En route to Cameron Park this afternoon I swung off Highway 50 at El Dorado Hills to grab a bite and to see what's new at Town Center, the community's commercial village. My timing was off by about four hours.

At 5 p.m. today, the Sacramento region's newest wine bar is to open. It's Wine Konnection, and it's right next to the new El Dorado Hills branch of the restaurant Bistro 33.

When I came across it, manager Patrick Seymour hurriedly but calmly was filling shelves with bottles of wine while chef Dani Luzzatti was putting her potato chips through one last trial run. The place just may be the region's largest wine bar and shop, occupying a 3,500-square-foot space overlooking the shopping complex's pond. Seymour will be pouring 68 wines by the glass, and coordinating 20 flights of three wines each for guests to compare producers and styles. The wine inventory runs to 280 different releases, including high-profile brands like Col Solare, Dominus, Sea Smoke, Siduri and Ramey.

Luzzatti's small-plate menu draws inspiration from Latin America (empanadas filled with pork-belly confit and roasted peppers), Southeast Asia (cakes of Dungeness crab and skate wing seasoned with Thai spices and accompanied by a red curry coconut dipping sauce), the Mediterranean (barolo-braised lamb shank on creamy polenta) and California (wild salmon poached in olive oil and served with a navel-orange confit).

Intel executives and wine enthusiasts Bill Ramsey and Chuck Welsh are the principal partners, said Seymour.

After today, Wine Konnection, 4364 Town Center Blvd., El Dorado Hills, is to be open 10 a.m.-midnight Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Sundays; (916) 941-1555.