Longtime East Bay wine importer opens Marin County shop

A 53-year-old East Bay importer, retailer, wholesaler and distributor of fine wine from France and Italy plans to open a store Tuesday in Marin County.

The new store, located at the Marin Country Mart shopping center in Larkspur, is Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant’s first new retail site since its Berkeley storefront opened in 1972.

“The Marin shop will have a very similar ethos to the Berkeley shop: a high-touch, friendly environment that helps our clients dive into the endless pleasures of French and Italian wine,” said President Dixon Brooke in the announcement Monday. “We’re excited to get to know our Marin neighbors and to have a new place to connect with our North Bay clientele.”

The original Kermit Lynch retail store is said to be known for its breadth of offerings, ranging from everyday bottles — $12 Tintero festive rosé — to rare collectibles like $1,000 grand cru Romanée-Saint-Vivant. Members of Kermit Lynch wine clubs will be able to pick up their packages at either store or have them shipped to their homes.

At 900 square feet, the new shop at 1003 Larkspur Landing Circle is smaller than the Berkeley location but has been designed to emphasize browsing and discovery of wines, according to the company. Kermit Lynch was named as one of Wine & Spirits magazine’s top 12 wine importers of 2023.

The design team for the new location was led by BCV Architecture + Interiors and Los Angeles–based Martha Mulholland Interior Design. Their approach “marries the beautiful and the practical,” using reclaimed limestone floors and counters from the southern Rhône to evoke the European regions where Kermit Lynch’s grape grower partners work, according to the news release.

Store hours are Sunday–Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., and Saturdays, 9 a.m.–6 p.m.

Jeff Quackenbush joined North Bay Business Journal in May 1999. He covers primarily wine, construction and real estate. Reach him at jeff@nbbj.news or 707-521-4256.