Building a wine business: in the upscale Washington, DC suburbs of McLean, VA, and Gaithersburg,...

While finewine.com may sound like one of those web sites targeted at international wine snobs, it's actually the name of Cecile Giannangeli's two-store, brick-and-mortar retail operation, with outlets in McLean, VA, and Gaithersburg, MD, both specializing in selling wine. Oh, and a powerhouse web site of the same name is also part of the business.

Before she had her own stores, Giannangeli was part owner of the Virginia-based wine shop Arrowine. She opened her own store in 1989, three blocks away, and called it Cecile's Wine Cellar. The store took off and, after 10 yea