The Good Table | written by: PAMELA DEY VOSSLER | photos by: BAMBI RIEGEL | riegelpictureworks.com
from left: Town Cellar General Manager Michelle DeWyngaert and Owner Lauren Hokin
A stop at The Town Cellar at 1089 Boston Post Road in the middle of Darien is a beyond-the-postcard trip through some of the best local vineyards around the world, a deep dive into those off-the-beaten-path artisan producers committed to making wine sustainably and organically with locally-sourced ingredients.
It’s where biodiverse, environmentally responsible wine making meets taste—and price too, for much of the inventory at The Town Cellar, though there is plenty at the higher end to discover and collect as well. And you’ll find few, if any, at your average liquor store.
“Our focus is, first and foremost, on smaller producers and great farming, people who are really thoughtful about what they’re putting into the soil. In the conventional wine world, they are using inputs that harm both the soil and the workers who have to use them,” explained Town Cellar General Manager Michelle DeWyngaert of their product mix which includes spirts, beer and non-alcoholic beverages as well as wines—many from family-owned and run businesses. “They’re not going to use harmful pesticides where their kids and dogs are playing and we’ve seen from tastings that the wines end up more delicious and more compelling,” Michelle added.
Michelle would know. There is barely a wine (or spirit, beer or non-alcoholic beverage) in the shop that they have not vetted, tasted and put through a wringer of standards developed over the last decade as they progressed from bartender to fine dining server, to bar manager, to student at the International Culinary Center’s intensive sommelier training program where they were certified by the Court of Master Sommeliers. Ultimately, they joined Chambers Street Wines in Manhattan as the buyer of spirits and new world wines. Michelle found The Town Cellar after leaving the City for the fresh air and proximity to family in Connecticut.
Owner Lauren Hokin, who grew up in Darien and now lives in Rowayton, opened The Town Cellar in November 2021 following an extensive renovation that transformed what was a barber shop and a warren of small rooms, into an inviting, open, two-story space with plenty of room for the shop, the pours, tastings, classes and private events they hold there, as well as the inviting, authentic, community vibe of the place.
As much as it reaches worldwide to bring wines to Darien, The Town Cellar has deep roots as a local business. Lauren’s grandmother, Connie Barnum who passed away in 2012, and father, Richard Hokin, opened Glen Liquors in 1975 in the old Noroton Heights Shopping Center. When Connie retired, the family took it on. Lauren’s aunt and uncle, Pam and Jimmy Love, ran it until they retired themselves and left the area. At that point, the owners of the Shopping Center were tearing it down to make way for a new development, but Lauren’s family still held the liquor license.
Inside The Town Cellar at 189 Post Road in Darien
“My dad said, listen, they are tearing this place down. Your aunt’s moving. Do you want to get involved?” recalled Lauren who spent a year in France during college, studying art history and honing her lifelong love of food and wine. (She would go on to five years in finance and an MBA
after her undergrad years before deciding she did not want a career on Wall Street.)
“We were scratching our heads wondering why in this town that is experiencing all this change in the restaurant and retail food space isn’t there somebody taking a different, thoughtful, kind of boutique, small producer-oriented approach to wine and spirits retailing?” Lauren said.
So they dove in, found new space and Michelle, vetted suppliers, did the research, created relationships with suppliers who shared their value system, asked questions, asked more questions, and then asked even more questions. They still do.
It’s a lot of work to create something this unique.
As for the vibe part? That came easy, given the Hokin family’s long ownership of the iconic Bitter End Yacht Club (BEYC)—famous for its camaraderie among most anyone who sails, as Lauren and her family do, or has visited the British Virgin Islands where it is located. Lauren was a key player in the rebuild that followed the Hurricane Irma disaster that wiped it out in 2017.
“We have tried to make The Town Cellar an experiential place where it’s not just walking in the door and grabbing a bottle of wine,” said Lauren, talking about her business much the way she has spoken of the BEYC. “We want to tell the story where these wonderful wines and beers and spirits come from, how they’re made, why it’s important that people care about being good stewards of the lands that produce them,” she continued.
“Yes, we have a serious mission here with what we do. But more than anything, we want to make wine fun and approachable and we want to find things that are interesting and suit your palate,” agreed Michelle with a passion that comes through not just with customers but also in the pours they host in store on Friday afternoons, the classes they teach each month and the private wine tastings they lead on request from customers.
“We want to give people the opportunity to explore the world and educate themselves about wine and spirits and farming,” added Lauren of the discoveries awaiting all who visit the vineyards, breweries and distilleries less traveled through what they find at this great local spot.
