Although tiny in size, Divine Vintage is celebrating a big milestone after their first year of doing business on Montana Avenue.
To celebrate their one-year anniversary, the store is offering a promotion all December long. All new wine is 20% off, along with all new wine club sign ups. If any current members refer a friend, 20% off a January wine club membership will be added as well. They are also introducing a slew of new wine classes, including Champagne and Caviar, and Party Wines.
"We’re really proud of the impact our little shop has had on the street and we’re looking forward of many more years of curated wines and gorgeous vintage treasures," said David Kianmahd, the Director of Operations for all of Rush’s businesses, including the popular Blue Plate Taco and Blue Plate Oysterette.
An eccentric vintage apparel and wine shop in the heart of Santa Monica on Montana Avenue, the store showcases the alluring interests of co-owners, Jennifer Rush and Nick Dumerge. "Divine Vintage is kind of a love child between Jen’s two greatest passions" said Kianmahd.
These two passions, travel and fashion, have encouraged Rush to generate an antiquated collection of goodies from her hundreds of trips. "She’s got this giant collection of clothing and jewelry and belts and home objects and found objects and just like really cool stuff that she brought back… And she’s like, ‘we should open a shop and let’s give people access to this really cool stuff that I’m finding all the time’" said Kianmahd.
The idea to include wine in the shop was never out of the question for Rush and her partner Dumerge. "I think it was organic [to sell wine and clothes]… they both have a real passion for sharing," said Kianmahd. Having worked at both Decanter and Harrods, judging specialty wines, Dumerge is a wine expert certified by WSET, the Wine and Spirit Education Trust. His passion and experience has given him the keen eye which organizes the collection of organic wine filling the shelves of the store.
Dumerge’s knowledge goes beyond just curating wine, but also teaching about wine, which is described as his and Rush’s other passion on their website. The offering of wine tasting classes allows customers to get first-hand experience and taste the wine with Dumerge’s expert vision.
"Wine is something that you can talk about, and put a lot of words to and describe but there’s nothing like actually trying and getting and then having a group conversation about what are you smelling? What are you tasting? Do you like it? Do you not like it, etc. It’s like a, it’s a convivial thing. It’s like eating. It works better when it’s done in a group and it’s live" said Kianmahd.
Through their teaching, they have created a community of wine.
"The thing I love about the store truly is, the customers are awesome. They come in and they hang and they love it here and they come back and they bring their friends and they bring their cousins and they bring their family and it always feels really lively in [here] and energetic" said Kianmahd.
Aside from tasting classes, they have a monthly wine box, gift baskets, and a wine club. This month in particular, they are also introducing a slew of new wine classes, including Champagne and Caviar, and Party Wines.
"We hope they want to come here to learn more about wine and to feel empowered about wine, whenever classes are on how to order wine at a restaurant. Wine can be really geeky. The price points can vary wildly, and it’s really hard to understand why. And empowering people with that information is something that I hold dear to my heart. And so [do] Nick and Jenny. So there’s definitely the education and community aspects of it. But then also like they come and hang with us late. We love people. We’re hospitality people… We do this because we love people" said Kianmahd.
It was important to open on Montana Avenue for Rush, where after over 20 years, she had to shut down Blue Plate Diner in 2017 due to maintenance issues with the building. "She’s lived in Santa Monica for 25 years. And this is like her return to the community of Santa Monica on Montana Avenue," said Kianmahd.
Opening Divine Vintage, the hope of Rush and her team was to return some creative and artistic vibes to Montana Avenue that have been lost over the years. "It’s not the same anymore, because the businesses that are here don’t reflect what the creativity and the sort of … boho vibe that Montana initially had…It was eclectic…Montana was cool for a long time like in the 90s when I grew up here, and then it kind of just changed. Now it’s a lot of not sexy businesses" said Kianmahd.
Divine Vintage marks a revival of the lost artistic culture of Santa Monica, and for Rush and Dumerge, it is the perfect setting to express their own artistry with the community. "They love to share what they know. And they love to share what they have with the people in Santa Monica. And that’s kind of why it works" said Kianmahd.
Antoinette Damico, Daily Press intern
