Amitie is the speakeasy-style wine bar Tacoma needs
After running two wine-focused outfits over two decades, Kris Blondin returns to downtown Tacoma with Amitie Wine Co., a shop that doubles as a tasting room with members-only perks.
“I don’t want to make wine uppity and for the elite,” said Blondin, who operated Stink from 2012 to 2018 and Vin Grotto, now home to The Office, in the mid-2000s. “I want people to understand it. I want people to appreciate it.”
The name (pronounced am-eh-tee), from the French word for friendship, honors her friendship with business partner Jack Noble. The two originally opened Stink together.
Tucked away inside 1130 Broadway St., in the same building as Fujiya Japanese Restaurant, Amitie opened quietly in February after about a year of planning. The mission: Offer Tacoma a curated selection of high-quality wines for any budget, a casual wine bar setting to drink bottles on-site, and a wine club that provides monthly bottles and eventually special events.
The front room offers a small seating area and bar where visitors can taste what Blondin and Noble are crushing on that day, or they can buy one of their carefully curated bottles at retail price and pay a $10 corkage fee to drink it on-site. Down a short hallway to the back room is the shop itself. Wine club members will have access to the seating area in this intimate space, where they can enjoy their wine at no extra charge.
“You can come in here and buy a really good bottle of wine for $11, or you can buy one for $75,” Noble told The News Tribune in March.
Eventually, the duo hopes to provide members not only a space to drink but also access limited edition wines, invitations to certain tastings and special events like a paella pop-up dinner.
Though the momentum of the first few weeks has been dampened by the coronavirus, business has remained steady. It turns out that neither pandemics nor recessions hamper alcohol sales: Americans bought more than 20 percent more booze in the middle weeks of March than they did in 2019, according to Nielsen, as stay-at-home orders rippled across the country.
Though customers cannot drink at Amitie right now, they continue to buy wine during the shop’s truncated hours — Friday and Saturday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. — and sign up for memberships.
About half of shoppers have become members, according to Blondin, most in the Everyday Drinking Series. For $25 to $35, members in this entry-level membership receive two new bottles every month. The Import Series features wines from around the world for $35 to $50 a month, the PNW focuses on regional vineyards for $50 to $75, and the Collectible encourages some storage for $75 to $100.
A quarterly California subscription highlights one of America’s best-known wine-making regions, including Paso Robles, Napa and Sonoma Valley.
Whether you subscribe or just drop in, Blondin and Noble will strive to “make wines very approachable to people who are afraid to go into a shop and ask questions.”
“I want them to ask questions,” said Blondin. If a customer says, “I don’t know the difference between a Riesling and a Chardonnay. Can you explain that to me?” Without skipping a beat, she’ll respond, “Heck yeah I can!”
Next thing you know, she might pop open a bottle of both and have you compare two wines side by side.
A SLICE OF TACOMA WINE HISTORY
Amitie joins a small circle of wine shops in Tacoma, including Tacoma Wine Merchants in Stadium, Black Door Wine in Hilltop and Wildside Wine in the West End.
Blondin, born and raised in Tacoma, opened her first downtown wine bar in 2003 in the space now occupied by The Office. Vin Grotto served filet and ahi tuna at a time when wine bars were hardly recognized as a concept in the U.S. Consider that Pacific Grill, now a stalwart of the area’s resurgence, opened a couple of years later.
“For a tiny, tiny kitchen, we put out a lot of food,” she recalled.
It was there that she met Noble, who lived within walking distance. After moving from Idaho, where he ran a gourmet foods, wine and gift store, he — a fellow wine lover — and Blondin “became fast friends.”
Before Vin Grotto, she worked in the kitchen at Over the Moon Cafe, where Deanna Bender continues to serve Tacoma an intimate dining experience from Opera Alley. While writing about grocery, food and drink for local publications, including The Weekly Volcano and Tacoma Weekly, Blondin nurtured her passion for and knowledge of wine, selling the restaurant to work for a wholesaler.
Noble, meanwhile, worked for a couple of notable regional companies before he teamed up with Blondin to open Stink in 2012. She bought out his shares before selling that shop in 2018.
Now that they are both in their 50s, they were ready for the next step, which blossomed into Amitie.
“It just seemed like the natural thing to do, and that really is wine and food and everything in between — the things we are both passionate about,” said Noble.
He had always been enamored of Blondin’s ability to curate great wines and sell them at fair prices.
They each bring a different palate to this new venture: Noble prefers New World wine — bottles from Spain and Portugal, South Africa, South America, Australia, New Zealand and, yes, the U.S. Generally, these grapes are grown in warmer climates, yielding bolder wines dense with notes of fruit and oak.
Blondin, on the other hand, prefers drier, lighter Old World styles, which broadly refers to wines from traditional growing regions in Europe, where certain varietals have been cultivated for centuries.
“We both cross over into each other’s territories,” said Noble. “We’re able to learn from each other. It is reflected in our portfolio.”
They both try to surprise one another, and as younger vintners hone their skills, including in the biodynamic and natural wine movements, surprises abound.
Take, for instance, a 2019 Palencia Albariño from Washington state. Blondin was skeptical but “pleasantly surprised” by the minerality. Noble described the rocky growing region and salty air as the “perfect growing conditions for medium-heritage grapes.”
These are just a few of the tidbits one can learn while spending some time at Amitie Wine. Perhaps you think you dislike Chardonnay because you’ve only ever had bold California versions, aged in oak. A French white from Burgundy might change your mind.
Maybe your significant other wants to learn more about wine, but you’d rather drink a Rainier. At Amitie, that’s embraced.
“Our approach is not snobby at all,” said Blondin. “I could talk about it all day long — probably too long.”
Added Noble, “It feels super comfortable.”
Due to COVID-19, the shop has cut back its hours, but normally it will be open Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. They have built an online shop to make curbside delivery possible, and Blondin will deliver wine within Tacoma city limits Monday to Friday. Got questions? Call her: her easygoing, generous spirit will consult with you over the phone.
Very soon, they hope to run a virtual video tasting of bottles that customers can pick up at the shop, then taste at home and discuss with others online.
“This is the time that people are looking for those experiences that they miss,” said Blondin.
Looking forward, they also plan to debut a podcast, where they will talk about wine, food and everything in between. The show will incorporate field visits to vineyards in the Pacific Northwest and plenty of guest speakers.
This regional connection also pays dividends in the form of exclusives. Right now, Amitie is the only shop in the South Sound (and one of only three in the greater Puget Sound region) to carry wines from Idaho’s Clearwater Canyon Cellars, named the Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year by Wine Press Northwest.
Amitie Wine Co.
▪ 1130 Broadway St., Tacoma, 253-341-5298, amitiewine.com
▪ Details: currently open Friday to Saturday, 3-6 p.m.; order ahead for pickup, or stop by to shop in-person
▪ Wine Club: starts at about $25 a month, up to $100, depending on the series
▪ Tastings: check the shop’s website and social media for upcoming virtual events
For more food and drink stories with the tastemakers of the South Sound, sign up for TNT Diner’s weekly newsletter, Where to Eat, delivered to your inbox every Thursday.
This story was originally published May 5, 2020 at 5:00 AM.