Preface Wine, the shop-by-day, bar-by-night room at 279 NE 2nd Avenue in Delray Beach's Pineapple Grove, throws its official grand opening weekend from Thursday, October 22, through Sunday, October 25. Anyone who walks in during those four days gets a complimentary pour of Champagne, and the weekend opens with a seated baseball tasting timed to the night before the World Series.

The doors have actually been open for a few weeks, long enough for the team to run a handful of small ticketed tastings. The grand opening is the formal invitation to the neighborhood, and it is a good excuse to see what kind of place has moved onto one of downtown Delray's arts-district blocks.

A shop until 4, a bar after

The format is the hook. During the day Preface works as a retail wine store: you browse the shelves, read up on a label, and carry a bottle home. At 4 p.m. the lights come down, the shelving slides back, and the same room turns into a 28-seat wine bar pouring tasting flights, glasses and bottles alongside charcuterie. Any bottle on the shelf can either go home with you or be opened at the bar.

The selection is deliberately short. The shop describes its list as bottles it chose on purpose, a mix of well-known estates and small producers most people have not heard of yet, and the staff is set up to explain why each one made the cut. A look at the online shelf shows how approachable that can be: a 2025 Heinrichshof Pinot Blanc from Germany's Mosel at $23, a 2023 Grand Beylesse rosé from the Côtes de Provence at $29, a 2022 Madame de Beaucaillou Haut-Médoc from Bordeaux at $33, a 2022 Quattro Theory Napa Valley Cabernet at $48, and Lallier's Réflexion R.021 Brut Champagne at $65.

The founder, and the software behind the counter

Preface was founded by Jonathan Frutkin, its CEO, who is known for his Wine with Jon videos about making wine less intimidating. That attitude runs through the room. The shop's own story frames the whole project as a reaction to the feeling that wine has an in crowd and everyone else, and the goal is a place where curiosity is the only entry requirement.

The less visible piece is a sommelier service called JJ, which pairs the staff with software the company built itself. It keeps track of what you have liked and what surprised you, then steers you toward what to try next, so a second or third visit picks up where the last one left off. According to the company, wine club members can also use JJ when they are shopping or dining at other wine shops and restaurants, not just on NE 2nd Avenue.

Opening night: Wine and Baseball

The grand opening starts on Thursday, October 22, with Wine & Baseball: Starting Lineup, a guided tasting at what Preface calls the Owner's Table. There are two seatings, at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., each running about 90 minutes, and each limited to eight guests at a single table. General manager Josh Busby leads six pours, each matched to a baseball legend or a famous moment from the game, with ballpark-style bites and a scorecard to take home. Tickets are $145 per guest and are sold through OpenTable from the Preface events page.

If $145 is more than you want to spend, the rest of the weekend is the easy version: walk in, take the free Champagne pour, browse the shelf and stay for a flight.

Small events are the house style

The opening-night format is typical of how Preface has been spending its first weeks. Its September and early October calendar included Rock & Roll Hall of Pours, an eight-seat Owner's Table night with records playing between pours; The Fog Line, a blind tasting of Napa Cabernets built around where the grapes grew; and The Preface Primer, a $1 introduction to wine aimed at young professionals, with four pours over about an hour for ten guests. Expect more of these: small tables, a clear theme, and something you leave knowing that you did not know walking in.

The wine club, in plain numbers

Preface also runs a membership club built around 36 bottles a year, delivered as a six-bottle selection roughly every two months and billed monthly. The entry tier, called The Preface, is $99 a month for bottles averaging about $35 to $40, plus 10% off shop and bar purchases, priority reservations and first access to tastings. The Limited tier at $199 a month moves to bottles averaging $70 to $80 with limited-production wines and quarterly education sessions. The top Master tier, at $499 a month, centers on allocated and rare releases averaging $175 to $200 a bottle and includes an annual Owner's Table experience. New members take a short taste quiz so the selections reflect what they actually like.

Plan your visit

Preface Wine is at 279 NE 2nd Avenue, Delray Beach, in the Pineapple Grove Arts District north of Atlantic Avenue. Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, with the bar side starting at 4 p.m. The bar and tastings are 21 and over. The phone number is (561) 930-9463, and the shop posts on Instagram as @prefacewinebar. Details are at preface.wine.

For Pineapple Grove, the appeal is having a place that works at two speeds. You can stop in at lunchtime for a $23 bottle to bring to dinner, or come back after 4 for a flight and a plate of charcuterie at a room that only seats 28. Grand opening weekend, with a glass of Champagne on the house, is the lowest-stakes way to find out which version suits you.