Bacchus Wine Cellar

Bacchus Wine Cellar at 1635 Wisconsin Avenue NW is a wine bar in the upper Georgetown residential section of Wisconsin, in the stretch above the Dumbarton Street intersection that has the character of a neighborhood’s evening destination rather than a tourist-facing commercial address. The wine bar format serves the Georgetown community’s appetite for a place where wine is taken seriously alongside food that complements rather than competes with it.

The Mediterranean kitchen that Bacchus maintains alongside the wine program provides the food component that makes the wine bar into a fuller dining experience rather than a drinking destination with token snacks. Mediterranean food, which draws from the shared culinary traditions of the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, produces dishes whose flavors complement wine better than most other culinary traditions: the olive oil, the seafood preparations, the grilled lamb and chicken, the vegetable preparations rooted in fresh produce, and the cheeses that the Mediterranean dairy tradition produces are all natural wine companions.

The wine selection at Bacchus, which covers the Old World regions that provide most of the serious wine conversation, is the primary reason the address has a following in Georgetown’s professional wine community. A restaurant wine list at this scale can go deep into the regions that a customer wants to explore rather than covering only the most recognizable names in each category. For the Georgetown customer who wants to try a Picpoul de Pinet or a Crozes-Hermitage from a producer they have not encountered, the Bacchus list provides the curation that makes the discovery possible.

The upper Wisconsin address, in the section above the boutique cluster and closer to Georgetown’s residential fabric, means the wine bar serves the neighborhood’s residents in the evening in a way that the more commercial addresses further down the avenue do not. For Georgetown residents who want a place to take friends for wine and a simple dinner without traveling, the Wisconsin Avenue cellar is the neighborhood address.

Hours run from 5pm Tuesday through Thursday, until midnight on Friday and Saturday, and until 10pm Sunday. The upper Wisconsin Avenue address at 1635 places Bacchus in the section of Georgetown that has the neighborhood’s residential fabric closest to the commercial street, which means the customer walking from home to the wine bar is a realistic pattern rather than an exception. For a Georgetown resident who lives in the blocks between Wisconsin and 34th or 35th Street, the Bacchus walk is a ten-minute exercise rather than a parking and transit project. This walkability gives the wine bar the neighborhood regulars that define the character of a local institution over time. The wine-focused menu that Bacchus maintains, where the food is genuinely complementary to the wine rather than the primary reason to visit, produces a different evening than a restaurant where wine is secondary to the food program. The wine cellar name reflects the establishment’s original identity as a place organized around the wine selection, and that identity persists in the way the staff discusses the list and guides customers through the regions and producers. Hours run Tuesday through Sunday from 5pm, with Friday and Saturday extending to midnight.