The Study

A Wine Bar That Feels Like Home

So many of us feel self-conscious when choosing between a Bordeaux or pinot noir at a restaurant. Those intimidating and neverending lists can shift our mindsets from wanting a nice glass of wine to needing one, just to recover from the pressure-filled selection experience. Shouldn’t selecting the flavors you enjoy most be a pleasurable experience? Ian Bennett is a sommelier on a mission to change the culture around wine.

“When I worked in Los Angeles, every sommelier I met was an utter and complete d*** h***,” Ian says. He started his wine journey with a passionate desire to learn, but ran up against sommeliers who didn’t want to teach. He decided to become a certified sommelier so he could be different—a sommelier who welcomed more people into the fold, who shared knowledge in an unpretentious way.

Located in the historic Film Row district of OKC, Ian, along with his wife, Elaine, and their friends John and Megan Allen, opened The Study on May 30, 2020 with the tagline of “All for wine and wine for all.” Their desire to ensure that people from all walks of life feel at ease permeates everything they do. “We want everyone to come in here and feel at home,” Elaine says.

The Study is a collaborative effort created by a well-rounded and wine-loving team. Megan handles marketing and project management and her husband, John, does The Study’s finances and IT. Ian handles the wine and Elaine, who has spent the past decade starting drug development companies, uses her strategic skills to grow the business.

They came up with the idea for The Study five years ago, “sitting around an empty lasagne pan, lamenting the fact there was no quiet place to grab a drink.” They wanted to create a space that encourages conversation, where guests can enjoy a glass of wine without the distraction of televisions. Full disclosure: The Study does have a single television... in the hearth...playing a looping fireplace scene.

The founders say they anticipated attracting Gen Xers but were surprised by the older Gen Zers and the young millennials, all of whom want to learn about wine. They already have ten to fifteen weekly regulars. Some bring their books and study, some drop by during the afternoon to work and wind down, and others utilize the nooks as meeting space.

A distinguishing feature of The Study is its Cruvinet system, which uses nitrogen to preserve wine and allows The Study to provide a stunning sixty-four wines on tap. Ian, who moved back to Oklahoma City in 2010 to help open the popular Ludivine restaurant, has thought about this concept since he first worked with a Cruvinet fifteen years ago at a wine bar in Los Angeles where he “fell madly in love with the grape.”

Ian turned to his “old friends” in choosing the thirty-two reds and thirty-two whites on the Cruvinet. He avoided the esoteric, opting instead for accessible wines enjoyable to both new and experienced wine drinkers. These wines have to “overdeliver,” meaning they must offer better quality than one would expect for the price. Ian, who tastes around 12,000 wines a year, says he will always put a wine that surprises him on the list. The staff and other owners also help to select approachable wines.

The wines on the Cruvinet change frequently, allowing The Study to feature wines of which a distributor may only get ten bottles annually. However, their regulars’ favorites stay on the list. Ian says many of his colleagues have openly scoffed at his choice to include Barefoot Moscato, the highest selling wine in North America, but this is one of many intentional choices designed to make The Study feel welcoming.

“I want somebody to come in and sit down at the bar and they might not recognize sixty-one of those labels, but they see that green footprint and they immediately feel more comfortable. We want to first make people feel comfortable and then get them drinking outside of their box,” Ian says. “Barefoot Moscato is my gateway drug,” Ian says. “Why would I want to alienate millions of potential customers by not having it on the list.”

This approach seems to be working. The vast majority of customers turn to Ian and The Study’s staff for recommendations. Staff will ask customers a list of questions to help them identify their palate so a Study patron can feel more comfortable opening another restaurant’s wine list or telling a less friendly sommelier what they like. The Study even has a “beer guy” to help beer drinkers find a wine they like based on the kind of beers they drink.

Ian creates flights that are “varietally correct,” meaning they’re designed to help guests identify what different varietals, such as chardonnay, merlot, or zinfandel, are supposed to taste like. For novices to the experts-to-be, The Study features varietally correct flights a glass at a time through the Cruvinet to reduce the cost of studying for the certified sommelier examination. Ian and Elaine know the test and studying through purchasing entire bottles can be cost prohibitive, which exacerbates the industry’s diversity problem.

The Study hopes to help more women and people of color develop careers in the wine industry, as well as encourage people from diverse backgrounds to delve into drinking wine. Books on racism dot their bookcases, and the house rules explicitly and strictly prohibit hate speech and sexual misconduct. “If you’re going to run a place like this, you have to run it with a sense of social responsibility,” Ian says.

He notes that misogyny and unhealthy environments are rampant in the hospitality industry. To fight this culture, everyone who works at The Study is a professional who receives paid sick leave, including for mental health. The goal is to cultivate an environment of respect that is empowering for employees. “I wouldn’t want to own a business that is any other way,” Elaine says. The three founding employees also have equity in the business.

The Study’s grand opening was initially scheduled for March 15, 2020—the day the entire city went into pandemic lock down. As a result, they prioritized some of the items at the bottom of their business plan, including their virtual tastings, wine clubs, wine packs, and retail. Ian creates detailed information packets for the virtual tastings with tasting tips, geographical and historical information about the country of origin, tasting notes, and a guide for writing your impressions. The virtual tastings are capped at eight Zoom windows, although there’s no limit on the number of people in each Zoom window, to promote interaction.

Ian wears his tuxedo t-shirt and participants play wine bingo. The Study wine club further expands members’ palettes and knowledge about wine. For these, Ian creates playful write-ups introducing each wine along with food pairing suggestions, which may be as unassuming as a corn dog, some spicy ramen, or buffalo wings. “We like to pair to local restaurants,” Elaine adds.

The layout of The Study, with small rooms rather than an open concept, has also worked to their advantage during the pandemic by naturally allowing for social distancing. Elaine, who has a Ph.D. in Microbiology, says they’ve attracted people who want to go out, but only to a place they can trust to take the pandemic risk seriously. “We get a lot of people who are coming in, who haven’t gone anywhere else, but they feel safe here,” Elaine says. The owners and staff take COVID tests every two weeks, wear masks, and have a “sanitation party” every hour.

Ian, Elaine, John, and Megan have created a relaxing place where people know they will be taken care of, where they can temporarily forget about the problems of the outside world. The Study has become a sort of haven—just ask the regulars when you visit.

> The Study, 701 W Sheridan, Ste 100, Oklahoma City; (405) 724-7514; thestudyokc.com