Rice Village is one of the best areas in the city to walk around visiting shops, restaurants, cafes and farmers markets just as you would in a European country. And that's exactly why Katerina Belik and Ivan Belik opened Rosinka Wine & Tea House in this neighborhood. Katerina is a lecturer at Rice University, and Ivan is a physicist and financial analyst; the two decided to bring a little bit of Russia and Europe to Rice Village with their wine and tea house selling and serving wines and teas from around the world.
The Beliks opened Rosinka Wine & Tea House in December 2013, but now that the shop has an upgraded TABC license to sell wines by the glass and for tastings, and more customers are discovering Rosinka, the owners decided to hold the grand opening celebration on October 23.
Rosinka offers a variety of wines you won't typically find in a grocery store. All of the wines are organic -- no pesticides, fertilizers or any chemicals -- such as the Lunar Apogé, a biodynamic French wine from the Lirac region.
"Biodynamic means a little bit more than just organic," Katerina says. "It means that in addition to not implementing any chemicals or fertilizers in the grape growing, people who are biodynamic wine makers follow lunar and astrological calendars. So this particular wine, the grape of this wine is harvested at night, that's why it is called lunar. And because they believe that night harvesting allows a special sugar concentration of the grape."
When you purchase a wine at Rosinka, the employees emphasize not only the scent and taste, but also the unique stories behind each wine. Katerina says, "We train our employees [to have] good knowledge about wine. It's not just another bottle out of 100...it's really a piece of art; it's an art of nature in a bottle and we describe that, we show that and we celebrate it."
Some retail bottles cost as low as $13, but a majority of the bottles range between $18 and $35. Katerina and Ivan have discovered that those who enjoy wine also enjoy tea, so Rosinka offers a selection of full-leaf teas, mostly organic, from countries such as China, Taiwan and now Sri Lanka.
"What our customers can expect from our service when they come -- first they can taste pretty much all of our products. They can have a taste of wine before they purchase a bottle; they can have a glass of wine and enjoy it in the store, or mini restaurant," Katerina says. "They can choose a tea they would like to have, by choosing I mean they can smell it, they can discuss the tea features and they can select it; we can serve it by tea pot for just a cup of tea. Teas can be iced or hot, [but] mostly they are hot. We also have absolutely great coffee. We selected this coffee roaster from Alabama and though he is not local, it is overnight shipping of freshly roasted beans."
While Rosinka cannot consider itself a restaurant due to its lack of a full-scale kitchen, customers can still sip on wine or tea paired with small bites and plates for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
