It’s official: One of the world’s best wine stores — especially if you are a fan of Italian wines — is right here in Washington. And you may have overlooked it. A. Litteri has been selling Italian foods to Washingtonians for 90 years. The store’s current location in the old warehouse district of Northeast D.C. is just a block from the uber-hip Union Market, but it’s a time capsule to those family-owned neighborhood stores where regular customers are greeted like friends as they sample an aged Gorgonzola or order a cold-cut sandwich that would make Sinatra sing with joy.

And there’s wine, of course. Enter A. Litteri through a door that could be easily overlooked if the wall around it were not painted with the colors of the Italian flag, and the first thing you encounter is the wine closeout section. These are cheap bottles, including a $5 pink Catawba from Indiana and several other inexpensive wines a vintage or three beyond their prime. You might find something cheap and interesting here, but turn right and head to the main wine section. There, among claustrophobic shelves reaching to the ceiling and seemingly on the verge of collapsing on you, is one amazing wine selection.