27-Apr-16 – With two new wines, City Winery returns to the Chicago Riverwalk on Monday.

The wine bar, which has a year-round location west of the Loop, will open on the Riverwalk in the same spot it had last year, between State and Dearborn Streets in a stretch called Marina Plaza.

They will have 60 additional seats this year and enough space to accommodate as many as 100 people for wine tastings and private events. There will be free, live music Thursdays through Sundays, 3-6 p.m.

Open every day, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., City Winery will serve six of its own wines from vineyards in California, plus beer and cocktails. Three special blends of wine are named for the Riverwalk – Riverwalk Red, Riverwalk White, and Riverwalk Rosé. The menu also offers sandwiches, salads, appetizers, wine-infused sorbet, and gelato.

“We can’t wait to bring what we do in the West Loop – with food, wine, and music – back to the Loop,” says general manager Nathan Holgate (right). “The Marina area is such a unique space for local boaters and visitors to tie up along the river’s edge and enjoy a taste of City Winery Chicago.”

City Winery started its first year on the Riverwalk on June 12, 2015. Marina Plaza was the first of three new Riverwalk rooms that opened in 2015. The wine bar took up about half of Marina Plaza’s interior space, roughly 875 square feet under Wacker Drive.

The West Loop location opened in 2012. City Winery also has locations in New York and Nashville.

For now, at least, the City of Chicago will oversee concessions such as City Winery while it hires a private company to operate the Riverwalk. The city was negotiating with a “master operator” last November but on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Mayor Rahm Emanuel had no update to offer.

Whichever concessions are going to be on the Riverwalk this year, the city wants them open on Memorial Day, May 30, and to stay open at least until October 1.

Surreys spotted last weekend

The first Riverwalk concession to open this year was Wheel Fun Rentals, located east of Columbus Drive.

Owner Dwight Bratholt says they were open last weekend but just for the weekend. They will begin renting seven days a week beginning on Saturday.

(Left) Two people drive a foot-powered surrey near the lakefront on April 23.

Construction continues on the last three sections of Riverwalk between LaSalle Street and Lake Street. Work includes building concrete foundations, backfilling areas of water to create solid ground, installing sewer lines, and some demolition. Chicago Department of Transportation says this last phase will be complete in October.

(Above) On the Chicago Riverwalk west of LaSalle Street on Tuesday, workers wrangle large plastic sheets, covering new concrete, that started to get loose in the wind. New interior walls can be seen at upper right in space under Wacker Drive.

(Right) Into this mesh of green rebar east of Wells Street, concrete will soon be poured. The rebar will help strengthen the concrete and hold it in place. The forms at upper left define the shape of the concrete, though it will not be quite as tall as the forms suggest. The steel bar that the two men at right are carrying will be fitted into the space near the three men at top of frame.