Lou's Wine and Provisions Now (Soft) Open

In a smallish, spare room with unfinished wooden walls, a desk and a few stacks of wine boxes, Lou Amdur stands and talks about a mural he has planned for the far wall of the room. The mural will depict a flock of passenger pigeons, and it will represent one of Amdur's greatest obsessions: extinction, and the effort to curb it.

Lou's Wine and Provisions, which quietly opened in recent days selling a limited selection of wine, is still very much a work in progress. For now, there is only wine, no provisions, and only a few wines — about 25 for now. But pick up any one of them and you'll get an impassioned description from Amdur.

These descriptions often go back to that same theme: extinction. Maybe it's a wine made from a grape that had neared extinction until this one winemaker decided to revive it, or maybe it's a style of wine that has almost disappeared. For certain wine drinkers — those looking for something esoteric, those who love a wine with a great backstory, lovers of lighter, more food-friendly reds that aren't boring one-note pinot noirs, lovers of interesting slightly odd whites — this store is already a godsend.

See also: Lou Amdur to Open Lou's Wine + Provisions Next to Sqirl, Plus Top-Secret Second Location

Amdur points out the space in the back of the store where cold cases will go, where he'll stock cheeses and sardines and “everything you'll need for a picnic.” Next week he'll be getting about 20 more wines in, and over time inventory will build. Much as Amdur's neighbor Sqirl has been, Lou's will be an enterprise that unfolds before our eyes. What fun.

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