Tino Vino Closure Causes Chaos

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About a month ago, Tino Vino, a winemaking venture in East Hyde Park, closed its doors. Because the closing was sudden, without notice, some chaos has ensued. Customers who have placed orders for custom wine have been left with a large hole in their pocketbooks, no way to retrieve their wine, and no way to contact the owners.

The shop was originally owned by Annie McManus, Lindsay Valentino, Michelle Banks, and Jennifer Fairbanks. I admit, I’ve reached out privately to one of those ladies, as well as a former Tino Vino employee, to find out what happened. I honestly don’t expect to hear from anyone. I’ve been led to believe that Annie and Jennifer, at the end, were only peripherally involved in the venture and have acquired lawyers.

I found out about the closing because I’ve been contacted by several of Tino Vino’s customers who think I’m Michelle Banks. I’m not. Let me make this clear – I do not have any business association with Tino Vino, nor have I ever. I’m as surprised as the rest of the you that they closed in the unprofessional manner they have.

Lindsay Valentino’s recently ex-husband, Steven Sykes Valentino, has his own legal troubles. He and his realty group, ORP, were accused of stealing more than $1 million from the condo properties they manage. One of the girls from Tino Vino was also an employee of ORP. I’m not sure if there is a direct relationship between that situation and the closing of Tino Vino, but common sense tells me there might be.

I have been trying to dig into the closing a little more, but there isn’t much out there. Both Howard Ain (WKRC) and John Matarese (WCPO) have tried to contact the owners with no luck. Both of those gentlemen did reach the landlord of the building, and they both reported an eviction notice on the door. (I drove out to Tino Vino on Sunday and was surprised to find the eviction notice had been taken down. To me, that’s a sign of life. Take it as you will.)

According to Ain at WKRC, the building owner cannot give out any of the wine, as it is still legally the property of Tino Vino. There is an eviction hearing scheduled for the end of the month. If something is not done by then, the Sheriff may have to dump the wine because it’s illegal to set it out or give it away.

My recommendation? Call your credit card company. If you can get your charge reversed for the wine you paid for, do it. It’s certainly worth the call. Also keep in mind that the shop has been closed for a month. If the utilities weren’t paid for in that time, then the wine was no longer in a temperature controlled environment. It may be baking in there under terrible conditions.

If I hear anything that will shed some more light on this situation, I will certainly publish it here.

Posted by Michelle at 10:57 am in Current Affairs, Local, Local Wineries, Wine Shops | Permalink | Comments (9)

9 Responses to “Tino Vino Closure Causes Chaos”

Scotty says:

September 29, 2010 at 8:58 pm

Michelle, thanks for spreading the word and helping us stay informed. Me and my 30 bottles worth of Rioja (baking in there under terrible conditions) appreciate it.
Ben says:

September 30, 2010 at 6:23 am

Whose operating MLT’s and Million’s in Mt Lookout? Valentino owns them both and Fairbanks was running? May be a good start?
Angela says:

September 30, 2010 at 7:35 am

linzv@yahoo.com- try emailing her.
Tino Vino Winery - Cincinnati - Ohio (OH) - City-Data Forum says:

September 30, 2010 at 8:37 am

[...] [...]
Big Daddie says:

September 30, 2010 at 12:45 pm

Sounds as if Tino Vino was a vanity business set up to keep the wives out of trouble which then ran into trouble of its own.

It happens. No need for sour grapes.
Long Gone says:

September 30, 2010 at 6:51 pm

You do not know half the story. At one point S.S. (V) was an amazing person and boss. ORP was a company to be proud of (I should know, I worked there for 3 years). It was built on the beliefs of two wonderful women and several siblings whom we are not hearing about. One of the primary investors (a family member) lost her life early this year to heart problems. (B.C. you will be missed). Unfortunately, personal problems with the primary persons who had control of these businesses got out of hand. These companies closing have put up 20-40 people out of work. Workers who have families and children. Although we speak of the hundreds of dollars lost on wine perhaps keeping a closer eye on your personal investments and questioning inconsistencies in those investments is what should learned from this experience.
These were not jobs/companies built to keep the wives busy!
Tino Vino Drama Continues: The Owner Speaks « My Wine Education says:

October 13, 2010 at 9:06 am

[...] here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.I recently published a post on the chaos resulting from the unexpected closure of Tino Vino in East Hyde Park, as well as an updated post. I [...]
Judy says:

November 5, 2010 at 4:46 pm

Finally, I found out about this.
I also had 30 bottles of wine.
Thanks for the info
highschoolsdirectory says:

December 16, 2011 at 7:01 am

This post is good in regards of both knowledge as well as information. Thanks for the post.