Meggie and Quinn Burns love their Elliotborough neighborhood. The couple often frequents local hotspots like Vern’s, Chubby Fish and Guilded Horn. On evenings out, they realized their corner of the city was missing something: a curated wine bar.
So they created one. Roseline is slated to open on Nov. 8.
“Our neighborhood is slowly becoming a restaurant and bar mecca in Charleston,” Meggie said. “We are hoping Roseline adds to that while keeping the neighborhood’s unique integrity.”
Located at 125 1/2 Line St. (the former location of Sightsee Coffee Shop), Roseline clocks in at a mighty 429 square feet.
The tiny wine bar is a passion project for the couple, who met in Charleston after moving from Chicago (Meggie) and Atlanta (Quinn) during the pandemic. Because of their love of dining out in cool spots, they’d planned on opening their own bar or restaurant in the future — but when they heard the Line Street building was available for lease, they couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
“It just seemed like the time to just say, you know what? This is perfect. It’s in our backyard, literally,” Meggie said.
And while the Burnses initially looked into opening their own coffee shop — Sightsee had been so successful, it would be hard not to consider following a similar business plan — they eventually landed on their true love.
“What we love and what we’re passionate about is wine,” Meggie said.
Funky, cozy vibes
Roseline will have 12 by-the-glass wine options and more than 40 bottles from which to choose. While Roseline isn’t sharing its full menu yet, Meggie promised a “very healthy balance” of old world and new world wines from local distributors like Advintage, Lee Distributors and Mission Grapes.
The bar will also offer sake, curated by Meggie’s sake sommelier brother, and beer on tap, with two rotating draft options and permanent fixtures Guinness and Charles Towne Fermentory’s Sungazer IPA. Guests can choose from more than 20 grab-and-go brews and non-alcoholic beverages, as well.
And while most options veer toward the craft side of things, Meggie couldn’t help but include Schlitz on the menu, an homage to a bar in her college town of New Orleans.
“Our ultimate goal with our menu is to have something that caters to everyone, ranging from cheap beer to high-end wine,” she said.
The Burnses transformed the bright and airy former coffee shop into something moodier and more intimate for Roseline.
Working with interior design
company Public Regard and carpenters Golde Workshop, the couple designed the kind of bar they’d visited on their worldwide travels.
“Quinn and I have traveled all throughout the world. … It’s those tiny little bars that have such a big personality [that we love],” Meggie said. “Whenever we decided to open something [we knew] that it was going to be funky and different.”
Meggie said that she and Quinn see a lot of opportunity in the pre-dinner sphere in Elliotborough, where folks often have to wait for a table at Vern’s and Chubby Fish. While Roseline can certainly be your final destination, the Burnses don’t mind if it’s just a stop along the way during your evening.
Roseline will have a small food menu on weekends, with curated meat and cheese boards from local John Street spot Tinto Cafe and Provisions. The bar will be open from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Meggie said that neighborhood residents are getting excited for Roseline. “All the neighbors will pop their heads in and be like, ‘Hey, what’s this going to be?’ And we say ‘It’s a mini wine bar.’ And they’re just ecstatic,” she said.
Quinn said that he wants customers to leave Roseline feeling as comfortable and as welcome as they would at a friend’s home — a feeling he and Meggie are always seeking on nights out. “We’ll go out to dinner and then we’re always looking for a place that feels cozy when we want to be on our couch — but we want to still feel like we’re social,” he said.
The Burnses also want Roseline to feel like the missing piece to the culinary jigsaw puzzle of Elliotborough. “I want people to feel like this is kind of something that completes the Elliotborough neighborhood,” Quinn said.
Meggie added that Roseline is meant to build upon the foundation of the neighborhood’s existing bars and restaurants. “Our mission is to ‘keep Charleston small.’ Not from a standpoint of exclusivity but as a way of maintaining the charm of not just our neighborhood but also our beloved city.”
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