Portalis Turns 20!

AND WE’RE CELEBRATING.

Hard to believe, but we opened on August 9, 2003, at 5310 Ballard Avenue (current home of Shiku Sushi) as Portalis Wine Shop + Wine Bar. On January 1, 2006, we rolled our bar a block down Ballard Avenue (literally) to our second location (next to Second Ascent, one down from the Tractor Tavern). In 2015, we relocated to our current spot (with parking!), and it is from here that we will celebrate 20 years in Ballard this month.

We’ve had a lot of fun over the last months gathering milestones & memories to share. Here are a few:

---

Portalis Wine Shop + Wine Bar

THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

Anyone remember when parking was easy on Ballard Avenue? In 2003, Ballard Bookcase and Madame K’s were on our block, as was Ernie’s motorcycle & metalworks shop (which became Bastille, then Sabine Café) with “The Pisser” in the window, a life-size metal figure of a man ready for you to hook up your hose so he could water your lawn as he did his business! The Wilson Ford building was next to us, empty and dilapidated (as were many buildings on the street). Ballard Hardware was in its original location, and we could go on!

5310 BALLARD AVE.

We opened in August of 2003 and were joined by Mayor Nichols (pictured below) to kick off the festivities! Anyone remember our Wilson Ford & Yick Kee Laundry signs (pictured above)… old street signs from long-gone Ballard businesses that we found dumped in the back of our building and used as the coolest decoration ever!

Our first sale was L’Ecole Schoolhouse Red (now called Frenchtown Red) to Bruce Barnum (future co-owner of our second space), the second sale was French rosé to Marisa Arbanas who had her wedding toast in our current location 15 years later, and our third sale (pictured above) was to Kenny Wilson, future husband of Gina, our first bar manager (pictured above left with Dennis who was on the first server team) assembling shelves prior to opening.

The craziest thing that happened at this location was a Burgundy preview tasting, where in a newbie-attempt to drum up business, we sent out thousands of postcards to local residents inviting them to join us — free of charge — to meet Amaury Devillard (owner) & Nadine Gublin (winemaker) of Antonin Rodet & Domaine Jacques Prieur and taste 8 new whites (including Savigny 1er Cru, Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru, etc.) and 8 new reds (Santenay 1er Cru Clos Rousseau, Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru, and so on). Oh, and the event was catered by The City Catering Company, all courtesy of Jens’ contact with Adam Sager, owner of Winesellers Ltd. We got hammered. The place was packed. The line to get in stretched for blocks down the street. Julie (very pregnant) had to get up on a chair and shout out updates to the crowd who was waiting for the winemakers to arrive from a delayed flight. It was mayhem. And so fun. The winemakers finally showed up (you should have seen their faces) and killed it. They were lovely, and they poured and talked until they keeled over. It was epic, the craziest tasting ever, and sadly, it was pre-smart phone, so we don’t have any photos.

Other notable events were a K Vintners release party with Charles Smith entertaining the crowd (pictured above in 2012 with Jens at ProWein in Germany), a Two Hands tasting with co-founder Richard Mintz at a time that Australian Shiraz could not have been hotter, and a Turley wine dinner that began our long love affair with those wines.

Sixteen months later (December 2014), we closed our doors (Jens & Julie above at the closing party) and moved down the street to:

---

5205 BALLARD AVE.

Our second location, which we opened in February 2006, was a bigger, better version of the first. We got to workout the kinks, and we knew what we were doing this time around. The bar was bigger (though still intimate), the kitchen was still small in size, but it was set up to crank out more food than the first location (more on that below), and we had a tasting room in the back that supported a non-stop string of visiting winemakers, importers, beer-brewers, wine classes, private parties & so on:

Visiting producers in order from upper left corner:

Stone Brewing (Escondido, California)•ANIMALE (Ballard), Nottola (Tuscany)•Tenuta Vitanza (Tuscany)•Lobo Hills (Washington)•makers of Swiss cheeses•Weingut Castelfeder (Alto Adige, Italy)•Dr. Ernst Loosen (Mosel, Germany)•Chloe Imports (Seattle)•Efeste (Washington)•Rojo Exporta (Spain)•Andrew Will (Washington)•Vinum Imports (Seattle)•Pelassa (Piedmont, Italy)•Mark Ryan (Washington)•Port wines (Douro Valley)•Waters Winery (Washington)•Schoenheitz (Alsace)•Neil Ellis (Stellenbosch, South Africa)•Wine Australia•Tranche Cellars (Walla Walla)•Bodegas Altanza (Rioja, Spain)•Cor Cellars (Washington)•Structure Cellars (Washington)•Isola Augusta (Friuli, Italy)•Sparkman Cellars (Washington)•Francois Blachon Exports (France)•Sherry importer (California)•Domaine Serene (Willamette Valley, Oregon)•Pares Balta (Portugal)•Boedecker Cellars (Willamette Valley, Oregon)•Planeta (Sicily, Italy)

Back in the day, we had a much bigger team than we do today. Lucky for us, turnover was low. In the 12 years of the Portalis Wine Bar, we had 2 chefs. (2 chefs!!) Our first chef was Amanda (above left), who was with us from the original location through summer 2007. She was amazing. Kept everything simple, fresh & good. Perfect for wine pairing.

Chef Tracey (above right) entered the scene in fall of 2007 and totally upped the ante. She was a tiny woman (had to stand on a step-stool to see in the soup pot), but she was a powerhouse in the kitchen. She went about cranking out amazing dish after amazing dish — from $5 happy hour small plates to full-on dinner menus — night after night for more than 7 years. She was creative, hard-working and her food was absolutely stellar. Everyday, our regulars would poke their heads into the kitchen to greet Chef Tracey and see what she was preparing that given day. We are indebted to her good work. She was with us until we closed the wine bar in December 2014.

We also owe a debt of gratitude to Gina. She was with us from the staining of the shelves in 2003 through spring of 2013 — 10 years! She was a pro. She worked harder than anyone else, earning her the respect of her servers. She was organized, gracious and more than anything, she loved wine with all her heart. Today? She’s living in Piedmont, renovating an old farmhouse with her architect husband, Kenny, living the life. Check out what she’s doing via Premier Vineyard Tours>

Here was our team of servers, cooks and dishwashers through the years. They were awesome:

Can’t let it go without paying tribute to the art. We hosted local artists every two months during the life of the wine bar. Absolutely loved the art!

---

J. STRECKER SELECTIONS

OUR DIRECT IMPORT BUSINESS.

In 2010, we were the first business in Washington State to be awarded a permit to import wine as a “tied house” meaning we had a financial interest in a wholesale and a retail business. It was a big deal at the time. Jens headed to Europe to select wines for the Seattle market, and we built up a team of sales reps and a delivery squad to make it happen. The business took off. Since our first container arrived in 2011, we have imported more than half a million bottles of wine to the Seattle market.

Featured above are some of the many producers & suppliers we worked with over the years:

Domaine Jacky Marteau (Loire Valley) • Château des Roques (Vacqueyras, France)•Bodegas Lange (Calatayud, Spain)•Virna Borgogno (Piedmont, Italy)•Château des Eyssards (Bergerac, France)•Weingut Castelfeder (Alto Adige, Italy)• Domaines des Pères de l’Eglise (Châteauneuf-du-Pape, France)•Pelassa (Piedmont, Italy)•Alves de Sousa (Douro Valley, Portugal•Domaine Chevallier (Chablis, France)• Franchetto (Veneto, Italy)•Guido Vada (Piedmont, Italy)•Colle Petrito (Puglia, Italy)•Luca Ferraris (Piedmont, Italy)•Fontanassa (Gavi, Italy)•La Farra (Veneto, Italy)•Weingut Prechtl (Weinviertel, Austria)•Château Tourril (Minervois, France)•Rojo Exporta (Spain)•Domaine de Frégate (Bandol, France)•Dal Cero (Veneto & Tuscany, Italy)•Château du Grand Caumont (Corbières, France)•Berticot (South West France)•Clerget (Burgundy, France)

We were delighted with the success of this business, and as we neared the end of our Ballard Ave lease, we decided to focus on wine — retail & wholesale (closing the wine bar) — moving to a new Ballard location for the shop, closer to our Ballard base and with the #1 requirement: parking!

---

Portalis Wine Shop

6754 15TH AVE NW.

We opened our current shop in February 2015 not really knowing what to expect. Ballard Avenue had been good to us. What would happen when we moved our location? Would our customer base move with us?

You did, and we flourished in this new location. Parking was huge as we had started to struggle with this problem on Ballard Ave. People will happily walk 5 blocks to a restaurant, but not to buy a case of wine! Problem solved.

Plus, it’s a great little neighborhood street. We have Delancey Pizza & Essex, The Fat Hen, Editor Consignment, Rosellini’s Bakery, The Pantry and more. People walk the street with children and dogs from early until late. What we quickly learned is that for our Ballard clientele, our new location is handier than the grocery store, and this was good for business!

We missed the wine bar, but we could now focus on our retail wine business and our import business and still be home for dinner with our kids. It was a good trade for our family.

Again, we lucked into wonderful employees at the new shop, from RhiAnnon to Jaci, Amy and Jon, Rachel (who stuck it out with us through Covid) and now Kyle & Abby, our current team.

The pandemic and the ensuing shutdown was devastating in so many ways, but for us there was a silver lining. From the get-go, wine retail was included as an ‘essential business’, and while so many business and livelihoods were disrupted, we had never been busier. You all were stuck at home with nothing to do — no restaurants, no events. You just had to hunker down in isolation and cook and drink wine… which you did, and you kindly spread the word to your neighbors who were bored and looking for something to do, too!

Our goal was clear — stay healthy and ride the wave! Do you remember disinfecting your groceries? Calling in your orders and driving by for us to run the wine to your trunk? A limit of 5 people in the shop at a time? (You all waited — with good cheer — outside, in the cold, on December 24, 2020, for your chance to come in and get your special wines to celebrate with no one but your pod!)

Add in that international shipping was turned completely upside down because of the pandemic (plus a little accident in the Suez Canal), and we had 100% import tariffs for awhile there on wine. It was crazy-town, but we made it. We grew our base during this period substantially, and as we celebrate our 20th anniversary, our business is as big and healthy as it has ever been.

---

That’s us the day we opened and again 20 years later!

Thank you to all of our customers — long-timers & new-comers alike — and thank you to Ballard, the neighborhood that made this wonderful, little business possible! We are deeply grateful.

We’ll be celebrating with All Time Favorites, a series of August tastings (schedule>) featuring wines from around the world. As well, we’ll be posting memories & milestones throughout the month.

Cheers everyone! Hope to see you soon…

Julie & Jens, co-owners
Portalis Wine Shop & J. Strecker Selections