Legacy Wine Co. is coming to Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood. The wine retailer is slated to open in early September.

“We’re really excited about making sure that Queen Anne still has a fine wine presence,” says Mark Shipley, who along with business partner and building owner Tom Lether is starting the store.

Earlier this year, long-time Seattle wine merchant McCarthy & Schiering closed its Queen Anne location. (The retailer’s Ravenna location remains open.) This shop was long where Dan McCarthy, an icon in the Seattle wine scene who passed away in 2023, would hold court. The store’s closing seemed like another loss for the local wine scene. Instead, it’s turned into an opportunity for renewal.

“Our goal isn’t to recreate McCarthy & Schiering,” Shipley says. “That chapter belongs to Dan, Jay [Schiering], and everyone who built it. Instead, we’re hoping to carry forward the tradition of an independent, neighborhood wine merchant built on thoughtful curation, education, and genuine hospitality.”

Tom Lether (left) and Mark Shipley, Legacy Wine Company

While the store will continue certain traditions and will have some familiar faces – Dan Schieffer, who managed the Queen Anne store for years, will be leading the retail operation – Legacy Wine Co. also intends to do new things. This will include more events, more programming, on-line retail, and perhaps even by-the-glass wines. The store will offer a mixture of global and local wines.

“We’re going to have a strong emphasis on classic wine regions from around the world, and we want to bring in a lot of the favorites that people were introduced to over the years,” Shipley says. “At the same time, there are new producers popping up every year. There are a lot of producers that retailers can bring to the consumer.”

Like many in the Seattle wine scene, Shipley met Dan McCarthy early in his vinous journey. Shipley also worked part-time in the store for about three years.

The name Legacy Wine Co. is intended to both symbolize carrying on the tradition of fine wine at this location and a callout to the broader wine industry.

“As I thought more about the name, I’ve circled around to the idea of the wine world itself, famous wineries that are doing this in classic regions around the globe, are really just a collection of individual legacies.”

The space is currently undergoing renovations. Once open, it will both carry on tradition and create its own, new legacy.

“[West] McGraw and Queen Anne Avenue [North] has been a hub and harbor for fine wine-focused people very early into their journey to go obsess, learn, taste, and get really excited about wine,” says Shipley. “We need to keep high quality, customer-focused retail alive and present in the city. I didn’t want to see that go away.”

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