Wine Down at Firefly
By Fritz Hahn
Washington Post Weekend Section
Friday, Nov. 26, 2004

For chef John Wabeck of Firefly, wine is just as important as food. He's offered special menus of roses and sparkling wines at the cozy Dupont Circle restaurant. While working at Brix, a well-regarded restaurant in Yountville, Calif., he studied Napa Valley wines and spent three months learning the ins and outs of winemaking -- from harvesting grapes to washing out barrels -- at the Darioush Winery. And Wabeck is studying for a Master Sommelier exam administered by the internationally recognized Court of Master Sommeliers.

So when creating a new happy hour for Firefly, he knew that it would be wine-based, but says he decided to make it "a little bit challenging. . . . Instead of knocking a couple bucks off [wines on the restaurant's list], which anyone can do, we decided to be different."

It's unlike anything else I've seen in Washington: Every weekday from 4:30 to 7, Wabeck's "Wine Down" happy hour spotlights a pair of wines that are not regularly featured among the restaurant's impressive selection. Days of the week have different themes: Friday is "Bubbles for the Ladies" and features sparkling wines -- one champagne or cremant against a rose, for example. Mondays match a red varietal from Austria against a white from Australia, or vice versa. Pinot grapes are in the spotlight on Tuesday (a noir or meunier against a blanc or gris).

But it's some of the left-field selections that are most intriguing -- one recent Thursday found Wabeck pouring a 2001 Nasiakos Moschofilero (a dry Greek white) and a spicy 2001 Cuvee Granaxa from Chateau Coupe-Rose in the Minervois region of France.

"I taste a lot of wine -- a lot," Wabeck says. "So when I find something I like, I'll take three bottles of this, three bottles of that for happy hour."

Since "Wine Down" began in August, "we've tried to find the most crackheaded wines in the world," he explains. "We've had Long Island wines. We did a '97 Beaujolais the first month. It was pretty killer."

The themes change monthly. December's offerings focus on New Zealand, Oregon, Italy, "Cabernet vs. Chardonnay" and, most intriguingly, Fridays in December will be dedicated to "Grand Cru" wines -- the top classification bestowed on French vineyards.

Prices vary, but wines usually cost between $6 and $10 per glass, which is often "half of what we'd have to charge normally," Wabeck says. There's a special happy-hour menu, too, featuring discounted appetizers such as a paper cone of truffled Parmesan fries or a plate of pork-and-cabbage spring rolls.

The problem, of course, is that Firefly is primarily a restaurant. Between the ostrich-leather seats at the curving bar and a small lounge area with a banquette and half-dozen tables, there are seats for 35 people -- and at peak hours, diners waiting for tables occupy much of the space. Still, it's a lively and crowded scene, with couples and groups ordering glasses of wine and passing them around to taste. Wabeck is often on hand to proffer suggestions and tasting notes. "For the average Joe, it's pretty weird," Wabeck says. "But for the wine geeks that come in here, it's nothing big."