of relationship with him. In exchange for your kindness, he’d pour your drinks with a bit of a heavy hand. Giving you more than he should. What did he care, he’s looking to make you happy so you can make him happy with your tipping.
So I’ve come to accept the mechanical terrors as they replace the hard working bar keeps. Was this an easy thing to accept? Not at first. How was I suppose to get a manly drink of cab with only an ounce to work with? I then took a look at this with a sort of wine glass half full perspective and realized the great thing I could try with this system. Blending! One can try their hand at making a nice range of blends here.
This is a great way to piss away $ 20 dollars and to get a good buzz going. You and a friend come in and have a competition on who can blend the best wine. Think of it as an upscale way of drinking the contents of the spit bucket, only it may be half decent when all is said and done. After the third or fourth taste test of your Frankenstein creations you’ll be pretty far gone to realize if it’s really bad or amazingly great.
Now the spit bucket. At a couple of bucks of a blast of 1 ounce shots of wine, why would you waste your money spitting it out? Drink it down, my friends.
Great for those who are to intimidated by wine to go in for a glass somewhere. Bring your novice wine drinking friends here and let them try a couple to see what they like. It’s a lot cheaper than buying a full bottle and not liking it and it has that life’s spice, variety.

I love this place! Wow, wine by the ounce? Does life get any better than that? I tried this place last Friday, after a friend had recommended it. Like others have mentioned, it’s a cool date place. It’s also a great place to hang out with your friends. I’m not much of a wine connoisseur, but I was able to taste the difference between different types of wine, i.e. port, pinot, chianti. Heck I don’t even know if I’m saying the right terms. All I know, is that it’s a great idea, and it’s a great place to mingle, and soak it all up.
Who know so many ounces of wine could get me tipsy! Hehe. I kept my card. I’m going back again!

What did I do last night? Oh, that’s right. i got drunk off drinking wine by the ounce at my favorite wine bar. By the ounce.
To drink enough wine by the ounce to get me drunk speaks to their wine selection, although I agree that their white wine selection needs to be expanded. On the other hand, what they did have, i loved and ended up buying a bottle.
The concept is simple: hand out debit cards ala Dave & Busters and let people sample whatever wines they want. The execution is perfect: strong wine selection with wine lovers working the counter.
And if I had the guts to talk up attractive people at random, this would be a great place to do that. Of course, I don’t and instead choose to get drunk by the ounce.

My friend was running a little late, so I decided to pass the time at the wine bar next door to Ugo. To my surprise I was greeted nicely by one of the wine experts and was told how everything worked. So I bought a $ 10 wine card and tried various wines while enjoying the happy hour cured meats and cheeses.
This is a nice place to just drink some wine and relax with a friend.

This is a very cool idea: you get a wine card, fill it up with 10 or 20 bucks and go get tastes from a ton of different bottles in these cute little filling stations. Each taste debits your card and tastes range from the 50 cent to the much, much higher. If you love a bottle you can buy it on a discount.
Now, this is also a REALLY smart business concept, because once you have a certain amount on your card, you’re not going to spend exactly that much, and you’ll end up with a few pennies or a couple dollars left. Which either the bar gets as pure profit OR it motivates you to come back. Clever!
The downside: didn’t taste anything that was really amazing, and it gets insanely packed on a weekend. Such a fun gathering, though, for a group o’ friends to take a wine tasting in the heart of Culver City, if you can find a relatively peaceful time and get a seat. They have little mini-​dishes, too, and a cheese plate, which you’ll need if you’re going to do serious exploring of all that vino.

I really want to rate V.P. higer because it’s a neat idea to pay wine by the ounces, but their white wine selections suck. I’ll have to try the red wines next time. If you don’t spend all your money on the card, you don’t have to worry as it won’t expire. The pinot grigio at Ugo (next door) tastes better –albeit on the sweet side.
**Note, when you call up Vinum Populi, it’s Ugo, so when you’re looking for the building number, just go to Ugo.

I finally tried this place last night — 3.5 stars
It’s cozy
It’s small
It’s efficient
It has its charm
It reminded me of being back in east coast
I told the employees when walking in — this was our first time here
so they explained everything pretty well
I was a bit leary after reading another Unilocal review — thinking we’d have to fend for ourselves and figure it out — so this act of customer service was a pleasant surprise.
Next time, I hope to try their food.
Great place to go with a girlfriend and catch up and have yummy snacks.

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RICK’S QUICK RECAP:
An interactive twist on wine tasting… for the D&B crowd
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Great wine bar concept… you can get the specifics on how it works from the other reviews so I’ll spare the duplication of facts…
Perfect spot to experiment with wines you’ve never heard of or maybe you have but wanted to sample dozens of varietals without breaking the bank or getting wasted before your third (or more) glass.
I’m not an oenologist and at this bar, you don’t need to be one to have tons of fun. If you like engaging in conversation with the friendly, eclectic westside-​ish crowd, then the layout definitely encourages interaction. Half a dozen different tastings for under $ 20. What a bargain to be entertained for a couple hours!
Grab a couple friends, a couple couches and the $ 12 cheese sampler platter and you got a great way to spend a Saturday night.
I also agree with the other reviewers about the friendly knowledgeable staff.
My only suggestion is perhaps a description for each bottle as to whether the wine is light, medium, or full bodied. This would help with the progression of wine tasting… There’s so much info on each card that after a while, I lost patience reading all that info and just starting pushing buttons!
UPDATE: Been back during their daily happy hour… free proscuitto, various cheeses, and other appetizers til 7:30 is a great deal…
Cheers! (indeed)

You can make your own perfect evening here. If you don’t succeed, there’s something wrong with you. And if you are the type of person that ever uses the phrase «better in Europe» for anything other than the prostitution laws, you should be shunned and exiled from Culver City.
We had a birthday party for my precious wife at Vinum, We bought $ 10.00 cards for all the guests and when they used that up, they were on their own. That $ 10.00 lasted quite a while for everyone. (I only tell you this because it turned out to be a great way to have a little party that you might want to try.) We got some hors’deurve that were great, it was such a great value and great fun… and we learned things! Miguel is a great teacher. He was very helpful.
All everyone could talk about was how quickly they were going to come back to this place. Every guest mingled with every other guest because there’s so much to talk about. I loved Gone With The Wind on the plasma screen also! This place is just another reason why you should move to downtown Culver City like we did.
The next day my wife called me at work to tell me again what a perfect birthday she had here. That’s priceless.
Wear comfy shoes though, because you end up doing a lot standing and walking around here.

I’ve been told I have some immediate-​gratification issues. As in: I enjoy, encourage, embrace, and then suffer the consequences of wanting what I want when I want it. Even if it’s bad for me (ahem, Frenchy).
Given that, Vinum Populi is a BAD place to utter the words «Sure, keep my card open.» Meaning, «hey, here’s my already overstressed credit card. I’ve had a super-​crappy day at work today, and am finally hanging with my girls, and I must needs have some vino! Vinum populi! That’s latin for „wine for the people“ and I’m people, right??? Yaaaaaaay! Yes, keep it open.»
Many dollars later.
I have to say that the ingenious 2-​ounce dispensing wine machines are pretty nifty. They look like big circular coffee urns, only instead of doling out generic Von’s coffee they’re spurting tiny, delectable tastes of a nice variety of (mostly) red wines from California, France, Spain, South Africa, Australia, and a couple of other desireable destinations. Oh yes, Italy… the mother country.
And the flirtatious waitress knew just how to read me. When I said «big» (there’s that immediate gratification thing again!) she countered with «funky.» So I guess she took one look at my hair (new streaking experiments have led to a rather nasty-​looking green streak) and said, «if I say ‘funky’ she’ll go for the wine that’s $ 5.24 an ounce»
And I did!
One good thing about this system: if you don’t like the wine, you’re not saddled with a big glass.
One bad thing: it’s just all so freekin’ tempting. Who doesn’t want to try the beautifully art-​nouveau-​labeled French Chateneuf du Pape? Not this little impulse-​control-​deficient lassie!
I’ve got to say: the little sips and the tasty snacks (actually, best cheese plate I’ve had in a very long time) didn’t get me drunk or tipsy. I just got loquacious (what else is new) and loved being with my buddies, and eavesdropped on the first-​date-​met-​through-​match conversation going on behind me.
Hint to the ladies: don’t ask «So, do you still get along with your ex-​wife» In the first half-​hour of conversation. Just don’t go there.

This may be the perfect date place. Think Dave & Buster’s meets a fine wine bar. Dozens of wines in high-​tech stainless steel dispensers. Wines are grouped by region, and they have a super-​premium wine are as well You pay by the tasting, which you control by pressing a button after swiping your pre-​paid card which you get at the bar. If you really like it, keep pushing and go for a full glass.
You’re on your feet the whole time, mingling with other people, discovering new wines, so it is the perfect icebreaker. Caution: You’re likely to come out of this place pretty drunk even if you only plan on tasting a few wines so plan transportation accordingly.

Title of Post: «I hope its chocolate for me…»
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I give 5 stars for no other reason but this is the PERFECT place to have a birthday celebration.
When considering the exorbitant expense of the obligatory dinners for all my friends, one may require a second job. The oenophiles of the group want to order a spendy bottle, the ambivalent majority doesn’t care & probably doesn’t want to pitch in for it — anarchy ensues.
We gathered last night at Vinum Popull for a friend’s birthday party — this was the perfect compromise. Everyone could stand & mingle and best of all — spend only what they wanted to. Each bought their own card, some to buy the $ 16 taste of a 40 year old Rioja, the others to buy the $ 3 taste of a delicious chateauneuf du pape.
The gracious staff cut & served the bday cake for us (and yes, it was chocolate). It was an easy, stress free way to celebrate.
Oh & please remember to tip the bartenders. While it may not seem like they are working for you by pouring these glasses, they are refilling bottles, dealing with glassware & keeping a clean bar. A few dollars here & there won’t kill you.

I most 100 percentedly agree with Vincent T.‘s summation of this place! It’s fantastic, friendly and far cooler than Ford’s Filling Station around the block! (grrrr)
They have a ton of varietals to choose from here, and with the slide of a card and a push of a little «Oooooh goody, here comes my wine» red button, you’ll experience ounces of tasting yummy liquid offerings from Spain, South Africa and Italia. (Liquid offerings is the new wine term by the way. Right up there with outblow instead of finish. Pass it on ;)
The folks that work here are pretty cool too and I must say i love their uniforms with the cool little plaid caps. Makes me wish I didn’t look like such a dork in a hat, but I digress. They are helpful, fun and cheerful and would actually make me want to drive to Culver City to push the button til I couldn’t stand up anymore, hee hee.
Great job guys, hope the button pushing catches on for ya as this is a fun time!