Vino is the creation of Fabio Armenti, a seasoned sommelier, restaurateur and proud southern Italian

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With its grey and red frontage, Vino has become a recognisable staple of Faversham’s town centre since it opened almost a decade ago. But step inside and you’re transported not just to a different kind of wine bar - but into a life story.

Vino is the creation of Fabio Armenti, a seasoned sommelier, restaurateur and proud southern Italian. “My background is in hospitality,” he says simply as we sit in the cosy back room lined with labelled wine bottles, books and vinyl records. “I started in 1987 as a young waiter in Basilicata. I used to bunk school and work in a restaurant.”

That rebellious streak led him far. After earning his Higher National Diploma, he arrived in Catford in 1991 with no English, having studied French at catering school. “There was a pizza place next to a Jamaican takeaway and a gun shop. I’d never seen either of those things before. I was coming from a very small town. It was amazing to me!”

Fabio worked his way up in the London hospitality scene, starting in the incredibly popular Cafe Italia Blackheath (something of a 90s celebrity hangout) before moving on to hotels and restaurants in Soho, Chelsea and Fulham. “I think in 35 years I’ve only been fired twice,” he jokes. “I like to change environments, work with different people, learn different cuisines.” He watched trends come and go, from foams and deconstructed dishes to the return of simple regional cooking. “It’s been a rollercoaster.”

Wine, however, was always constant. His grandfather had a small vineyard, where Fabio as a child would help prune vines and harvest grapes. “The wine was horrible,” he laughs. “My grandma used it as vinegar! But I loved the process, you know, crushing the grape, fermenting, waiting two or three weeks to see if the colour changed or the flavour changed. I had a chemical romance with it.”

In 2005, he formalised his expertise with a sommelier diploma, despite the language barrier.
“I had the knowledge and I’m a researcher by nature. That diploma opened doors, I could work in Michelin-recommended restaurants.” He did stints in prestigious London venues, including Number Twelve at the Ambassador Hotel in Bloomsbury. “I worked with some very good chefs. Some were crazy, but some were really interesting.”

Eventually, family life encouraged Fabio out of London, initially relocating to an increasingly popular Whitstable, where he headed up the opening of the original tapas restaurant in Harbour Street. “I’ve always managed to be in the right place at the right time, where things were happening. Whitstable had this kind of first wave of Londoners coming down to live there and we were bringing the whole small-plates trend.’

Continuing to develop his own skills, Fabio studied and achieved WSET Certificates - Level One, Two and Three Advanced - but while the options to go even higher were open, there was a scratch that needed to be itched. He wanted something of his own.

In 2017, he viewed the previously derelict two-room property on the corner of Partridge Lane. “There was nothing here. No floor, no bathroom. It was a gamble,” he says. But with savings and encouragement from his wife Valeria - “the driving force behind my well-being” - they transformed the space.

Vino is part wine shop, part bar and, in the mornings, a purveyor of fine coffee!

“I didn’t invent the formula, I don’t claim that,” he jokes. “It’s a little bar, which is also a shop, so you can buy bottles at a retail price. And obviously if you drink one of the bottles in, you pay a little bit of corkage.”

He is being modest: patrons from near and far head to Vino and stay for hours - it’s a very social place. The seating area at the back, the bar and the tables out on the cobbles are always busy.

There are 400 bottles that Fabio has chosen personally to choose from, while the blackboard at the entrance shows off the 15 wines that you can order by the glass.

“We change those quite often - every couple of days, depending on how busy we are,” he says. “Also, we offer platters of nice cheeses and meats. It’s very, very simple.”

A coffee in the morning and the occasional top-shelf Negroni in the evening, there’s a reason to go to Vino throughout the day.

Beyond the bar, Vino hosts monthly tastings. “We have different types”, Fabio says. “One focused on Portugal and its different regions, another on ‘One Makers Wine’ where we choose all the wines from one maker, and then a festive one at the end of November to pick out those nice wines for the table. We showcase everything from Champagne to Napa, Rieslings from Alsace and Burgundian whites.”

His collaborations with JD Catering add culinary depth. “If we’re doing Argentina, they’ll serve regional dishes to match. It makes the whole evening immersive.”

Though Fabio has had offers to expand, he’s not tempted. “There’s a unique selling point here - and unfortunately it’s me,” he says. The interior reflects his personality - walls adorned with vinyl records, art and books.

“People don’t use the word ‘terroir’ much anymore, which is that sense of place, where you come from,” he explains. “I applied that to myself. I come from that place, and that’s what I want to project into Vino.”

Despite being Italian, Fabio’s vision for Vino is global. “We promote wine from everywhere. If you want Napa, we have it. If you want a real orange wine, it’s here. We’re not trying to be something we’re not. We demystify the wine experience.”

And it’s working. “About 60% of our customers are locals. They keep coming back because it’s real. It’s not pretentious. It’s a conversation, a good bottle and a little bit of me in the bricks.”