It was the first time I’d heard someone say they got into wine as a conceptual drinker. Noticing the confusion on my face, Nhi explained, “Have you ever had a feeling ‘Oh I think this thing is cool to do so I’m gonna go do that.” For her, wine was that thing. It all started back in Brooklyn at a wine bar with no menu, seated across from a sommelier—somm for short—supplying samples, explaining differences, and teaching without pretension. It felt casual, direct yet friendly, and home-like. It’s where she first fell in love with wine. What began as a cool concept turned into this is so me, to how can I create this feeling for others, and, eventually, to doing just that. With 2cms, Nhi's now shaping her version of the wine world she once stumbled into. It’s an apartment wine bar, online bottle shop, and experience curator, but if you ever step inside, you’ll see for yourself it's so much more.
After living in New York City for three years with her then roommate and now business partner Nam, they moved back to Vietnam. Initially she was working at an early stage tech start up for about a year and a half while studying wine on her own, until one day she saw an ad on Red Apron for the certificate program, Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET). It’s a four level program when completed you can go on to become a Master of Wine. She has currently completed three levels, but after reaching level two she realized that theory can only take you so far. Thus, as her knowledge in wine began to deepen, her interest in exploring new places around Saigon began to widen. This led to often visiting Lua Wine Bar where she soon started working part time for two nights a week. “They have the best wine list in Vietnam, period,” she says. So first it was tech startup for two months. Then it was tech start up plus Lua part time. After that it was tech start up plus Lua plus early stage 2cms. But soon the tech start up days were over, and eventually so were the nights at Lua. However, it was her time at Lua, specifically working with a Japanese somm there named Yu, who influenced her interest, knowledge, and philosophy on wine.
According to Nhi’s philosophy, a wine list can be a personality based on mood. Sometimes fun and adventurous. Sometimes funky and outside the box. Or sometimes even comforting to the point of there being no need to question and or analyze the experience. “If anything, it’s an extension of how I want to present not just me but any of the products that I show or even the bar itself,” Nhi says, “When you drink this bottle it will start to make you raise your eye a little bit because there is something underneath that is distinct. It shouldn’t taste like any other red or white bottle that you can get your hands on. I want it to be a little eccentric and different from each other.” Thus, through 2CMS she aims to fuse her philosophy, taste, and personality while adapting to the market to make it approachable to the people she’s serving–in essence, curating a vibe.
That’s the philosophical side, but there’s also the technical side in choosing the wines. This is when I learned another new phrase during our chat: biodynamically grown. Nhi explained that it’s an extension of an organic agricultural process with a spiritual twist. It follows the Lunar Calendar which includes optimal times for farmers to fertilize, spray, and harvest grapes. Additionally, other than the spiritual element, this process is endowed with the belief in building a circular ecosystem such that it’s designed not to rely on any external inputs. In other words, nothing goes to waste. That said, even though she prefers stocking organic and biodynamically grown wines, one of the biggest things she’s learned along her journey is not to discriminate between different wines, “I guess I drink what’s good,” she says, laughing. But again, theory will only take you so far. The wisdom endowed in philosophy only matters in practice and through experimentation. Philosophy tested becomes psychology. It’s also where the fun begins.
In the beginning, there were some unofficial events either at friend’s places or at the bar itself. From there, they started having more official events and pop up food and wine pairings with music at places like the former Khôngtrung Drink & Screen, Bluish Cafe, Roast & Smoke, and others. Nowadays, it seems there’s more of a system in place. For bottles, she updates the wine list every month based on customer feedback. For by the glass, the list is updated every two weeks and typically includes three options at the bar. These are all sourced from local suppliers. If she can’t find a wine she wants in Vietnam, she’ll even go as far as hand-carrying from other countries like when she visited Kuala Lumpur last year. Either way the goal is to both compliment what they already have in stock, fitting its given mood and personality but also searching to add new wines that fit into the eccentric buckets already in place.
Furthermore, 2cms aims to host a new event every month. Events are split into two categories: ones focused on the wine itself and ones more community-centric with a bit of wine squeezed into the background. The vision remains to make wine casual, approachable, and less intimidating. As she says, that’s not because of a knowledge gap per se but because a lot of Vietnamese don’t grow up seeing people drink wine as the main alcoholic choice. Chivas for example, like she saw her parents drink when she was growing up, or beer are more popular. In addition, Nhi points out that in her opinion more and more of the younger Vietnamese generation don’t drink a lot of beer or hard liquor and are shopping around for what better fits their personality. This is where the social building events come into play.
“Wine is not a status. It can be formal or casual, all up to us. It’s something that takes time to know, and the knowledge and taste buildup can be rather satisfying,” she says. “I want to show people that wine is delicious and you can drink it and have fun and you can get access to it in a regular setting.” That ethos of accessibility is the foundation on which 2cms and the places they collaborate with rests upon. It’s also Nhi’s gateway to meet people and talk about wine. For those interested in learning more, they can go to the other wine tasting events where they can talk about flavor and how to break wine down to understand it more and appreciate it better. “Sure I’ll call [2cms] a wine bar because that’s the majority of what I am going to sell to you but I don’t want to be bound by any definition. I don’t want to be just a wine bar,” she says. Sure people will remember if a place has good wines or not, but from her perspective the main thing, the meaningful part, is providing an experience where people feel comfortable and welcome to express their curiosity.
The more I listened the more I gathered that 2cms is an ongoing social psychology experiment disguised as a wine bar. It’s a place testing how far atmosphere, product, service, and curiosity can shift people’s perceptions and culture around wine as a whole. In some ways, through listening to Nhi I think I experienced the same feeling she had back in Brooklyn – learning from someone well versed in wine, but in a casual friendly manner such that I wasn’t overwhelmed by the philosophy or technicalities of the subject matter but more intrigued with their interest in it. Perhaps when visiting 2cms you may experience a similar feeling and want to learn more about wine. It could become your thing and who knows, in the process you may start to call yourself a conceptual drinker too.
