Vin By The Sea Debuts in Carmel

September 9, 2025 – Roslyn Anderson has more patience than most East Coasters I know, but being 5^th generation Italian (Naples), and growing up above her father’s bakery in eastern Pennsylvania, she knows good things are worth waiting for. 

“I would wake up every morning at 4am to the aromas of freshly baking bread wafting through the house,” says Anderson, who comes from a long line of bakers. “Then we’d go out in his bread truck and we’d make deliveries.” Although her brother, the last of her family to run a bakery retired 15 years ago, she says she can still whip up a loaf of bread. 

Is there a recipe? “No,” she says. “I don’t think anyone ever wrote anything down! It’s instinct, it’s just in my blood.”

Hospitality is also in her blood. So, too, the instinct for putting the right ingredients together to make a winning wine bar and kitchen in the heart of Carmel. 

What is uniquely different about Vin By The Sea, located in Carmel at Su Vecino Courtyard on Dolores Street between 5th & 6th, stems from two things: Anderson’s desire to create the best boutique wine bar for locals and visitors alike, and a guitar player from Big Sur who happened to drop by Vin Wine Bar at the Crossroads, looking to play a Sunday gig at her first establishment. 

Turns out the musician, Peter Konikowski, who hails from New Jersey, was also the gardener at Ventana Big Sur while chef Paul Corsentino was in charge of the kitchen there. When Anderson mentioned her dream of opening a second location based on food, and that she was looking for the right chef to run her dream kitchen, Konikowski said, “You need to talk to Paul.” The two met and the food started flying. “I’ve been tasting his menu ideas for the last seven months!” says Anderson.

It’s been a long wait, but the much-anticipated wine bar and kitchen featuring chef-driven cuisine inspired by great wine is now open in a space that used to be a sculpture gallery. Vin By The Sea softly opened over Labor Day weekend, to a big crowd. 

“It was like throwing my staff into the fire!” says Anderson. Thankfully, nobody got burned, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the creamy paella arancini (stuffed with shrimp, chicken and chorizo) for which Corsentino has already developed a devoted following. 

Among his other rollout menu items are Salt Spring Island mussels (British Columbia) with ginger and miso broth, Parisian gnocchi (made with flour and cheese) served with sweet corn, pancetta and parmesan, and a Vin Bar slider featuring a special grind from Chef Todd Fisher’s butcher shop, The Meatery, topped with red wine braised onion jam, Taleggio cheese, remoulade and pickles. “Try the veggie version Paul makes with quinoa and black beans,” Anderson urges. “It’s totally delicious!” 

Corsentino knows how to curry favor with the boss, making her great grandmother’s recipe for beef meatballs, and topping them with basil aioli to create a unique dish. He also spins out three different salads, including beet and strawberry with pesto whipped goat cheese, a Niçoise and a red wine vinaigrette-dressed red oak lettuce salad to which chicken or shrimp can be added. 

With its new gleaming concrete floors, bar seating (sorry, all the seats have been pretty much claimed by the regulars) and courtyard tables (they share it with Cultura Comida y Bebida), this wine bar aims to deliver what Anderson felt Carmel-by-the-Sea residents deserved: great wine, great food and great hospitality. 

Wine lovers of all stripes will appreciate Anderson’s broad variety of 30 wines by the glass, featuring 80% domestic and 20% imported wines. She proudly caries Chad Silacci’s brand new Rustique Blanc de Blanc sparkling, as well as a 2024 Morét Brealynn SLH Pinot Noir rosé, along with a deep selection of great Champagnes at manageable price points. Among the French bubbles are the 2010 Gonet Le Mesnil Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs, just $30 per glass, and Pierre Peters Cuvée de Reserve Blanc de Blancs, $33. Yes, she loves her BdB. But she also carries a Salmon Brut Rosé of Pinot Meunier. 

Try the Domaine Oudart Touraine Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire, she says:  everyone is ordering it.  Or the Theo Dancer Bourgogne Aligoté.  

She’s really excited about wines from Nid Tissé, a label from Marie-Laure Ammons, a French winemaker who worked for Atelier Melka in Napa before starting her own label. Vin By The Sea currently carries her 2022 Radian Pinot Noir (superb vineyard) and will be getting her 98 pt rated Hyde Vineyard Chardonnay (James Suckling; Lisa Perotti Brown, 97pts) shortly.  It hails from Carneros and lists for $94. 

“We’ve made our wine list approachable,” says Anderson. “Carmel locals and tourists alike can discover new favorites while supporting small producers they may already love.” 

On the red side of things, Anderson touts recent discoveries like the GSM from Cowhorn in Applegate, Oregon: “so different from CA versions!” She loves the Fingers Crossed “Life and Death” Syrah and GSM from Bien Nacido, both of which received 100 pts from Jeb Dunnuck, and list for $285 and $265, respectively. There’s a gorgeous Paul Lato Cabernet Sauvignon from Oakville, along with his “Stand By Me” Pinot Noir from the Sta. Rita Hills. 

Anderson has long been a fan of the full lineup of Syndicate wines, a portfolio of brands made by Collin Cranor and Craig Ploof, who make everything from Georges III Vineyard designate Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa, to a Bien Nacido Pinot Noir from Sta Rita Hills under the Typicité label.

“One thing we can do here is offer more wines by the bottle to take out,” says Anderson. “We offer 25% to 40% discounts on these bottles to go.” 

According to Paul Corsentino, the focus is on the wine first. “We built the menu around the wine, and the wine is the star,” said Corsentino. He is mulling over some larger format dishes and will be changing the menu seasonally. 

He offers two desserts, currently the chocolate and tahini pot de crème topped with whipped cream and sesame and a graham cracker crust lemon tart, with blueberry compote and toasted meringue.  

Anderson says that with the later hours they are planning, they will start to offer dessert wines as well as Graffeo Coffee. “This is all we drank when we lived in SF,” says Anderson. Graffeo is one of the oldest coffee roasters in North America. “We will use a French press, so people can have coffee, along with a great glass of dessert wine and their dessert.” 

So far, the reception has been exactly what she’s hoped for all these long months of construction and waiting, and waiting. 

“At the end of the day, it is our way of saying ‘thank you’ to our supporters,” says Anderson. “We are growing steadily through our wine club and we are absolutely passionate about being part of the Carmel community.”

Vin By The Sea in downtown Carmel is currently open Thurs, 12—9pm, Friday and Saturday to 11pm, and Sunday and Monday, 12—9pm. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday.