Boundary Wine Lounge Is Out of Your League

The first boundary at Boundary Wine Lounge (125 SW Mitchell St., 702-6026, boundary.club) is the challenge of finding the door. After walking around the building in the Southwest Corbett neighborhood a couple times, we had to ask for directions at Elephant's Deli, then go around a corner, up some stairs and into the back parking lot. The nigh-unmarked door stands next to a pair of dumpsters. But inside, the low-lit, warm-wooded room is a tiny, cellared ode to money and discreet tastefulness, like Narnia through the wardrobe.

After April 2, the tiny private club will be open only to the 110 people who've paid $1,000 each to become members. But for now, you can learn how the other 1 percent lives. The room holds crystal chandeliers that look a lot like the ones at Multnomah Whiskey Library, as well as the mounted head of a cape buffalo the approximate size of a Car2Go looming over the fireplace. It's wonderful in there. I had the first sherry cocktail I've ever truly loved, an $11 Little Owl made with Smith and Cross rum, plus cinnamon and orgeat. It was like a more elegant answer to Navy Grog. A $13 German rosé was likewise lovely, and behind the bar, eight glowing bottles of wine are tapped at individual temperatures modulated by tenths of degrees.

I even liked the fig-and-prosciutto flatbread, and flatbread is boring. If busy MWL is the Disneyland version of a sumptuous drinking club—presenting each ingredient, parading faux exclusivity with a downstairs Green Room—Boundary is the real thing. But it's open to the public for only three more days, Thursday to Saturday. After that you need either a thousand dollars or the right kind of friend.

Willamette Week