One day last week, I found myself ogling a double magnum of Château Lafite Rothschild 1959. I brushed my hand lightly over the bottle neck, as if caressing a loved one. I made sure not to touch the label, even though it was pristine and wouldn’t fall apart from contact with an unworthy hand. I texted a photo of it to my wife. “Here’s what you can get me for my birthday,” I wrote. “My birth vintage!” The photo included the price tag on the rack beneath the bottle: $40,000.00.
Not your average wine store. This was Berry Bros. & Rudd, or BBR, Britain’s oldest fine wine and spirits retailer, founded in 1698 and still owned and operated by the same family. Only this wasn’t London. I was in BBR’s brand new store in Washington, D.C., which opened Nov. 4. (BBR has offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo in addition to its headquarters in London.) The new U.S. operation is headed by Jamie Ritchie, previously head of Sotheby’s operations in Asia and the Americas. He has recruited a team of wine industry veterans to bring BBR’s famed private client services, including wine storage, to the U.S.
The Berry Bros. & Rudd store in downtown Washington, D.C.
The company is clearly counting on the high-end wine market remaining firm amidst a broader market downturn and rising anti-alcohol sentiment, not to mention tariffs. The new store would seem to be in an ideal location, at the corner of 17th and I Streets N.W., just two blocks from the White House and walking distance from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and several high-power lobbying and law firms. The Metropolitan Club, an elite members-only haven with a legendary wine cellar, is nearby.
The store’s selection is strong on Bordeaux and Burgundy, with smaller sections for other European regions, with top names featured. Drawing on the deep cellars of the home company in London, the store emphasizes mature vintages ready to drink. If you’re interested in celebrating Rioja’s 100th anniversary as an official Denominacion de Origen, for example, you can pick up a Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial from either the 2001 or 2005 vintages for $299 each, or a 2012 Viña Tondonia Tinto Reserva from Bodegas R. López de Heredia for $65. There’s also a reserve room for the really rare bottles. (A staff member made sure I was not left alone in there.)
While BBR is clearly aiming at collectors and affluent consumers interested in tasting the classics, there are also wines for customers looking for a bottle on the way home from work, including BBR’s selection of 26 own-label wines from France, Italy, California, Portugal and Hungary. These include the “Good Ordinary Claret” from Château Dourthe for $20, a Grand Cru Brut Champagne by Mailly for $50, and a Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir by Au Bon Climat for $33.
Berry Bros. & Rudd is not the first high-end wine retailer to set its sights on D.C. New York’s Zachys opened here in 2017, looking to use D.C.’s retailer-friendly regulations to establish a national market through direct shipping. But Zachys opened in an out-of-the-way warehouse district where there was no parking and did not have a storefront. It quietly folded a few years later.
Will BBR succeed where others failed? They have the advantage of home cellars in London and a couple of centuries’ worth of relationship with some of the world’s top producers. That magnum of 1959 Latite was part of a selection of vintages from 1954 through 1996 purchased from the chateau and sent directly to the new D.C. store for the opening.
I didn’t buy that double magnum, and I very much doubt my wife will surprise me with it for my birthday next month. But as I was in the store, I saw a customer drop a couple thousand dollars on several bottles of older vintage Burgundy and Bordeaux. “I know California wines,” he said, “but I don’t really know Europe.”
And as I was about to leave, two lawyer types who looked well past the age to trade in their Brooks Brothers suits for pickleball loungewear came through the door.
“Wow!” the older one exclaimed, his eyes opening wide. “This is nice!”
Berry Bros. & Rudd’s U.S. store is located at 888 17th Street N.W. in Washington, D.C., on the southwest corner of Farragut Square and across the street from the Farragut West Metro station entrance. It’s website is us.bbr.com.
Dining and Cooking