By David Landis, The Gay Gourmet–
When it comes to wine, I like to leave the recommendations to my knowledgeable San Francisco Bay Times colleague, Leslie Sbrocco. But a few weeks ago, I happened into a storefront downtown at the Embarcadero Center that sold wines in pours by the glass. Since I’m so shy and retiring, I started speaking with the owners and co-founders, Adam Lovingood and Richard Garcia. They just so happened not only to be business partners, but domestic partners as well. Their idea for the business intrigued me, as well as the fact that it’s an LGBTQ-owned business. Plus, the wines are first-rate. I’d encourage my loyal readers to make the trek downtown to sample their captivating vintages. What follows is my lively conversation with both gentlemen about their enterprise.
David Landis: Tell me a little bit about how and why you started Embarc Wines.
Adam Lovingood: Both of us are passionate about wine, especially the social aspects of enjoying wine. There’s so much to learn, but you don’t really have to know anything about wine to enjoy it. For too long, the intimidation factor associated with wine has kept people from enjoying it. We don’t do this with any other food or beverage. We don’t expect that someone has extensive knowledge about cranberry juice before they can enjoy it. Wine is the exception, but it doesn’t need to be. We noticed that the typical wine bar/wine tasting experience could put obstacles in the way of enjoyment. We wanted to create a comfortable place that allows folks to be more in control of their own experience without intimidation or judgments or other barriers to exploration, like slow service. It’s empowering to go into a space where you can try wines that you want to try at your own pace, based on your own tastes. There is absolutely more you can learn if you want, but it’s not necessary as part of the experience. It’s also incredibly fun!
David Landis: Why the name Embarc? How does Embarc Wines work? Can you try multiple wines? Do you need an appointment?
Adam Lovingood: While we considered a lot of names/brand identities for the concept, we knew we wanted to capture the idea of self-exploration. Walking into our space is just the beginning of your journey. We felt Embarc captured that.
David Landis: Plus, Embarc is a play-on-words for the location at Embarcadero Center.
Adam Lovingood: Yes. Regarding appointments: you absolutely don’t need an appointment. When you visit, you check in with our wine guides and get an Embarc Card—like a hotel key card—that tracks everything you try. You grab a glass and tap your Embarc Card on a machine that contains a wine you want to try and then you select the amount: 1, 3, or 5 oz. for dry wines and 1, 2, and 3 oz. for dessert wines. Once you select the amount, the machine dispenses that amount into your glass. For those who are more visual learners, we have several short videos on our website that demonstrate the process as well. We have 88 wines (including a few dealcoholized wines) to choose from, so you have lots of options to try. It’s all up to you. While we can’t have them in the machines, we also have champagne/sparkling wine available for purchase. You can also purchase most of our wines by the bottle, even though that’s definitely not our focus.
David Landis: Do you serve food? What kinds of accompaniments? How do you select what food works well with wines?
Adam Lovingood: While we don’t have a kitchen and don’t do any food prep, we have food available for purchase in a vending machine that allows you to buy cheese and charcuterie, potato chips, and still and sparkling water (we also have tap available for free). Over time, we’ll be adding other options as we see what people want. Cheese and charcuterie, in particular, is a classic item to pair with a lot of different types of wine, so that was an easy choice for us. In terms of pairing wines, we think what wine goes with a dish is the wine that you want to drink with that dish. Of course, there are pairing rules—and, if you want to discuss that, we’re happy to—but we don’t want people to feel constrained by those rules or feel judged if they like non-traditional pairings. It’s more about what you like, rather than what you should like.
David Landis: Embarc Wines is a gay-owned business, and you both are business partners and life partners for this enterprise. How does that work? Does it create conflicts?
Adam Lovingood: Richard and I have divided tasks based on our strengths. Richard deals with most of the operational issues as he has a lot of experience in retail management. I’m more back office and am more involved in wine selection/wine purchasing. We’ve been together for about six and a half years, so our relationship had a strong foundation before opening Embarc. We made it through the worst of the pandemic sharing a small apartment! We both have strong personalities and are opinionated, but we also share a lot of mutual respect. Conflicts are inevitable, but we just work through them based on what’s best for Embarc and our customers. We also really enjoy being together and make sure we do activities that are separate from the business.
David Landis: What’s different about Embarc Wines? Do you specialize in certain regions, appellations, special varietals?
Adam Lovingood: What’s different is we put you in charge of your experience. We don’t specialize in any particular way, as we want customers to have broad exposure to a lot of different types of wine from different regions in different styles. That way you can discover what makes sense to you, and it may be something you’ve never had before. We like to say that the best wine for you is the one you’re enjoying right now.
To help give some structure to your experience, we divide the space between Old World wines and New World wines. And wines are generally arranged from white to red. We try to group wines of similar varietals and regions together to help comparisons.
David Landis: Why did you choose the Financial District as your location? Do you think downtown is coming back?
Adam Lovingood: It was really about finding the right space for our concept. We looked at a lot of spaces in different neighborhoods, but ultimately, we decided on our current location as the perfect one for our first location. It’s in an area that is densely populated with both residents and business tenants, and it’s an area with a lot of foot traffic. The Embarcadero Center is a bit of a San Francisco gem. It’s clean and safe, and has a community feel to it. The management company, BXP, has been incredibly welcoming and supportive. We genuinely feel we’ve found that right home for Embarc. We have noticed quite an increase in activity just over the few months we’ve been open. The city is making a real effort to bring people back downtown and we’ve seen the positive effects of that. We couldn’t be happier with our choice.
David Landis: Are you open every day? Can you rent out the space for special events?
Adam Lovingood: We’re open weekdays from 1 pm to 8 pm. We love having people rent space at Embarc. We’ve had several group events so far and the space has proven to be ideal for that. We’re really flexible in how we approach it and can work with the group to accommodate their size and their reasonable budget. We can also order special food items as well, if that’s desired.
David Landis: Personally, do you have a favorite wine? Favorite region? Favorite varietal?
Adam Lovingood: What has always amazed me about wine is the tremendous diversity available, especially considering they all start from the same basic ingredient. If there is one varietal that has become my go-to, it’s probably Riesling. Riesling is a wonderfully versatile grape that can give you wines that are bone dry or unctuous and sweet, and everything in between. I do tend to lean towards the Old World for Rieslings (both German and Alsatian). I also have found great examples in the New World as well (e.g. from the Finger Lakes Region in upstate New York). We’ve represented those at Embarc. But I’m also an Embarc customer and just love exploring what’s available at any one time. The kid-in-a-candy-store analogy comes to mind.
Richard Garcia: I am currently in love with New World zinfandel and cabernet sauvignon varietals. I love a bold, full-bodied, fruit-forward “jammy” wine, and we have plenty to keep me and our customers happy. Do you like to change it up a bit? I know I do, and we have multiple options, highlighting how the same grape can have dramatically different characteristics based on where it was grown as well as how much time it has spent in a bottle waiting to release its splendor to the world.
David Landis: In your other lives, Adam, you’re a lawyer and Richard is a veterinary recruiter. How did you get interested in the wine business?
Adam Lovingood: I had never been to a wine tasting room until I came to the Bay Area for law school in 1994, and most of my prior encounters with wine weren’t great. But coming here changed all that. I loved the entire wine tasting experience and spent a lot of time over the coming years exploring wineries. Once I started working, I started to meet lots of people in the restaurant business and became interested in doing something in hospitality. I started taking wine education courses and considered changing professions and becoming a sommelier. Eventually, I determined that back-of-the-house was probably a better fit for me, and I started thinking about potential business ideas. Years later, that led to the concept for Embarc, which is a bit full circle since Embarc is like a hybrid of a wine bar and tasting room.
Richard Garcia: Before moving to San Francisco, I was not a wine drinker. After meeting Adam, and seeing his passion for wine, I began exploring the vast flavors and history of wine, which piqued my interest. So close to us is Napa Valley, offering a very convenient way to explore different varietals and styles of wine making. I like to learn. Visiting wineries and tasting rooms to hear about the history of the vineyard, and how the wines came to be, has made me an oenophile.
David Landis: If you could travel to any wine region outside of California, where would it be—and why?
Adam Lovingood: I’ve been very privileged to have had the opportunity to visit quite a few regions in both the New World and Old. I visited Budapest back in 2015 and had phenomenal Hungarian wines, both red and white, which you really can’t find outside Hungary. I didn’t get to visit the wine regions, though, so I would love to go back and do that.
Richard Garcia: I would love to explore the Australian and Italian wine regions. I love an Australian shiraz and an Italian primitivo and barbera. So, I feel like I need to spend time in these areas. It will help me get a feel for the other flavors being produced, and to expand my personal knowledge and palette.
David Landis: What are your business plans for the coming year?
Adam Lovingood: Mainly, we want to continue to build our business and introduce more folks to the wonderful experience we’ve created. And we’re always thinking about what’s next. We want to be the Blue Bottle of wine bars.
David Landis: Anything else?
Adam Lovingood: We’re just incredibly grateful for everyone who helped make Embarc a reality. Starting a small business is probably the most challenging thing we’ve ever done. That wouldn’t have been possible without the support from dear friends, wise advisors, and, of course, our customers who visit and understand our vision for a better way to experience the wonderful world that is wine.
David Landis, aka “The Gay Gourmet,” is a foodie, a freelance writer, and a retired PR maven. Follow him on Instagram @GayGourmetSF or email him at: davidlandissf@gmail.com Or visit him online at: www.gaygourmetsf.com
The Gay Gourmet
Published on January 30, 2025
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