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Located at 325 N. Robinson St., Secco Wine Bar is closing its doors at the end of the month. (Photo courtesy Secco Wine Bar)
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Secco Wine Bar owners and partners Julia Battaglini and Dave Martin (Photo by Kate Thompson, Palindrome Creative)
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Secco hosted a family meal before every service. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
Restaurants have a lot in common with TV series. Over the lifespan of a show, viewers become invested in its story and characters. Whether tuning in weekly or bingeing every episode in one go, fans carve out time to enjoy the special moments, to slow down and be present, and there is a degree of pride when one can say they’ve been a devotee since the beginning, listing their favorite episodes as if they were beloved children. And much like cast and crew working toward the end of the line for a production, for restaurateurs, one of the most gut-wrenching times is navigating the finale of a cherished venture. Timing is everything, and the owners of Secco Wine Bar believe the time is now.
After 12 years of serving Old World vintages and Mediterranean-style plates and steering oenophiles toward the right bottle, Secco, the cozy and transportive Fan restaurant from partners Julia Battaglini and Dave Martin, is closing its doors. April 29 will be the last day of service.
“The idea, the privilege, of closing by choice — I’ve always said there are only two ways to leave this industry: by choice or by force — while we’re healthy and in a good place is exhilarating, freeing,” says Battaglini, a firm believer that drinking the good stuff is a natural right and that gathering over food is the path to salvation.
The duo are both experts and gurus in the field of wine, with over half their lives dedicated to the grape and its accoutrements. The story of Secco, which means “dry” in Italian, began decades ago with a young and scrappy Battaglini.
After landing in Richmond following an aborted career in politics and managing the wine department at Ellwood Thompson’s — a position practically created for the wine enthusiast — she opened one of the city’s first dedicated wine shops, River City Cellars, at 28 years old.
“My Dad said, ‘If you’re going to work yourself to death, you might as well work for yourself and do it before you have too much to lose,’ ” says Battaglini, who operated River City Cellars for 14 years. “I think he thought I’d get it out of my system and go find a nice, stable government job after a year or two.”
In April 2010, she introduced Secco Wine Bar, located next door to River City Cellars, in Carytown. Six years later and after rising rent costs, she would seek a new home for Secco and was led by a trusted friend to Charlie Diradour, president at Lion's Paw Development Company, a local realty group specializing in retail and restaurants. He took her to a building at the corner of Robinson and Stuart streets, former home of the beer-soaked dive bar Buddy’s.
"She had a vision," Diradour says of Battaglini. "She has put in the time, the effort, the sweat, and is the whole work package. She doesn’t leave anything on the table."
Together Battaglini and Martin formed a faithful brigade of staff who would enthusiastically preach the gospel of Old World wines, expertly guide diners and present a service that "melts into the background" for the next decade-plus.
"Their knowledge of wine and food and their ability to choose a chef like Julie Heins and work together with that back-of-house and front-of-house symphony is what made it work," Diradour adds.
For the past seven years, the kitchen has been helmed by Heins, who showcased a thoughtful balance between simple and seasonal shared and small plates, working closely with the produce purveyors at Manakintowne Specialty Growers.
“When you can basically forget about what happens in the back of the house, and know it's taken care of, it's an incredibly comforting notion,” Martin says. And as for guiding guests to the ideal meal at Secco, he says, “Close your eyes and point.”
The same notion of "It doesn’t matter what you choose, you’re in good hands" extends to the restaurant's wine list. Pioneers on the city's wine scene — one that has witnessed recent growth with additions of grape-centric ventures from Jardin to Celladora Wines and delivery services such as RichWine — they built trust with patrons, showcasing the beauty of a hand-selected bottle paired with a complementary bite. A visit to Secco wasn't complete without checking the board, asking about the secret stash and relishing an environment that evoked an experience.
“We always stayed in our lane, always trained the staff on the product and maintained a welcoming atmosphere to help people understand the products and why we chose them,” Martin says. "Some of the best memories are getting staff involved and getting behind our ideas, menus and wine lists. Stoking their interest in what we're interested in."
Aiding in that process was Heins, who joined the Secco crew after relocating to Richmond from the West Coast.
"Secco felt like a right fit for me," she says. "You went to Secco to drink something deliciously different. ... and I feel really honored to have been at the helm [in the kitchen] for so long."
Although Battaglini’s knee-jerk reaction to anything heavy in life is to respond with a dose of sarcasm, one detects a sense of excitement and bittersweet sadness for her in this farewell. And while “bittersweet” is a cliche, Battaglini says, “it’s also the basis of all my favorite cocktails — hello, Negroni, G&T and perfect Manhattan.”
Battaglini, Martin and Secco had an effect on their patrons. There was the customer who named their dog after the restaurant, the Elbys nod for best wine program of the year and deeper dives into their offerings with classes, including those led by faithful friend and expert cheesemonger Sara Adduci. They introduced a happy hour that encouraged guests to drop their phones in a box and concentrate on conversation, plus an annual rosé crawl that began at their original location and introduced imbibers to new varieties of the pink-tinged wine.
“I know I beamed the first time one of my staff said that I’d ruined them for drinking wine anywhere else,” says Battaglini, whose Italian spirit and sass was intrinsically intertwined into every aspect of the business.
But in March 2020, along with the rest of the restaurant world, Secco closed its doors due to the pandemic, and the owners spent the next two years teetering between wanting to survive and wanting to be free.
“Show me one small-biz owner who didn’t reevaluate their entire life’s focus,” Battaglini says. “I’d joked for years that my retirement plan was to die behind the bar, but after 2020 it wasn’t funny anymore. But I’m stubborn and was determined to get through it first. Quit while you’re ahead is a strong motivator. Our thinking was, if we get through this, we’ll leave not broke or broken but with pride and enough to live on for a well-earned sabbatical.”
And while it was the pandemic that offered a glimpse into the possibilities of life without a restaurant, it was knowing they could exit and bow out with grace that told them the time was now.
Martin is finally going to restore his ’73 Bronco, and Battaglini is going to finish her book — with plenty of wine nearby. They have plans to travel “for more than two days at a time and see family for more than two hours at a time” and go to dinner on a Saturday night with friends.
The restaurant plans to hold a "yard sale" in mid-May, and its owners also have plans to return to wine retail (more details to come on both efforts).
As with the TV shows that make an impact, the moments remain, the reruns replaying as memories.
"We are part of a glorious, tenuous, fiercely loyal web of life. The list is long and storied," Battaglini says of building relationships with diners, vendors and staff. “Seriously, with all the years, and all the life moments folks have shared with us, big and small, and all the utterly ridiculous absurdity I have witnessed, it’s all a fabulous continuum of stories and hilarity and genuine love and barely quelled murderous impulses."
