The Wine Window Comes to Baltimore

The recently opened third location of Kneads in Cross Keys offers a little something different alongside croissants and coffee: a glass of wine. But not just any glass of wine. The tipple is delivered in a custom acrylic glass through an almost elflike, arched wooden door.

Kneads co-owner Kira Paterakis Nissley experienced the wine window concept in Italy, where there are as many as 300 around the Tuscany region. “As soon as I came across this I thought, ‘I’d love to bring this back to the States,’” she says.

Buchette di vino, as they’re known in Florence and surrounding areas, emerged in the 1500s as an easy way for wine estate owners to fill empty bottles for the thirsty masses. But they became popularized when the region was hit by plague in the 1600s, taking 12 percent of Florence’s population with it.

The wine windows allowed consumers to get their wine—believed to have medicinal properties—with minimal contact. Nissley says she hasn’t been able to find reference to any wine windows in the U.S., much less in Maryland.

Since Kneads is new construction, the wine window was built directly into the brick exterior wall of the cafe. And, thanks to an allowance for the Cross Keys neighborhood that permits outdoor alcohol consumption, patrons can enjoy their beverage while strolling around the shopping district.

To get the vino, customers simply ring the bell, place their order, and pay as the drink is passed through the window to the outside. It’s all very charming and completely plague-free.

Kneads has long been evolving. It launched from Harbor East, where all its baking still takes place. What began with baked goods grew into a cafe with three locations—and more on the way, says Nissley.

It remains to be seen if new locales will have their own wine windows. But this is a trend we are more than happy to get behind.