County resident returns home to open wine bar
Dry wine got a whole lot sweeter in July, after Craig Slomers opened Tannin and Tonic By Porchvue Winery on Main Street in Butler to help bring a new twist to the local wine market.
Slomers said the business opened in early July at 126 N. Main St., and since then the action at the local wine bar has been “nonstop.”
“I think we are one of the few businesses in the area open seven days a week,” Slomers said. “The community coming in and telling their friends has been really amazing to see.”
Following his graduation from Karns City Area Jr./Sr. High School, Slomers said he enlisted in the United States Navy and was stationed in San Diego, Calif.
He spent about seven years there, obtaining a project management degree from California State University, Sacramento.
Slomers also spent some time with local wine makers in northern California, which helped develop his wine making skills.
“I worked for some startups after getting out of the service,” Slomers said. “Ultimately COVID was my ticket to come home. My trajectory was already on an entrepreneurial track.”
Upon returning home in 2021, with a new education and a better understanding of wine making, he started working for Porchvue Winery out of Clarion County, and within a year he bought the business and decided to change things up a bit.
“Tannin and Tonic is a higher-end dry wine maker than what you would typically find in our region,” Slomers said. “We are anti-sweet wines. We have gone against the typical style of wine you find in our region.”
Slomers now resides on a small farm in Chicora, where he helps produce the wine sold in the bar.
Tannin and Tonic is open from 3 to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 3 to 10 p.m. Fridays, noon to 10 p.m. Saturdays and 3 to 7 p.m. Sundays.
