Target Prepares for Sale of Beer and Wine

A Sunday evening trip to Target brought about a welcomed surprise: beer and wine is finally on its way. An aisle in the grocery section of the store may have empty shelves for now, but prices are already posted. Target is advertising American lagers, domestic brews, and international drafts and prices look comparable to Giant and the like. Wine takes up the other half of the aisle, including picks for less than $12 and the awesome Wine Cube.

Based on space alone, the selection is smaller than that at Giant. And you miss the great recommendations and conversations that you get at d'vines. But the addition of beer and wine at Target adds another level of convenience to the store.

Target to sell beer and wine?

From Jimmy D:
"1) an alcohol licence request posted on the front of DCUSA main doors with Target as the named requester. No idea what it means exactly. Maybe Target wants to sell beer and wine? I have never heard of that before. Hmm."

In April, Target's request for an alcohol license was discussed at the ANC 1A meeting. Reports from that meeting are available from DCist and DC North. Target's website, though, thinks wine is already available at the store. While The Heights Life is a big fan of d'vines, making beer and wine available at Target will make summer party planning that much easier. And Target's wine cube is supposed to be pretty good.

If anyone has an update on Target's alcohol license, please post it in the comments below.

Fun find at d’vines

While you normally find cool window designs at clothing, furniture, and department stores, d’vines also does a great job of showing off its goods. I love the steel wine caddies currently on display. They retail for $55.99 and represent various professions and hobbies. There’s more online at the H&K Sculptures website if you can’t find what you like in the store.

Coming this Fall: Wine and Pastries on 11th Street

This started as "scuttlebutt" on PoP, but commenter New2CH adds some details from a recent ANC meeting: The 11th Street Deli will be closing to make way for a wine bar and pastry shop opening as soon as September. There's not much more information, but we will keep you updated as the 11th Street corridor continues to attract new businesses. While I enjoyed grabbing a sandwich from the 11th Street Deli from time-to-time, I won't necessarily miss it. I wonder if the new spot will be similar to SOVA on H Street NE?

D'Vines Stocks Up

The Heights Life took a trip to d'vines to investigate the shelf situation. When the place first opened it was divine because it was open late seven days a week and sold good goods, but it wasn't exactly full of options. (See an interview we did with the manager here)

Now, however, all the vin is in and the beer case is so very colorful. We took home a South African Shiraz.

ArtBart says: It hits the sides of my tongue. I taste berries.
Spud Lite says: I think I taste the pepper packets you get with pizza, but that might just be because Pat at d'vines said it was "peppery."
ArtBart says: I want another glass.

D'Vines Grand Opening Tomorrow

Though d'vines has been selling me pinot and malbec for a week, almost two, the official grand opening will be held tomorrow afternoon.

Sadly, this blog will be out of the area and forced to miss it, but we promise to stop by after the affair to grab a bottle our two and celebrate the store whilst watching Lost.

Good luck d'vines and welcome to The Heights Life!

Breaking News: D'Vines is OPEN

We have wine!

After days of mongering, this blog's rumor came true: D'Vines (d'vines actually, but the all lower case looks funny leading a sentence) is OPEN in Columbia Heights!

This was actually breaking news this morning. They had a soft opening today. The shelves are not exactly full, but they appeared to have a good selection in place. They also have a wine chiller that George of d'vines tells me will chill your favorite bottle in 3 minutes.

I spoke with store manager Pat Hayes (who gets points for having heard of this blog). He said a big grand opening will happen May 1, and until then they are open for business. They only just got their license yesterday at 4PM. Since then, they've been ordering away in an effort to fill the shelves.

They've done a good job filling the beer case. George says it's only 25% full now, but the selection was good if you are willing to venture beyond Yeungling. I noticed some of my favorite Belgian options.

And now, meet Pat and George. Maybe soon, they will get YOU drunk. Pat does all the talking because George is a bit shy. This cell phone video doesn't do our lovely wine vendors justice, in person - I swear they both have eyes. Shame on the camera for not capturing that! Anyhow, here's Pat and George:

Saturday Night Mash-Up: Motorbikes, Wine and Surveillance

On Going the Right Way

As I pedaled home up 14th street tonight going the RIGHT way, I was nearly run down by two large men on little motorbikes going the WRONG way. Keep an eye out around Columbia Road for the renegade bikers, they don't seem to love the traffic laws.

While their disregard for the law is troubling, their heft straddling the dainty bikes is kind of amusing. If anyone gets a picture, send it over.

On Drinking at Home

An anonymous tipster tells us to look for D'Vines to open this weekend or Monday. As of Friday night it was still quite shuttered, but with this weather it might be nearing the time for a glass of pink wine on the stoop!

And yes, THL (the height life) shamelessly supports pink wine even if it jumped the shark with that New York Times style section article two years ago.

On Target's Surveillance Cameras

Lisa Raffensperger, an intern at WAMU and THL tipster, reported on the new Target's surveillance cameras for WAMU radio. Will the extra surveillance provided by the Target cameras help our neighborhood?

As regular readers of the Columbia Heights listserv know, the DC crime cameras have delivered some disappointment, but can our superstore do better? What would William Jordan do? Listen to Lisa's story HERE and discuss.

On the Way Things Were

A flashback courtesy of Google Earth's satellite image.

Does anyone know what year this would have been?