Most of the news we read about the wine market is depressing. Consumers are drinking less wine, buying less wine, and seemingly less interested in alcoholic beverages in general. The world has hit “peak wine,” according to The Economist newspaper. It’s all downhill from here. Many different causes are cited, but the bottom line is almost always the same. The rising tide that lifted wine to higher levels in the past has reversed course.

We see evidence of this trend everywhere. Everywhere, that is, except in our backyard, where wine seems to be cool and getting cooler. A puzzle! Here is our report about the unexpected rise of wine in our little neighborhood. Are there broader lessons here? Read on and make up your own mind.

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Tacoma, Washington, a wine destination? Huh? We wouldn’t have thought so, and yet …  A new wine bar, Valo, opened in our neighborhood, a block from an existing and popular wine bar, Browne Family Vineyards. Two tasting rooms/wine bars? In our little neighborhood?

We started looking around and were surprised. From Wine Economist World Headquarters, we can walk 15 minutes to those two winery tasting rooms, at least two restaurants that feature wine, and two wine-friendly supermarkets. A little further afield, within three miles of World HQ, we have several wine shops, more tasting rooms, and restaurants, and a farm store that features 3000 different wines on its shelves.

What’s going on here? Is wine cool again?

Context: The Neighborhood

Sue and I live in a neighborhood called the Proctor District (Tacoma is as much a collection of neighborhoods as it is an identifiable city). Our little shopping district was born years ago when two streetcar lines intersected at the corner of North Proctor and North 26th Streets.

The economic nexus thus created grew to include two supermarkets, two public schools, a church, a library, bowling alley, a firehouse, a post office, an historical movie theater, Saturday farmers’ market, and a collection of small shops, salons, offices, restaurants, and bakeries lining the city streets in the old way that predates strip malls. I am not sure how many places there are to buy coffee drinks in the Proctor District, but you are never far away from a caffeine fix.

The campus of the University of Puget Sound is less than a mile away and the University Washington Tacoma is not too far by bus or Uber. The population of the area has grown in the past decade through construction of several apartment buildings and a zoning policy that looks favorably on auxiliary dwelling units. Housing costs are not low in absolute terms, but look affordable compared with the Seattle area.

The domain of this report also includes a neighborhood called Old Town, which is about a mile away. It is a much smaller collection of businesses located, as the name suggests, in the historic home of Tacoma where Commencement Bay with its docks and mills met up with the railroad line.

Supermarket Wine

The first hint that wine is cool around here can be found in the two supermarkets that sit on opposite sides of Proctor Street at the entrance to the district. One is a Safeway store that fits the profile of a typical good supermarket of its type, except that is is perhaps a bit smaller than many stores today because it is constrained by the limited footprint of the original store lot.

Directly across the street is the Metropolitan Market, which featured in Chapter 3 of my Wine Wars books. It is is part of a small regional chain of upscale supermarkets of the Whole Foods/Wegmans genre but more compact than newer stores, again because the smaller scale of the original store’s footprint.

The stores are very different in terms of their scope and focus, but they both have strong wine departments and we see lots of wine going through the checkout stands. The two wine walls seemed to have evolved to complement as much as compete. The Met has a better selection of wines from smaller producers in Washington and Oregon, for example, and its range of European wines is very good, too.

Safeway features wine from larger producers from California and Washington, but with many unexpected gems scattered on the shelves, a tribute to the talented Albertson/Safeway wine team. When I sent students to Safeway to study the economic geography of the wine wall a few years ago, they found prices that ranged from about $2 per bottle equivalent to over $200 per bottle, so something for everyone.

Winery Tasting Rooms

But that’s just the beginning. The fact that our neighborhood has supermarkets that feature good wine programs is important, but not necessarily exceptional. More noteworthy is the rise of tasting rooms, wine bars, and wine shops. They provide evidence of a changing, rising wine scene.

The Browne Family Vineyards tasting room opened in late 2020 and immediately drew good crowds for flights, glasses, and bottles of Andrew Browne’s wines along with snacks and other beverages from the Browne portfolio. It is the third Browne tasting room to open after Walla Walla and Seattle. Andrew Browne (CEO of Precept Wine) was drawn to the Proctor District’s dynamic vibe. The tasting room is a very comfortable place to meet friends and enjoy wine. It has been busy enough during our recent visits that we reserved tables. Think of the Browne tasting room as “proof of concept” that wine still draws a crowd.

Now there is another winery tasting room in the Proctor District. And a brewery tap room, too. The Valo Wine tasting room opened a block from Browne last month joining Narrows Brewing taproom just a few doors down the street. Gradually, then suddenly, the opportunities to enjoy wine, beer, and other adult beverages have blossomed in the neighborhood. Is this normal?

Shops, Bars, and Restaurants

The Pacific Northwest Shop isn’t really a wine store; it features local arts, crafts, and foods. But it has long been know as a place to go to find a selection local wines, too, especially those from smaller producers.

Tacoma Wine Merchants opened its new store in Old Town in 2022, moving from a much smaller location in the Stadium neighborhood (named for Stadium High School, which you might remember from “10 Things I Hate About You”). It is an attractive wine shop with interesting wines and warm atmosphere. It hosts frequent tastings that draw a good crowd.

The Old Town wine scene gained momentum in 2024 when the Bordeaux Wine Bar opened just a block away from Tacoma Wine Merchants. It is an outpost of the Bordeaux Wine Bar in Enumclaw, Washington. It is a good place to hang out, enjoy wine and food, and take advantage of regular tastings.

There have always been restaurants with interesting wine lists in the Proctor neighborhood (and even more in the 6th Avenue district a short drive away). But things are getting even better. A restaurant called Corbeau opened in the Proctor District a little over a year ago and got attention with a long list of mainly French wines. Corbeau has billed itself as “Franco-Tacoman cuisine,” which can be translated as French cuisine and sensibility combined with Tacoma-area regional ingredients. If you are interested in wine, as we will explain next week, Corbeau takes the local scene to an unexpected new level.

Something’s Happening Here

So what’s the “so what?” here. The wine market has been in decline for most of the last five years. Wine’s tide has been going out. But our little neighborhood has seen a significant bump in wine activity. It is worth noting, celebrating, and maybe analyzing a bit.

How do these new wine establishments work and what do they have in common? Come back next week for business profiles and some thoughts, focusing on Metropolitan Market, the store that some say started the Proctor District renaissance; the Browne Family Vineyards tasting room; and Corbeau, the Franco-Tacoman restaurant.