When Centrolina alum Angie Duran first saw the sunny outdoor patio space at 2500 Penn, a recently rebranded extended stay hotel complex, she immediately craved a glass of wine.

Duran, who was asked by building manager Placemakr (formerly WhyHotel) to operate the space, said she wanted to craft an environment that celebrated nice weather and enjoying life. While the wine garden may be more accessible to the extended-stay residents at the complex, since its entrance is through the lobby, the venue welcomes anyone looking for a glass of wine. On a recent Thursday night, a week after opening day, patrons seemed to be a healthy mix of 2500 Penn denizens and visitors.

Creating the relaxing atmosphere involved draping greenery across the walls that surround the outdoor patio, installing dim lighting and retro decor in the indoor bar area, and placing high-top seating on barrel tabletops to encourage guests to step outside of the busy city and relax without a plan. Rugs of different colors and textures, as well as potted plants and mismatched chairs, complete the look.

Her second thought, upon seeing the patio space? Bringing on sommelier Erika Parjus, who she briefly worked with at Centrolina, Chef Amy Brandwein’s CityCenterDC osteria dedicated to seasonal Italian cooking. Duran liked Parjus’s approach to wine: finding hidden gems and crafting accessible menus.

Wine gardens have been all the rage lately, and Parjus’s approachable concept for the Bottles menu includes descriptive, casual blurbs for each wine (which she dubs “serious juice”). This includes an orange wine “for all the ‘natty wine’ lovers,” a white wine made by Filipa Pato who she describes as “THAT bish,” and a French red that “is not your grandma’s Bordeaux, ok.”

While Bottles Wine Garden aims to be a welcoming space, Parjus said “our wine list is designed to push people in [their] boundaries” — don’t expect to come in and just ask for a glass of Sauvignon blanc. Parjus and her team will ask questions to determine if you like the grape itself or the wines’ crisp, refreshing characteristics, and then make suggestions to help expand your horizons.

Each selection on the wine list meets one or more of five core criteria: made by a female winemaker or owner, organic, biodynamic, minimal intervention, and sustainable.

Parjus chose to include a bottle of Domaine de la Bergerie Crémant de Loire Brut from the Loire Valley in France, for example, not only because of its taste and quality, but also because the producers grow the grapes organically to protect the land.

Focusing on female-led ventures is a boundary-pushing decision in an industry where male winemakers far outnumber women. The fact that they’re being served at a female-led wine bar just pushes that boundary further, Parjus said.

Parjus said she tried to appeal to all kinds of tastes and price points while researching wine from various regions⁠ — the six wines by-the-glass are under $15 and the average bottle price (39 are currently offered) is just over $67. Parjus said that while she was developing the list a friend said that the real hurdle was finding great, mind-blowing wine for under $100 — a challenge that’s become a guiding principle at Bottles.

The world of wine can be a judgmental place, said Parjus, especially for young people who are still determining their preferences. Parjus hopes that Bottles can be a safe space for them to gain confidence about wine.

Parjus’ love for vino grew when, after working in the restaurant industry for five years (starting at a tiny sandwich shop in Florida), she demanded to be put behind the bar as soon as she turned 21. She’s since worked at several institutions in the D.C. restaurant scene, such as Centrolina, Slate Wine Bar, RPM Italian, and Zaytinya. Now, she’s a certified sommelier, managing private wine cellars during the day, and taking on making the wine industry younger and more accessible at Bottles as a side gig.

“We want to demystify wine in a way and make it more approachable for everybody,” Duran said. “We want to be a place where, if you are just starting to learn about wine or it may have been a little scary to jump into the wine world, we want to open the door so it feels easy.”

Duran says they may soon offer limited reservations. For now, she wants people from D.C., Maryland, and Virginia to treat the spot like a casual hangout for happy hours, stopping by after work, or before heading home.

When Parjus and Duran were creating a food menu to pair with the wines, the usuals came up: olives, cheese, meats, crackers, and hummus. But they also wanted to include items that could accommodate many dietary restrictions, Parjus said, since her fiancée is vegan and Duran eats gluten-free.

Some of these more composed plates include flatbreads with prosciutto and figs or burrata and tomato, and housemade potato chips topped with thin-sliced prosciutto and parmesan. Prices of the share plates range from $14 to $22. (Disclosure: Parjus gifted some of the snacks, as well as a bottle of the aforementioned Domaine de la Bergerie, to this writer.)

For those that don’t want wine, there are beers on tap. So far, the taps offer local favorites: Heavy Seas Brewing Company’s Tropicannon IPA from Maryland and Devil’s Backbone’s Vienna Lager. There are also spirits available for cocktails. In the future, expect more wine tasting events, plus special by-the-glass pours of normally bottle-only wines.

Bottles Wine Garden is located inside the 2500 Penn extended-stay hotel at 2500 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. It’s open 5:00 p.m. to midnight, Wednesday through Sunday.