A friend of mine could do with some help. He is moving to Vancouver soon and would like recommendations for wine stores that stock good Pinot Noir and Malbec. Nothing high end, but he is after everyday drinking with the occasional good bottle.
Thank you in advance for your advice.
I usually shop at Marquis Wine Cellars when I visit Vancouver.
Tom
Vancouver, WA or Vancouver, BC?
Or, is there another Vancouver?
Vancouver , BC. The one in Canada.
Marquis is a good one and they have great tasting events! I also visit Everythingwine (stores in a few locations) as they have both premium and general selection wines, AND excellent classes. Both stores have online list as well. Legacy has a decent selection too but I typically go there for their beer selection rather than wine.
BC liquor has the basic selection of wine and they have gradually changed to serve the table wine rather than special premium wines.
Liberty has a good selection of daily drinking wine but not a lot of surprise finds, and you will have to go to to the store to see their selection.
Sadly in BC, it is extremely hard to find back vintage wines and prices are quite often insanely high due to taxes… Wouldn’t be surprised if you become sober when you cross to the land of high alcohol taxes…
I like supporting the Marquis Wine Cellar, excellent staff, decent selection but there are few bargains. This is not their fault. The BCLDB charges such high markups to private stores it is impossible to be competitive.
There is also Kitsilano Wine Cellar and Liberty Wines. Same thing although some staff at Kits are a bit grumpy. Go on Sunday when you can.
The BCLDB has a good selection of Bordeaux and insanely priced mediocre Burgundies. There are no small California producers here.
Thank you guys for your advice and feedback, which I certainly appreciate.
I would second all those comments. The BCLDB specialty stores downtown (between Georgia and Robson; can’t remember the cross street) and on Cambie at 40th also have a pretty decent range of serious Italian and French wines.
I’ve shopped most often at Kits and never had a problem with the staff.
John. The store is on Bute and Alberni.
My go-to place when I’m in Vancouver is Sutton Place Wine Merchant on Burrard St. Interesting international selection, but their real strength is blue chip BC wines (Vieux Pin, Foxtrot, Orofino, Nichol, Lariana, Meyer Family, Tantalus, etc.). The owner is passionate and engaging, and will take the time to try to figure out your taste rather than just trying to sell you something.
Where on Burrard is it?
FYI, Kitsilano has most of those producers, as well. It’s not as convenient if you’re staying downtown, though.
Another vote for Kits Wine Cellar.
BC Liquor stores tend to have very scant Cali/Oregon Pinot selections… I find EverythingWine to be overpriced, but so is all wine in BC thanks to taxes.
It’s a couple of blocks south(west) of Robson. I’m usually in Vancouver for business and stay downtown, so very convenient for me. Kits is beautiful though, would love to be able to spend more time there. Would be interesting to compare the two stores price wise…
It’s an easy bus ride from either Burrard or Granville and Robson.
I’m a big fan of Le vieux pin.
And La Stella here.
Not a huge fan of Sutton Place Wines. I prefer this place for BC wines:
Nice!..new to me, I’ll have to check it out next time I’m in town.
I really like dealing with Jon at Marquis, but will also stop into the local Everything Wine and BCLS from time to time. The latter two are hit or miss, as is their customer service, but we don’t have many options.
On a related PSA note for the locals, about 5 months ago I signed up for a wine locker across the line in Ferndale with a company called Border Wine Storage. Its a dedicated wine storage facility that will sign and receive any online wine purchases on your behalf, send you a same day email notifying receipt with a picture of the (unopened) box, and place the wine in your personal locker, and in turn you have 24 hour access to the facility and your personal locker. This has allowed me to order online from wine.com, K&L, various auction sites, etc. etc. and actually be able to acquire back vintages (gasp!) and save some substantial money on new releases, even after exchange and declaring and paying duty/tax on the shipments, even a case at a time. They have a calculator on their website to determine what you should expect to pay in tax/duty which I’ve found to be fairly accurate. As a recent example I purchased some 2015 LLC at auction all in for $290 (after US/CAD exchange, shipping, all duty/taxes), compared to the $449 incl. tax it was sold at thru BCLS, if you stood in line at 4AM in September to get your measly 2 bottles.
You of course have to factor in the time and hassle of making periodic pickup runs across the line, but I just go early morning on weekdays or in the evening and there is rarely any wait. For me, well worth it as an option to get my hands on stuff I would never otherwise be able to acquire and also to save some serious money on higher end wine. There is always the risk inherent with storing your wine anywhere other than your home, and the building is in a small industrial park and thus does not have vault like security though the facility itself seems reasonably secure, but the service has been great and I don’t let more than a case or so sit before I make a pickup. It a husband and wife team that owns the company and he has been a Director with wine.com for 17 years per his Linkedin, FWIW. The company itself has apparently been around for just over 2 years.
https://www.borderwinestorage.com (no affiliation whatsoever, just a happy customer)
Jordan. There is little doubt that if you were only to buy wines available at retail in the Vancouver market you would really be missing out. However there is a lot of stuff available as spec. items, at nearly wholesale prices from various agents in BC. Of course you have to buy a case or in some cases a 6 pack.
For me the amount paid at the border seems almost at the discretion of the agent. I have paid as much as 3 times the US retail price, and of course any debate will only lead to some very unpleasent punishment. Can you please link the tax/duty calculator?
Luckily my wife is on a project in LA so we bring 2 bottles in duty and tax free almost every week.
Welcome to Winebeserkers.
Thanks David. I was fairly active on the WS board for a number of years and I’ve just been getting back to wine the last year or so now that our kids are a bit older.
I wasn’t aware that there were substantial discounts to be had for case purchases, I’d definitely be interested in learning more about that too. The pricing difference at retail or the gov stores compared to what our friends pay in the US (particularly on Bdx) is staggering. Regardless I’ll still spend a lot of disposal income supporting great local independent stores like Marquis.
The calculator is from the borderwine website. I never bring back just a single bottle, and the way customs does the paperwork there is no way to tell exactly what they are charging per bottle, but on aggregate for say a mixed case of wine it seems to be within a few dollars.