CHANGE MY LOCATION
Business
Examiners
Business Examiner
Most Recent Post
Free cable part of Comcast's plan as digital deadline nears
Internet Business Examiner
Most Recent Post
Digression: YouTube video isn't a commercial but could be
California News
Multimedia News
More wine glasses being raised in N.Va.
SEE THE LATEST ON THIS STORY
Related Topics: WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Oenophiles and casual wine drinkers alike are finding many more places to indulge in Northern Virginia.
Since August and as recently as February, the area has seen the opening of such stores as Domasoteca; a wine shop with cheese and sandwiches in the Rosslyn Hotel Palomar, Grape Juice, a store owned by the people behind Restaurant Vero in the same Lee Highway Shopping Center; and Grape & Bean, an independent wine and gourmet coffee shop in Alexandria.
Many of the stores feature a mix of high-end and affordable offerings, and sell products such as candies and cheeses alongside the beverages.
“We have to in Virginia,” said Joy Reinhardt, owner of Grape Juice, which has an emphasis on featuring wines from small vineyards.
“People are really hungry for wine knowledge right now, and in the past few years, wine has been an increasingly hot topic in the area,” said Amanda McClements, author of the Web site Metrocurean, which chronicles D.C. restaurants. “Northern Virginia is right there at the front of the trend.”
With wine shops have come wine bars as well — Grand Cru in Ballston came on the scene last fall. On May 1, Reston will see its first wine-themed restaurant, Vinifera Wine Bar & Bistro. Cheesetique, the cheese shop in the Alexandria neighborhood of Del Ray just expanded down the street and is opening a “cheese and wine bar” within the shop this weekend.
“We’re not looking to have a lot of extremely expensive wines; we’re going to have more adventurous wines from grapes some people may not be as familiar with at a reasonable cost,” said Vinifera general manager Sami Zeitoun.
All the openings reflect a growing interest in wine in the greater D.C. community; the Cork Restaurant on 14th Street has been packed since it opened.
Eli Hengst, owner of Mendocino Grille in Georgetown, arguably the District’s first wine bar, thinks wine is becoming accessible to the general community.
“Most of us grew up with this snobbery and pretentiousness surrounding wine — that it’s some guy in a tuxedo making a show of it — and that’s really not how the majority of the world drinks wine,” Hengst said.
melissa.frederick@dcexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
6:00 PM MST on Tue., Aug. 19, 2008 re: "Albariño becoming most loved white-wine grape"
Report as inappropriate
10:50 AM MST on Thu., Aug. 14, 2008
re: "Albariño becoming most loved white-wine grape"
Report as inappropriate
9:48 PM MST on Sun., Sep. 16, 2007
re: "Mexican wine on the rise"
Report as inappropriate
Examiner Reader said:
Ripple Grande is served for $.99 at the local grocery and then you can drink it joyously for nothing standing on the street corner while getting ripped. It's taster's choice, there will be newer wines later. It never ends. What is chic now, becomes beak later.
Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree
Examiner Reader said:
Well...just wait until you taste Abacela from Southern Oregon. The best Albarino in the US? Hmmm, taste and you decide. Fred Gunton
1 agree | 1 disagree
Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree
Examiner Reader said:
If you want to try a few of the more 'upscale' wines I would recommend Casa De Peidra and/or Mogor Badan. Both have wines worth of any cellar. And the food! Some of the best chefs are making trails to Valle De Guadalupe.
244 agree | 257 disagree
Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree