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 opened in 2024in a building at 955 Washington Street that had spent most of the twentieth century as a window-sash factory, then a print shop, then quietly empty. The exposed brick wasn't a design choice — it was what was left when we pulled the drywall down. The wood beams overhead are the originals. We sanded them; we didn't stain them.
The idea on day one was to stock the kind of wine you couldn't get from a grocery shelf, and then stand next to it and explain what it tasted like. That's still the idea.
What's changed is the addition of a tasting room, a beer program, and a growing list of regulars who turned a quiet weeknight into something it wasn't supposed to be. There's a standing rule that nobody who works here is allowed to start a sentence with “well, technically.”
Somebody brought a guitar in once, around a month after we opened. Nobody asked, and we didn't stop it. That's sort of the tone of the place.
What we believe about wine
A handful of opinions we lean on.
$25 bottles should surprise you
Most of the good stuff lives between $15 and $40. If you keep reaching for the same bottle every week, we'll help you take one step sideways — something similar but different, from somewhere you haven't tried.
Pretension is the enemy
If a wine needs 45 minutes of explanation before the first sip, we're doing it wrong. We love the nerdy stuff — but we'll lead with what it tastes like, not what region it's from.
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. That's why we built a tasting room.
What's on the shelf
On any given afternoon we carry around 300 wines and 80 beers. The wine list leans toward small-production European — a lot of Italy, a fair amount of France, a growing Iberian and Balkan section, and a small but loud natural-wine shelf toward the back.
The beer program is where we travel: Belgian ales, German lagers, English cask-style, plus a rotating stack of Iowa and upper-Midwest craft from breweries that deserve the shelf space. Local when it's good, imported when the import's better.
What you won'tfind here: the supermarket-shelf usual suspects. We're not mad at them — we just don't carry them. Our buying calls happen at the counter. If a customer asks for something three times, it earns a spot on the shelf.
Who you'll meet
The Owner
Opened EJ's in 2024 with a simple idea: stock the kind of wine you can't get from a grocery shelf and stand next to it to explain why it tastes the way it does. Partial to producers we've met in person.
Ask me about Old World redsThe Beer Buyer
Pulls between Belgian abbeys and Iowa craft depending on mood and weather. If you've ever been handed a beer here and told 'trust me' — that was probably them.
Ask me about Sour-forward BelgiansThe Floor Pour
Runs Friday and Saturday tastings, knows what you drank last time, and is the most likely member of the team to find you a bottle under $20 that punches three divisions up.
Ask me about Beaujolais under $20The building
955 Washington was built in the late 1800s, when the Millwork District was still humming with window-sash and door factories. The brick is from the original facade; the beams overhead were milled on-site, probably within a block of where they now sit. We kept as much of the bones as the fire marshal would allow.
From inside, the tasting counter faces the late-afternoon light coming in across the bottles. The front windows look out onto Washington Street and, on a good weekend, onto whatever's happening in the neighborhood. We picked this corner on purpose.
Spotted
Places we've been mentioned. (Sample quotes — replace with real ones.)
A neighborhood wine shop on purpose — the kind of place that makes you want to stay for a second pour.Local press · sample quote
They pulled three bottles off the shelf without asking what I usually drink, and they were right on all three.Sample customer review
One of the best small wine shops in the corridor. Stop arguing, just go.Sample regional roundup
Come by
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.