Woodinville winery Prohibition Cellars is bringing its Hungarian-influenced bottles a little closer to Commencement Bay, with a new Tacoma tasting room slated to open in February. Owners Sandor and Sabrina Faludi plan to pour their small-production reds and rotating whites in a lounge-style space along the St. Helens corridor, mirroring the relaxed, music-friendly feel of their Woodinville operation. The move adds another pin to a downtown map that has been steadily filling in with urban tasting rooms.
According to The News Tribune, the Tacoma outpost will occupy the right-hand unit at 628 St. Helens Ave., part of a property that has been split into two storefronts. Online listings on MapQuest show former tenant Blue Rose Bar at that address before it closed.
From Woodinville to Tacoma
Prohibition Cellars started in Woodinville’s Warehouse District and leans hard into an Old-World philosophy rooted in Sandor Faludi’s Hungarian background. The winery’s website describes a compact tasting room with lounge seating, live music, and even a hidden door that leads into the production area, an atmosphere the Faludis aim to re-create in Tacoma. Prohibition Cellars highlights a minimal-intervention, vineyard-driven approach to its wines.
What to expect at the bar
When the Tacoma tasting room opens, guests can expect both pours and bottle service. Prohibition’s online shop currently lists bottles ranging from about $25 to the $70s, including a $25 Sauvignon Blanc, a $35 white blend, and a $65 Tannat, with several wines aged in Hungarian and French oak. The shop also details tasting-room hours and purchase policies for the Woodinville location, which offers a preview of how Tacoma visits may be structured. The current releases and pricing are laid out via the online store at Prohibition Cellars.
Wine clubs and vineyard ties
The winery runs two membership tiers. The Alcatraz club ships two six-bottle allocations per year, generally priced around $200 to $250 per shipment. The Al Capone level focuses on flagship reds, with allocations running about $350, along with member discounts, early access to releases, and complimentary tastings for members and their guests. Those details are outlined on the wine club section of Prohibition Cellars.
Prohibition sources much of its fruit from eastern Washington and currently offers a Tannat from Red Willow Vineyard, underscoring its Yakima Valley ties. Red Willow Vineyard provides background on the historic site that supplies some of the fruit behind those wines.
Vineyard experiments and Tacoma’s wine scene
According to The News Tribune, Prohibition Cellars partnered with Red Willow Vineyard and the University of California-Davis viticulture center to test plantings of Furmint alongside Tannat in the Yakima Valley, a project the winery says could yield one of the first Furmint plantings in Washington. It is a fittingly experimental move for a label that trades on Old-World style with local fruit.
Prohibition’s arrival comes as Tacoma’s tasting-room scene keeps building momentum. The St. Helens corridor in particular has evolved into a compact wine destination, part of a broader downtown trend chronicled by The Wine Economist and local operators. Nearby, established players such as Structure Cellars maintain Tacoma tasting rooms of their own, reinforcing the city’s growing status as a place to sip rather than just pass through.
