ACME Fine Wines starts a new chapter on Hunt Avenue
By Virginie Boone
ST. HELENA, Calif. — ACME Fine Wines has always had the inviting, intimate feel of a small wine shop that specializes in the rare and soon-to-be-discovered wines of the Napa Valley. Beyond that, is a favorite of locals and especially popular with winemakers searching for what’s new and what’s next or stocking up on hard-to-find Grower Champagne.
After 15 years in first the Pritchard Building on Adams Street and then Fulton Lane, the beloved retailer moved last month to Hunt Avenue off Main Street behind Cook restaurant to a stone-mason building ACME founder Karen Williams calls, “the gem of downtown,” like moving to the “big city.”
The space on Hunt had most recently served as an office for winemaker Celia Welch and Kathy Barbour of Barbour Vineyards, for whom Welch consults. Outfitted with an upstairs loft, the space downstairs even contains a vault, which is a pretty cool place to store wine.
What hasn’t changed is ACME’s continued focus on stocking the best cabernet sauvignon Napa Valley has to offer while serving locals with a healthy rotation of bubbles, Barolo and Burgundy, what Williams refers to as “Launches and Legends.”
“Locals come in for imports or big bottles for celebrations,” she says. “The trade come in to buy competitive set wines for tastings.”
Visitors to the valley, of course, want Napa Valley cabernet, from both legendary producers and the brand-new.
“We’re going to focus on locals first, get settled in and see what’s needed,” Williams explained. “We’re that boutique we’ve always been, but this location puts a stamp on that.”
Williams moved from Colorado to St. Helena in 1998 to work in wine, starting out as a cellar rat before moving on as a wine buyer at Tra Vigne. What she loved most about the job was launching new Napa Valley wine brands (such as Dave Phinney’s The Prisoner). ACME Fine Wines, opened in 2003, was the logical next step.
With ACME the focus is on discovering and launching inaugural releases of the finest future Napa Valley wine stars, tiny-production wines just getting started or the side projects of famous winemakers while also stocking some of the best wines of the world.
Some of her favorite current discoveries include Almacerro on Howell Mountain; Brannan Wines, a project co-founded by winemaker Seth Cripe (of Lola) honoring Calistoga history; and the first wines from the Morisoli family, longtime Rutherford grape-growers.
The wines are presented as if they’re in an art gallery, displayed on the famous wine wall, each bottle given equal space. The website is equally well-appointed, with the backstory of each wine given ample room to explain its raison d’être.
In addition to the shop, ACME offers four different wine clubs featuring its discoveries, from the Under the Radar club that works on launching brands to the Apex, which grants access to many of ACME’s most hard-to-secure allocations, including MacDonald, Harlan, Hundred Acre, Screaming Eagle and more.
Membership in any of the clubs includes unlimited complimentary in-person tastings and a chance to make further discoveries in what is called an IPO Tasting, what ACME considers a debut brand’s “initial public offering.” Non-members may book an IPO Tasting for $125.
ACME is open Monday through Friday from noon to 4 p.m. and sometimes earlier or later by chance. IPO tastings may be booked for 10:30 a.m. Monday through Friday.
Virginie Boone has written about and reviewed the wines of Napa and Sonoma for more than a decade.