Two New Stores Increase Local Wine, Beer Selection

Bethesda is home to a host of wine and beer stores, but the operators of two new businesses say there’s still a demand.

Geste Wine and Food, which also serves Italian fare mostly for carry-out customers, has seen 70 to 80 daily lunch customers and has sold 20 to 25 cases of wine each week since its mid-February opening, said owner Ajay Aggarwal.

“If you get good wine, there’s always a market,” Aggarwal said.

Geste, a smaller spin-off of Aggarwal’s Pasta Nostra in Laurel, offers 165 types of wine — priced from $7 to $35 — and about 50 beers in addition to pizzas, calzones and salads.“I try not to eat out,” said John Freimuth, of Cleveland Park, “but now that this is here, I eat out a lot.”

Freimuth, who replaced weekly trips to Chipotle Mexican Grill with visits to Geste, said the number of people who work in offices and live in apartments nearby creates a large market for a business that serves what Aggarwal describes as a “hot, fresh and good” lunch.

With some staff transplanted from Pasta Nostra, Aggarwal said Geste recreates the original restaurant’s homemade dough and sauce while getting customers their lunches in 10-15 minutes.

During lunch and dinner, when business is slower, customers can purchase a bottle of wine and drink it in the restaurant with their meal, Aggarwal said.

One online reviewer called Geste “a delicious and inexpensive restaurant/wine shop.”

“My officemates and I cannot stop singing the praises of this new joint right across from our building,” reads the review on Yelp. “The people working here are so friendly and accommodating.”

Less than a mile away, Capital Beer & Wine is scheduled to open March 12 with a selection of about 180 wines and 120 beers, said manager Justin McInerny.

Capital Beer & Wine will market itself to wine and beer enthusiasts with a focus on products such as boutique wines — which will start at $9 per bottle — and craft beers.

“There’s a lot of beer and wine stores,” McInerny said. “We’re not going to distinguish ourselves with Bud Light.”

The store will rely partially on online promotion via a Twitter feed, an e-mailed newsletter and a real-time inventory listed on its website.

Because businesses that want to sell wine must purchase bottles from the county, which buys from distributors, some people think buying wine in Montgomery County means higher prices and a smaller selection, McInerny said.

“We’re trying to dispel a lot of myths,” he said.