Owner Ceri Smith, who started Biondivino in San Francisco in 2006, said her lease expired for the space in the back of the El Camino Real shopping center. She considered renewing the lease but decided against it given the space lacks the license to offer wine tastings.
"We really would like to have the opportunity for people to be able to explore the wines also through winemaker tastings, since many people are unfamiliar to the different Italian regions, grape varieties, natural wine, etc. -- even for the die-hard Italophile -- and without having a tasting license there, we had to pull a catering permit each time to have a tasting," Smith wrote in an email. "With the recent vacancies in the center it was a hard choice but made more sense to concentrate on our SF shop for now."
Biondivino owner Ceri Smith in her now-closed Palo Alto wine shop. Photo by Veronica Weber.
Biondivino specialized in small producers from all 20 wine-growing regions of Italy.
Local customers can still visit the San Francisco shop at 1415 Green St. or purchase wine through Biondivino's website and/or wine club.
