D.C.’s Flight Wine Bar Is Returning as a Wine Shop in Arlington

Kabir Amir and Swati Bose are proving the adage that when one door closes, another opens. In 2014, the husband-and-wife team realized their dream, leaving jobs in policy and finance to open Flight Wine Bar in D.C.’s Penn Quarter neighborhood. 

Hailed for its reasonably priced wines sourced from all over the world, the place was nominated in 2020 and 2023 for a James Beard Foundation award for Outstanding Wine Program. But on the eve of Flight’s 10th anniversary in 2024, the couple made the painful decision to not renew their lease. 

“We didn’t realize the impact Covid would have on the neighborhood,” says Bose. “The four years that followed were excruciating.”

Now the good news: The duo is on track to resurrect their business in January as a boutique wine shop inside The Grace, a new mixed-use development by JBG Smith near Amazon’s HQ2 in National Landing. 

Flight Wine Shop will highlight around 300 selections of smaller production, minimal intervention (organic, sustainable) wines, with roughly 70% from Old World producers and 30% from the New World. Most bottles will be priced between $15 and $30, though the offerings will also include some higher-end wines from regions such as Bordeaux and Champagne. 

“There won’t be any on-site consumption other than at tastings to be held at one long table in the middle of the space,” Bose says. 

The 2,175-square-foot shop will also sell wine-friendly takeaway foods such as cheese, charcuterie, tapenade and tinned fish. 

“The staff will be well-versed and engage with our customers and we’ll have meet-and-greets with winemakers,” she adds. “That’s the hospitality part of the business that Kabir and I love so much.”