A neighborhood wine shop, on purpose
We opened EJ's in the Historic Millwork District to do one thing: make wine and beer feel less like a purchase and more like a conversation.
How this happened
EJ's was EJ's before it was mine. EJ Dressler picked the building, picked the neighborhood, and had the whole idea worked out. He knew what Dubuque was missing, and he wasn't wrong about it.
In the spring of 2024, Darien – who used to run Wayfarer Coffee out of this same space – knew I'd been wanting my own place and called to tell me EJ was thinking about selling. A couple of days later I met EJ for the first time. I'd heard about him around town for years and never crossed paths; our first real conversation was about handing the shop over. I took it over on July 1, 2024.
I'd spent close to sixteen years in hospitality by then – most recently as marketing manager at 7 Hills Brewing, on and off for five years, and as lead bartender at the River Bowl Lounge inside the Hotel Julien. Mike Schmalz, my partner in the shop, and I had been talking about doing a project together for about five of those years. This was the first one that came with keys.
EJ stayed on as wine curator through most of 2025 and moved on to his next thing in November. My wife Riley took the curator role from there – she picks the wines for the bi-weekly menu, the club, and most of what ends up on the shelves. My son Halin is behind the bar five days a week, pouring, mixing, and answering questions including the dumb ones, which we encourage.
One room, two shifts.
We share the building with Paradigm Coffee. Keith and Josh have been friends of mine for about six years, which makes the arrangement easier than it has any right to be. Coffee in the morning, wine and beer at night, the same room and a lot of the same regulars crossing over in both directions. None of it was a strategy. It just made the space work harder.
The folks behind the counter.
Carl
Sixteen years in hospitality before this – most recently marketing at 7 Hills Brewing and lead bartender at the River Bowl Lounge inside the Hotel Julien. Day-to-day at the shop used to be all of it. Now Halin covers more of the floor so Carl can focus on events, the website, building out cocktails, and working with Riley on the wine menus. Still pours three nights a week, plus the occasional Wednesday or Thursday when something interesting's open.
Ask me about the cocktail menuRiley
The person picking the wines on the menu, on the shelves, and in the club since November 2025. Leaning into bottles from places people don't expect to taste wine from – India, Hungary, Chile – without ignoring the standards from Italy and France. The bi-weekly list is hers. So is the wine club. She's been knocking it out of the park.
Ask me about wine from somewhere you didn’t know made wineHalin
Twenty years old, five days a week behind the bar. Carl's son, Riley's stepson. Came in needing a job and stayed because it turned out more interesting than he expected. Wine he's still learning, which we think is the right pace. Cocktails and imported beer are where he's already comfortable, and where you're most likely to get a “trust me, try this” out of him.
Ask me about cocktails or whatever’s open behind the barWhy it stays EJ's.
EJ Dressler had the idea for this place before any of us did. He picked the building, picked the neighborhood, and ran the shop for a year and a half before handing it off in November 2025. He showed Carl and Riley how to buy wine – what to look for, where to look, which corners of Italy and France and Spain to pay attention to. That foundation is still on every shelf in here.
A handful of opinions we lean on.
Pretension is the enemy
If a wine needs forty-five minutes of explanation before the first sip, we're doing it wrong. We love the nerdy stuff – we just lead with what it tastes like, not where it's from.
A good bottle should expand the map
Most people walk in already knowing what they like. Our job is to nudge that. A varietal you haven't tried, a country you didn't know made wine, a beer recipe that's been brewed the same way for a hundred years. The shelves rotate. The bi-weekly menu rotates. That's not by accident.
Questions before recommendations
We don't guess. We ask. What you usually drink, what you didn't like last time, what you're eating tonight, what mood you're in. Five questions later, we hand you something. It's the difference between a recommendation and a guess dressed up as one.
The room matters
A wine tastes different in a tasting room with a friend than it does alone in a kitchen. That's not mystical – it's just true. It's why we built a tasting room and not a liquor store.
We have a great selection of wine, imported beer, craft cocktails
Wine
The shelves lean on the U.S., France, and Italy, because that's where most of the world's good wine still comes from. But we try to carry bottles from those countries that you won't find anywhere else in Dubuque, or within a thirty-mile radius of it.
Beyond the big three, expect bottles from places people don't always think to look – India, Hungary, Chile, Spain, the Balkans, and wherever else Riley has been hunting that month. The list changes every two weeks. It's short on purpose: eight wines, four categories, written to be read in one sitting.
Beer
One hundred percent imported. No U.S. beer on the shelf. Belgian abbeys, German lagers, English ales, and a handful of recipes that have been brewed the same way for fifty or a hundred years. There's plenty of good American craft in this town – we're just not the ones selling it to you.
Cocktails
A new menu every season. Carl writes it. The non-negotiables: an old-fashioned riff, an espresso martini riff, a mule riff, and a spritz riff – with originals built around whatever's in season around them. The rule on the build is balance. Nothing on the list should fight you.
What you won't find
The supermarket-shelf usual suspects. The gas-station-cooler regulars. American macro beer. We're not mad at any of it – it's just not what we're here for.
The wine menu changes every two weeks. The cocktail menu changes every three months.
Events come and go. A few ways to not miss the things you'd want to know about.
Monthly pickup, curated by Riley.
Members get 15% off additional bottles on pickup day.
Join the Wine Club Beer ClubSame idea, beer side.
Six-month memberships, refreshed monthly.
Join the Beer Club Bi-weekly menu dropsEight new wines every two weeks.
Announced by email and on socials.
See current menu EventsTastings, pairings, the occasional cookie-and-wine night.
They cap small and tend to sell out – subscribers get early access.
See upcoming eventsBuilt for windows. Now full of wine.
955 Washington was built between 1880 and 1906 as the main plant of the Carr, Adams & Collier Company – known then and now around Dubuque as CARADCO. At its peak, the factory was one of the largest window and door manufacturers in the country. Over its run it turned out something like 30 million doors and 55 million windows, and CARADCO products ended up in the White House, West Point, Northwestern, and the University of Iowa, among a lot of other places less famous but no less particular about their joinery.
The factory closed decades ago and the building sat mostly empty for a long stretch. In 2012, Gronen Properties brought it back as the Schmid Innovation Center / CARADCO Lofts – apartments on the upper floors, commercial space on the ground. The exposed brick wasn't a design choice; it's what was always there. The wood beams overhead are originals.
We're on the ground floor. So is Brazen Open Kitchen, two doors down. So is Zazou's Bridal Boutique, who's been here since the 2013 reopening. Paradigm Coffee shares our space directly – coffee in the morning, wine and beer at night, same room.
Step outside and the neighborhood does the rest. 7 Hills Brewing is on the next block. Backpocket sits in the Novelty Iron Works building. The Millwork District turns over with events most weekends. We picked this building. EJ picked it first.
Kind words from the Millwork.
The service was great! We were briefed on the wine types, and they were very patient with us as we ordered. They have a Girl Scout cookie flight coming soon (for a limited time), so be sure to check it out if you can!Grace · Google · 2 months ago
Great spot for wines and beers from all over the world. The wine flights are a fantastic way to explore new regions and styles, and the cocktails are outstanding—creative and different from the usual offerings. Prices…Jonathan Haubenstricker · Google · 4 months ago
We love Ej’s! One of our favorite spots to go before dinner or just to hang and have a good drink. Carl is so knowledgeable and we always learn something every time we go in. HIGHLY recommend!Martha Levy · Google · 5 months ago
The shelves don't fill themselves.
The wines and beers in here come through a small list of distributors and importers we trust to point us at things worth pouring – including bottles you'd be hard-pressed to find on another shelf in the area.
Okoboji WinesMeadowlark ProvisionsDimitri Wines & SpiritsRuby Fine WinesDoll DistributingBest Cases Wine
955 Washington St.
Dubuque, Iowa 52001(563) 239-9080
cheers@ejswineshop.com
Come drink with us
Stop by during hours, book a tasting, or join the club. Or just say hi – we're here.