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New self-serve wine bar comes to Metro

DES MOINES, Iowa — Della Viti, a self-serve wine bar, is coming to 425 East Grand Avenue in the East Village.

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“If you’re into wine or if you want to start learning about wine, it’s the perfect place,” said owner Gerald “JJ” Caligiuri.

Sips come in three sizes: tasting, partial glass or full glass. The establishment will have 10 chilled high-tech machines that hold four bottles of wine each.

Caligiuri said they will have wines from across the globe. Customers will put a prepaid smart card into the machine, grab a glass and choose how many ounces of wine they want.

Della Viti fills a historic space built in 1894 which was once known as Norden Hall.

Caligiuri first opened a location in Ames. He sold that bar in August. Rich Ketcham was a frequent visitor of Caligiuri’s Ames establishment.

“I was tired of going into bars and you ask what kinds of wines they have, and they go, ‘We’ve got light and dark,’” Ketcham said.

Ketcham is helping Caligiuri in his new venture, and both said they cannot wait to share it with the Metro.

“There are a lot of great wines out there to be sampled,” Ketcham said.

They plan to host a grand opening Monday at 2 p.m., pending approval from the Iowa Department of Inspection and Appeals.