When John and Carol Ryan embarked recently in their new business, they wanted it to remind people of going home.

“We are a wine shop, a wine bar and a delicatessen,” said John, 47, co-owner of the four-month-old Vigne Wine Shop & Delicatessen, on Hickory Street near Amyx Fine Jewelry.

Their concept was simple: Create a place where people can enjoy and learn about wine while getting a great meal in a comfortable atmosphere, the couple said.

“You might as well have good wine here and good food at the same time,” John Ryan said.

DRC/David Minton

Vigne Wine Shop & Delicatessen is located at 222 W. Hickory St., Suite 103.

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The business, with its Italian-style combination of cream-colored walls and old-fashioned lamp lighting, incorporates retail wine sales with bistro-style dining. The main room features three large monitors that display dining specials, community events and wine information — things for guests to take in while they enjoy the acoustic music playing on the XM Satellite Radio channel The Coffee House.

The Ryans said they’ve been fans of wine for about seven years, having traveled around in their motor home visiting wineries.

“We needed a vacation, and we had not had one since October 2002,” said Carol Ryan, 45, explaining that they worked tirelessly in the apartment business before jumping into selling wine. They decided against early retirement when they opened Vigne, whose name is French for vine.

Business has been good so far, they say.

Some people told them it was probably not a good idea to open a new business in the middle of a recession, but they did.

“It [the location] was a D’Vine Wine at one point, and it closed about a year ago last October,” John Ryan said.

DRC/David Minton

Owners John and Carol Ryan stand in Vigne Wine Shop & Delicatessen on Wednesday.

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The Ryans’ 3,000-square-foot shop is open six days a week. They allow local nonprofit groups to gather in a room for free and host wine tastings on Fridays.

“Most people that like wine, they need to find out what they like,” Carol Ryan said. “You might not like it, but it is probably that you have not found the right one. We want them to learn what they like or don’t like about wine.”

To make the experience more inviting, customers may select soups, salads and entrees developed by Gaspar Stantic, a veteran chef specializing in “new American” cuisine.

The menu also features hot and cold sandwiches named after people whom Carol Ryan claims as ancestors, including Jan Vigne, the first male European born in present-day New York; Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt; and Thomas Edison.

“We named most of our sandwiches after presidents,” John Ryan said. “We researched what the presidents liked to eat,” he said.

For example, George Washington apparently liked pan-seared tuna steak and Calvin Coolidge liked roast beef.

“LBJ [Lyndon Johnson] was a big fan of lamb, so our gyro is [named] after him,” Carol Ryan said.

The Ryans consider their business unique, especially in the way they lay out their wine selection. At most wine shops, the bottles are classified by grape (merlot, pinot noir, etc.) or region (Chianti, Bordeaux, etc.). At Vigne, they are displayed by price, with the least expensive wine located closer to the door. The most expensive wine is located inside an armoire.

The Ryans, who are longtime Denton residents, said they hand-picked every selection along with a sommelier, or wine expert.

“For every one wine that we have here, we have probably tasted 10,” John Ryan said.

The couple works with about nine distributors so they can offer a wide selection of wine, mostly from California but also from France, Germany, New Zealand, South Africa and Chile.

The shop offers a wine club that customers can join.

“It offers some advantages, like a price break, and every month there is a special wine,” said club member Ron Clark, a longtime friend of the Ryans. Clark said he and his wife, Donna, have visited Vigne about once a week since it opened in the fall.

“The wine selection is great, and their food is great,” he said.

The Ryans say their selection includes about 210 kinds of wine. And if there is another wine a customer is interested in, the Ryans can research it.

“If we get enough information, we can get the wine for you,” John Ryan said.

In addition to providing space for nonprofits, the Ryans also give to charity.

“Our wine-by-the-glass proceeds go to the Denton Community Food Bank,” Carol Ryan said.

The Ryans said they’re planning another business venture, Gaspar’s Steak & Seafood, which would be next to Vigne where Burgundy was located before it closed last year.

KARINA RAMÍREZ can be reached at 940-566-6878. Her e-mail address is kramirez@dentonrc.com.