The Urban Grape
Wine store · Shaw ·
Black-owned wine shop with weekly tastings and unique bottles
Black-owned wine shop with weekly tastings and unique bottles
"Operating since 2010, this Boston-born wine shop has grown into one of America’s biggest Black-owned wine retailers and is opening its first location outside Boston on January 25 in Shaw, selling 800 bottles from 25 countries under one roof. The couple behind it aim to demystify wine for everyday buyers, using TJ’s signature progressive scale that groups wines by body on a 1-to-10 scale (a 1 might be a Basque Txakoli, a Sancerre groups around a 3, chardonnays begin entering the scale at about a 5, and a 10 would be a big California chardonnay like a Rombauer). The shop deliberately carves out shelf space for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and women winemakers who are often underrepresented, and its wildly successful South End location was named one of 2023’s best wine shops in the U.S. by Wine Enthusiast and currently generates nearly $7 million in annual revenue. The new 4,300-square-foot D.C. store—nearly double the size of the Boston original—includes a private events room, will serve as the brand’s main distribution hub to enable nationwide shipping, and opens with a long weekend of tastings featuring free pours from several producers." - Lulu Chang
"Named one of 2023’s best wine shops in the U.S. by Wine Enthusiast, this decade-old Black-owned business from husband-wife duo TJ and Hadley Douglas will open its first location outside of Boston in early 2024 at 1301 9th Street NW in Shaw, diagonal from All-Purpose. The D.C. move allows the shop to ship nationwide for the first time and will function as its main distribution hub to support an aggressive goal of becoming the biggest Black-owned wine retailer in the U.S. It will bring its unique wine-buying model—categorizing by body rather than varietal or region under a proprietary progressive scale—to a nearly doubled 4,300-square-foot space that includes a private events room; the Boston home base features a wall of 800 wines from 25 countries plus beer, sake, spirits, and canned cocktails and generates annual revenue approaching $7 million. The expansion is supported by a recently closed financing round from Cambridge Savings Bank, including a $2 million SBA loan. Rooted in an ethos of hospitality and diversity, the Urban Grape has partnered with Boston University to award wine certification courses to people of color and provides mentorship and internship opportunities, with plans to grow nationally, engage HBCUs, and build a career pipeline to radically diversify the wine industry—moves the team says make sense in historically Black Shaw near Howard University, which has a strong, engaged neighborhood." - Tierney Plumb
"D.C.-based entrepreneurs Brett Freeman and Alex DelSordo launched Grape Intentions, a curated monthly wine subscription that donates to local charities including DC Central Kitchen and The Trevor Project and uses an online 'Palate Picker' algorithm to help subscribers select preferred flavor profiles." - Tierney Plumb
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