Vermont wine stores

I will be spending 5 days in northern Vermont (Burlington area) starting this weekend - looking for advice on which wine stores I should visit. So far, my online searches have uncovered the following possibilities, but I am not familiar with any of them:

  • Burlington Wine Shop
  • Dedalus Wine Shop
  • Cheese Traders and Wine Sellers
  • Beverage Warehouse (though this seems to be more of a beer place)
  • City Market
  • Costco (Colchester)
  • Village Wine & Coffee (Shelburne)

Any favorites from this list? Did I miss any? Is there anything worth a bit of a longer drive (e.g. in Stowe, Montpelier, Middlebury)? I’d appreciate any suggestions/recommendations. Thanks!

You’ve pretty much nailed the major players as far as wine retail in and around Burlington. Dedalus offer much more esoteric selections instead of mainstream. City Market is like a mini-whole foods with quite a few specialty items to go with your wine. In Waterbury, there’s Cork Wine Bar which you might find fun.

And FYI for some of the best mexican (and tequila!) in town, check out El Cortijo ( http://www.cortijovt.com/. It’s where the locals go.

Just spent several days there. One of the most beautiful, friendliest and laid back places I’ve experienced. I want to go back.

Enjoy!

They have local Mexicans in Burlington?!?! [shock.gif]

Thanks for the El Cortijo rec. It’s like you read my mind, I’m always on the lookout for great Mexican food - will definitely give it a try. Plus, my GF is vegan, so restaurant choices are not always obvious for us, but judging by their online menu it looks like this one does creative things with veggie tacos…

I think you will find Oaxcans in all 50 states now. Most industrious and adventurous peeps I know. AND they can cook!

As T-Bone mentioned, you have a pretty good list which covers a lot of the retail in and around Burlington. If I could pick only two from that list I would choose Dedalus (nice people who are really into wine) and Cheese Traders and Wine Sellers for their sheer selection. Don’t bother with Costco unless you have another reason to go there … the selection is pretty bad. The Winooski beverage warehouse has a decent selection of wine but their beer selection is amazing and worth checking out if you are into beer at all. One store I would add to the list is Healthy Living in South Burlington. It’s near Cheese Traders and Wine Sellers if you are in the area.

If you go to Stowe (worth the side-trip IMO) check out Fine Wine Cellars on the mountain road.

Burlington is indeed a wonderful place. This weekend, Burlington hosts the Dragonboat Festival on August 5th. Expect a crowd down at the Waterfront. ridethedragon.org
It is a good event to watch.
Weather report looks OK for Saturday but forecasts have t-storms on Sunday.
As for wine shops, the only other shop I would add to your list and the others mentioned would be Church Street Wine Cellars. They have limited hours - Friday afternoon/evenings and Saturdays from about noon until 5. They are on upper Church Street (the pedestrian mall) towards Pearl. The store is downstairs in the “Richardson building”. While they have the usual $15-$20 bottles that other shops mentioned seem to carry, they do have some other, more eclectic selections and some limited production wines. They recently hosted a Bedrock/Ravenswood (son and father) dinner and carry a few of the Bedrock wines, for example. Nice folks too.They’re friends but otherwise I have no personal interest.

Dedalus has an interesting selection with a European focus. They will often have some good deals as well.

City Market is the local food co-op with a good selection in the $10 to $20 range. I believe they give a 10% discount on 6 or more bottles.
Beverage Warehouse is a little outside town in Winooski. It is about a 10 minute drive. For me, I think their space is too hot for wine purchases. They do have a good beer selection; for craft beers, however, I prefer City Market. Although City Market has limited shelf space, there is a high turnover of craft beers and the selection of American craft beer is pretty good.

PM me if you would like any food/restaurant recommendations.

T-Bone: I wish I knew you were in Burlington. We could have tasted some Spanish brandy. (or is this a case of “be careful what you wish for”…?

Well, I managed to visit five of the places on my list. Based on Reese’s note, I didn’t bother with Costco and unfortunately Dedalus was closed on the days I was shopping in that area - will have to save it for next time. I also added Healthy Living Market to my original list - great selection of local/artisanal food, pretty good wine selection as well. I think it beats the City Market on both counts, but it’s amazing that a town of that size has two grocery stores of such quality. Puts my much larger city’s big box/chain stores to shame.

Of the other wine stores on my list, I found Burlington Wine Shop the least interesting. Cheese Traders and Wine Sellers had a pretty good wine selection -surprisingly though, their Vermont cheese selection didn’t match up with either Healthy Living’s or City Market’s.

My first impression of Beverage Warehouse was negative. As per T. Melloni’s note above, temperature regulation is an issue. It was baking on the day I visited. However, I noticed a small sign that said something like “Ask about our fine wine cave”, which turned out to be the owner/manager’s pet project - a tiny back room converted into a temperature regulated space, with a small but mighty selection of mainly Italian big names from the late nineties to early 2000’s. Several Giacosa’s, of which I snagged a 2000 Asili Riserva (red label) for a little over $200. Also, a couple of Burgundies. I snapped up a 2005 Fourrier G-C Cherbaudes for under $100. Some of you may have access to these wines at better prices, but where I come from those are both solid deals, if you can even find 'em.

My favourite by far though was Village Wine and Coffee in Shelburne, which will probably become a destination store for me. Amazing place, Rosenthal and Lynch selections everywhere. I had just finished Rosenthal’s book, great read - really whetted my appetite for some of the wines he writes about, so I was excited to see some of those very same wines right in front of me for the first time. I had a hard time deciding, but went with:

Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin Vieille Vigne 2009
Granger Julienas 2009
Puffeney Poulsard “M” 2007
Ferrando Carema 2007 (black label)
Coenobium 2010
Serge Roh Pinot Noir Grand Cru de Vetroz 2009

Was way over my alcohol exemption coming back into Canada, but the customs guy gave me a break, so I paid “only” around 50 bucks on my excess (most of which went to a “provincial liquor markup fee” protectionist bullshit). Thanks again everyone for your sage advice.

I haven’t been to the WBW to shop for wine in a while… will definitely have to check out their fine wine cave the next time I’m there. I had heard of Village Wine and Coffee but I rarely make my way down to Shelburne… Sounds like a trip is in order! VT is not exactly a wine nerd’s dream when it comes to selection so we need to explore all of the possibilities… thanks for the tips.