How Washington, D.C. Liquor Laws Made It an Exciting City to Drink Wine

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When you hear a law has some unintended consequences, it’s not out of line to brace yourself for bad news—especially if that law originates from our nation’s capital. But when it comes to Washington, D.C.’s alcohol permit system, a pleasant outcome has arisen that has helped make the District an exciting place for adventurous oenophiles.

While cities such as New York offer an enormous variety of bottles at bars, restaurants, and shops thanks to the many small specialty importers based in the area, the Big Apple, like markets across America are subject Prohibition-era laws stipulating a three-tier system that includes importers and distributors. That can lead to a tangled web that makes it hard to sell certain labels, especially ones without big money behind them. That’s not the case in D.C., where the law allows local restaurants and retailers to buy directly from suppliers, meaning they have possibly the most extensive selection of small-producer wines anywhere in the United States. So, a sommelier or beverage director on vacation in Italy, Spain, Croatia, or any wine-producing country can purchase interesting bottles or rare vintages by simply filling out a one-page importation permit form. And there taking advantage.

“I wouldn’t necessarily categorize this feature of D.C.’s liquor law as a ‘loophole,’ which implies an oversight or mistake, but rather a byproduct of D.C.’s lack of statehood and some of the normal liquor import regulations that most states are subject to,” says Meri Lugo, managing partner of  Domestique Wine, a natural wine shop that offers up to 500 different selections. “D.C.’s unique liquor laws have enabled us to forge direct relationships with domestic and European wine producers, supporting their wine in a very direct way, and helping us build one of the most unique and diverse wine selections in the city,” Lugo says.

Maxwell Park in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood boasts a wine list with 700 selections in a 1,000 square foot space and has become hailed locally and nationally for its diversity of offerings. Brent Kroll, Maxwell’s owner and sommelier says, thanks to direct importation, he has been able to source unique bottles from Greece, Spain, France, and Italy—as well as the United States. On a recent trip to Greece he found a white Xinomavro from Foundi, a producer from the northern part of the country that makes a white wine using a red grape and limiting skin contact. “I was able to have this brought into D.C. and have poured it a couple times by the glass,” he says.

At Michelin-starred restaurant Tail Up Goat, owner and beverage director Bill Jensen wishes he were able to take better advantage of direct importation. Citing the costs of shipping and constraints on travel due to running a restaurant, he explains that most of the wines he has sourced directly are from wineries within driving distance of D.C. that are otherwise not available in the market. In addition to wine from nearby Virginia and Maryland, he’s also brought in quite a few from the Finger Lakes region of New York. “Our by the glass list changes seasonally, and at the moment, we’re showcasing Rieslings from the Finger Lakes,” Jensen says.  “I visited in June and was able to bring back several bottles from friends in the region that wouldn’t otherwise be available here.” Jensen is so impressed with Finger Lakes producers such as Hermann J. Wiemer, Konstantin Frank, and Red Tail Ridge that he will be making some wine there himself this vintage. Meanwhile, he says his guests can enjoy two different vintages of Wiemer Semi-Dry Riesling, from 2023 and 2011, “because of the freedom that D.C.’s liquor laws allow.”

While Jensen says that direct imports are “more of a supplement than a core” at Tail Up Goat, Lugo states that she has direct imported from more than a hundred producers in the last several years. It makes a lot of sense that a shop specializing in natural wine would want to take advantage of this method of acquisition as much as possible. “Since we aren’t forced to work within the traditional three-tier system to bring in wine and spirits, we’re able to support much smaller, artisanal producers,” Lugo tells Robb Report. “Perhaps a producer who is in their first few vintages, or who makes a niche product that doesn’t have broad appeal, but that we know our customers will appreciate.” She recently brought in two wines from Texas, Lightsome and Alta Marfa, and several wines from Aquila Cellars in Colorado. “Through these selections, we were able to tell the story of winemakers producing transparent, terroir-driven wines from places not traditionally thought of as American winegrowing regions,” she adds.

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Besides literally taking the middleman out of wine sales, D.C.’s direct import regulations put customer facing wine professionals directly in contact with winemakers rather than salespeople, enabling them to better transmit the tale behind the bottle. “Wine is a story,” Jensen says. “Every glass has a narrative arc, and it’s so much easier to connect to that history when you have been to a place, connected with the people, broken bread with them, tasted wines on the land they emerged from.”

At Maxwell Park, Kroll holds tastings and classes incorporating not just wine but ingredients he has discovered on his travels, such as pumpkin seed oil from Austria, sugar cane syrup from Brazil, and snails from the Greek Island of Paros. Jensen also references wine as an agricultural product. “We develop intimate relationships with all the growers who supply our produce at the restaurant, and I love approaching wine the same way,” he says. “Telling these stories allows our guests to travel with us and approach drinking wine as an act of discovery.” For those looking to book some interesting wine-centric travel with connection to the soil into their schedules, it seems that Washington, D.C. is a good place to start.

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