Dio owner Stacey Khoury-Diaz. (Photo courtesy of Dio)
By DCist Contributor Lenore T. Adkins
With vino made out of organic or biodynamically grown grapes, a new, natural wine bar hopes to shake up D.C.’s conventional wine scene.
Dio Wine Bar (904 H St. NE), named after Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and festivity, opened its doors Sept. 20 on the bustling H Street Northeast corridor. The cozy bar seats 30 people.
The natural wine bar movement that has taken hold in New York City and elsewhere has yet to catch on in D.C., which has 28-year-old Dio owner Stacey Khoury-Diaz poised to become a pioneer of sorts in the city. She learned about natural wines while earning her master’s degree in food systems at New York University — she completed her degree in December.
“It’s still a very burgeoning and young movement of wine makers and farmers but for me, I think we’re in a time where people are very conscious and sensitive to what they’re eating and putting in their bodies,” Khoury-Diaz says. “It just inherently makes sense that we should also be asking questions about what’s in our alcohol or how it’s made.”
Natural wine means different things to different people. For Khoury-Diaz, it’s wine comprised of organic or biodynamic grapes that have largely avoided pesticides and chemicals in the vineyard phase. Once the grapes reach the cellar stage, wine makers use very few additives, acids, flavors, chemicals, and colorings to turn them into wine, she says.
“Everything we have here is striving towards as pure of a process as possible,” Khoury-Diaz says. “What we really want to do is be able to offer that information to people and act like an ingredient label that doesn’t exist on the bottle.”
Prior to her time in New York City, Khoury-Diaz worked as a federal contractor focusing on international food security for six years. That job prompted her to go to school and specialize in the topic.
Dio serves up 30 natural wines that Khoury-Diaz will rotate periodically to keep things interesting. If wine isn’t your thing, the menu offers beer and cocktails. Small bites mostly made out of locally sourced ingredients round out the rest of the menu.
But wine will be the real star, as it should be. Glasses range between $12 and $18, and bottles between $40 to around $200. It will come from all over the world, including California, Virginia, France, and Slovenia.
Khoury-Diaz was born and raised in Sonoma County, which means wine has always been a part of her life. Her family even owns a small vineyard where they grow grapes to make their personal “moonshine wine,” she jokes.
Khoury-Diaz pulled from her Sonoma County roots and Mexican heritage to design Dio, giving it some personality and inspiring deep thought.
For example, a cursive quote scripted on the bathroom floor reads: “Boycott grapes.” That refers to the five-year grape strike the United Farmworkers Union and the Agriculture Workers Organizing Committee launched against California grape growers in 1965 to protect Latino and Filipino migrant farmers from exploitation.
That hits close to home for Khoury-Diaz because some of her family members were migrant workers.
Khoury-Diaz is more playful with other quotes. One reads “Lobster and shrimp,” which Drake nibbles on when he’s sipping moscato — Khoury-Diaz loves hip-hop music and that the culture popularized moscato and other alcoholic beverages.
Lastly, photographs of her family, friends and workers from her parents’ vineyard line the walls of Dio to remind her of home.
“In growing up in that area, the entire economy and culture is wine and food, so even as a kid when you’re not really thinking about wine, it’s still so much a part of everyone’s lives out there,” she says.
Dio Wine Bar is located at 904 H St NE. Hours are 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. Mondays through Wednesdays, 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Thursdays, 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Fridays, 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Saturdays and 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sundays.
