
Photos By Heidi Reuter
What pure joy to revel in the experience of Vintner’s Table, nestled alongside tony stores and foodie digs on “The Block” in Wyomissing on Hill Road! This restaurant encompasses and embodies the Folino family’s classy touch and uniquely magical Italian cuisine. Dining here feels like a welcoming embrace from the legacy that the Folino Estate Winery has been steadily and carefully building in Berks County. While many Berks Countians have long enjoyed the delicious array — and incredibly deep variety — of wines from the winery, it’s time for everyone to enjoy a fully fabulous menu with dishes that show perfect pairings for every item, from appetizers (Piccolini, or “smalls”) to salads, soups, pasta, Pinsa Romana (pizza) and even desserts.
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Photos By Heidi Reuter
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Photos By Heidi Reuter
In addition to wine selections, there’s a full cocktail list plus mocktail offerings as well. The Vineyard Old-fashioned drink stuns with complex flavor, created with bourbon, Sangiovese, demerara, bitters of angostura and orange, plus an orange swath and luscious Luxardo cherry. The Estate Fig & Thyme Gin Fizz is the epitome of refreshment, made with gin, lemon, Moscato di Folino, aquafaba (chickpea brine — perfect in sours and fizzes) and hints of savory thyme.
For the best overall experience here, mentally toss aside what you know about all the Italian favorites you’ve come to love, such as arancini, chopped salad, pappardelle and pizza. Clear your mind: make it campo libero — a free and open field. Talk with your server to make decisions about what to order, from drinks on out. In the style of true Italian hospitality, consider that dining with friends and family is indeed a sacred pastime.

Photos By Heidi Reuter
Some Delicious Deets: Arancini, Boards (Charcuterie), Salad & Soup
For a truly aromatic starter to share with others at the table, try the Arancini — so tasty that they should just be renamed Guilty Pleasures. These fried risotto balls are stuffed with teeny slivers of ham, gooey mozzarella and Parmesan, then topped with a ladling of incomparably yummy homemade tomato sauce. Each bite delivers textural thrill, from an easy, batter-tasty, crispy crunch, which shifts immediately into a soft, warm, cheesy center. Pairing suggestion: Valentino (a “bright profile” named after co-founder Marco Folino’s father).
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Photos By Heidi Reuter
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Photos By Heidi Reuter
The Red Wine Polpette (meatballs) are wine-braised and served with VT’s tomato sauce, hand-grated Parmesan and crostini. They’re exquisitely old country in flavor and texture — so hearty, with that killer sauce oozing with flavor intensity. Lorenzo Forte wine, an award-winning Bordeaux blend, is the pairing here.
The Chopped Italian Salad can be served as a side or main meal, infinitely robust with so many ingredients. It’s like a puzzle full of surprising freshness, with multiple players in justright bite-sized pieces. There are numerous veggies, herbs, garlic, onion, shaved cheese, cured meats and a super light oily dressing coating the whole gang. Greens, thin rounds of hot peppers for heat, basil (and other herbs!), garden-fresh cherry tomato halves, cubes of aged cheese, purple cabbage, sliced soppressata and even slender punctuation points by black olives combine in a beautiful mélange of wholesomeness. Fantastic.
Definitely check out the Boards menu for superior charcuterie: a Build-Your-Own Antipasti Board has diners select three Italian meats and three cheeses, plus almonds, marinated olives, crackers, honeycomb, jam and grapes. That’s a fast way to fly by stomach to Italy, along with the Estate Cabernet Sauvignon.

Photos By Heidi Reuter
Homemade Pasta & Pinsa Romana (Light, Airy Pizza)
As expected, Vintner’s Table makes entrees from scratch, honoring family-approved and time-tested methods of preparation — including their pasta, as they employ an Italian bronze die cut machine (they explain: “bronzecut pasta absorbs sauce better, improving mouth feel and flavor”). There’s just no way packaged pasta can ever approach the texture and taste of these noodles. Although the pasta menu changes by season, a standard is Pappardelle Parmesan Crema, which pairs with Rosato Secco (a light wine for a heavier pasta). These thick, flat noodles are the large heroes of the pasta world, substantial and well-slathered with a rich, white wine garlic cream sauce. Add chicken, shrimp or Italian sausage as preferred; the sausage comes sprinkled aloft in marvelous little balls scattered across the cream.
For a truly special pizza treat, order one of the Pinsa Romana offerings, such as the ever popular Margherita with fresh mozzarella, aromatic basil and tomato sauce. (Pairing is Sangiovese.) What makes this style of pizza so special is the dough, fermented 48 hours and made daily. When spread out for baking, the shape naturally differs from standard American pizza, and Vintner’s Table serves the final prize on a wooden board. Because the crust is quite flat, thin and unusually light, it’s also airily crunchy as well as subtly yet compellingly flavorful so that the entire eating experience — bread plus toppings — feels completely unified, utterly satisfying.
Lingering long enough for dessert? The Tiramisu is mwah! Kissably soft as a cloud, possibly the finest version of this pastry ever created.
In short: so fine, so well-focused, Vintner’s Table puts both the wine and fine in “fine dining.”
945 Hill Avenue, Ste. 100, Wyomissing | 484.327.8808 | vintners-table.com