_______________________________________________________________________

West Seattle Cellars has been serving our neighborhood since 1995, when the shop opened in a little house on California, near the Morgan Street Junction.

Bear Silverstein, Tom DiStefano, and Jan Martindale bought the shop in 2000 and it has continued to grow ever since: in 2005 we expanded into a new building adjacent to the original shop. The new space has given us more room, including a second floor loft where we hold classes and special events, and which is available for rental.

Sadly, Bear suffered a series of strokes beginning in 2006, and passed away on January 14, 2010. Tom and Jan continued to run the shop, where Bear’s passion for and knowledge of wine live on until they sold the shop in 2024.

Now, Jessica DiAsio & Bryce Finck, two West Seattle locals, are continuing the journey and proudly ensuring this amazing community wine shop stays an integral part of West Seattle lives.

_________________________________________________________________

Previous Shop Updates Over Time:

Read Below to Learn More About Our Stories!

_________________________________________________________________

Exciting Shop News!

As most of our customers know, we are approaching retirement age. Over the last year we’ve given a lot of thought to how we could secure the future of West Seattle Cellars as the only full-service wine shop in West Seattle. So we are very happy to announce that, on April 1, we will pass ownership of the shop to our friends, neighbors, and club members Jessica DiAsio and Bryce Fink, who live very close to the shop. Jessica and Bryce are excited about the opportunity to serve the West Seattle community with the same high standards of selection and service that our shop has demonstrated since its founding in 1995.

We want to assure our customers that no major, immediate changes are planned. The wine tastings and wine clubs will continue in the same format. Gift certificates will continue to be honored, and all the wines that we are holding in the shop for customers will still be available. Just as our dear late partner Bear learned from Matt, the founder of the shop, and we learned from Bear, we look forward to passing on our knowledge and experience to Bryce and Jessica.

We’d like to express our deepest gratitude to all our wonderful customers, who have loyally supported us for over 24 years. We hope you’ll continue to support West Seattle Cellars as Jessica and Bryce open the next chapter in our story. Read on to hear more about them:

We’re excited to get to know you!

At the heart of every dearly-held memory is the same core ingredient: a fleeting moment that holds a lasting impact. Those fleeting moments often consist of authentic experiences that come from friends, family, travels, milestones–and if you’re like us, a commemorative glass of wine.

That’s why West Seattle Cellars holds such an important place in our lives. Because of the legacy that began with Bear and was heralded on through Tom and Jan, we found a place in the community where we were able to begin our journey of learning more about the wine we love: Italian Brunellos! What began as a hobby for us quickly turned into a passion for not only learning more about wines, but also deep-diving into Jessica’s Italian ancestry side in the process. Wine became part of our story, a topic of discovery, a connection to past heritage, a destination for Italian travels and vow renewals, and an investment into the future of the community’s wine shop.

Just as our love of wine has produced incredible moments in our lives, we know that our community has stories to share too! As we get to meet you and learn more about you, we cannot wait to hear your stories that you share with us! If you have pictures of cherished moments in your life that include wine–whether simple, normalized routines of family dinners or elaborate travels in pursuit of your wine passions, please bring them to the shop! We will be creating a community display board where members can add pictures of their lives to the walls in the shop. Afterall, it is the community’s wine shop–made up of all of our stories, beginning with our founders: Bear, Tom and Jan.

This is a community we care deeply about, one where we have proudly chosen to raise our son. We are incredibly grateful to have Tom continue to stay on with us in this next part of the journey. Know that we are committed to the authentic values that this wine shop represents: community, family, friendship, and great bottles of wine!

Jessica, Bryce & Asher

_______________________________________________________________________

West Seattle Cellars has been serving our neighborhood since 1995, when the shop opened in a little house on California, near the Morgan Street Junction.

Bear Silverstein, Tom DiStefano, and Jan Martindale bought the shop in 2000 and it has continued to grow ever since: in 2005 we expanded into a new building adjacent to the original shop. The new space has given us more room, including a second floor loft where we hold classes and special events, and which is available for rental.

Sadly, Bear suffered a series of strokes beginning in 2006, and passed away on January 14, 2010. Tom and Jan continue to run the shop, where Bear’s passion for and knowledge of wine live on.

Our goal is to provide a wide variety of quality wines, in all price ranges. We are as proud of the excellent values in our under-$10 bins (located directly under the tasting bar), as we are of our wide selection of rare and limited wines from around the world. We taste nearly every wine we bring in to ensure that it is worthy of a place on our shelves, whether it is $8 or $180.

A large portion of our stock is devoted to Northwest wines, and we carry many small, highly-allocated wines, as well as good selection of moderately priced wines from local winemakers. We also have a large selection of wines from France (especially Burgundy and the Rhône), Italy, Spain, and Germany, as well as wines from lesser known regions around the world such as Croatia, the Republic of Georgia, and Greece.

If for some reason we don’t have what you’re looking for, we’re always happy to special order any wine, provided we can get it!