Santa Rosa, CA
Bottle Barn http://www.bottlebarn.com/
If you’re in the area wine tasting check here for making your purchases as the prices on many wines are amazing. I find a lots of stuff at 2/3 to 1/2 retail – now anyways, with the economic problems and people wanting to just move inventory.
And very high prices.
+1 on Bottle Barn in Santa Rosa
http://www.bottlebarn.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
331 Industrial Drive
Santa Rosa, CA 95403-2062
707-528-1161
Along the Russian River in Monte Rio is a small place with big wines called Sophie’s Cellars
http://www.sophiescellars.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Great place to pick up wine before, during and after the summer encampment at the Bohemian Grove.
20293 Hwy 116
Monte Rio, CA 95462
707-865-1122
Over the hill in St Helena is ACME Fine Wines. Awesome unknowns and small lot vintages from well known winemakers and newcomers alike.
http://www.acmefinewines.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
1080 Fulton Ln
St Helena, CA 94574
707-963-0440
Near SFO:
Vineyard Gate Wine Sellers | 238 Broadway | Millbrae | CA | 94030
800.580.8588
http://www.vineyardgate.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Alex is knowledgeable and passsionate.
Yep, Vineyard Gate is a great shop.
-Al
On the Island of Hawaii:
Kamuela Liquors in Waimae/Kamuela is the best on the island.
I have also heard that Grapes in Hilo is very good.
Good- Costco Kailua Kona, Island Gourmet Markt (waikoloa, queens shopping center), Kona Wine Market Kailua-kona, Long Drugs on Pulani (some very interesting things here but mostly plonk)
OK, Safeways
Kauai:
Excellent: The Wine Garden
Good, Costco
OK: Longs, Safeways,
Oahu
Excellent: The Wine Stop,
Good: Costco, Tamura’s
Note, Comparatively speaking, Oahu has many very good to excellent shops that I have not visited.
Maui
Excellent: Mr. Wine (Lahaina)
Good: Costco, Safeways
I have to drive from NYC to DE on a bi-weekly basis and have been stopping by the following place, which has some of the lower prices I’ve found (certainly better than NYC prices).
Canal’s Bottlestop (Marlton)
10 W.Route 70
Marlton, NJ 08053
Phone: 1.856.983.4991
Phone: 1.856-983-4991
Fax: 1.856-596-2640
Good selection of California wine, interesting Spanish selections from some lesser-known regions, and a respectable number of Italian and French. Just picked up some Walter Hansel and Brewer Clifton.
Melissa,
Funny you mention this.
I stumbled into this place few years ago walking to the beach.
Literally a basement.
Small, but I have never left without finding/buying a pleasant surprise.
I go there whenever I am in Newport.
Another good one in Denver is City Wine, Colorado at Alameda.
One of a kinds, hard to finds and QPR’s.
http://www.citywine.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I’ll check this place out next time I’m down in Denver. Thanks!
My favorite wine shop in WAshington, DC is definitely:
Calvert Woodley Fine Wines & Spirits
4339 Connecticut Avenue Northwest
Washington D.C., DC 20008
(202) 966-4400
They have the wine, the knowledgeable staff, the great hors d’oeuvres to accompany. Plus they have a giant selection of liquor and coffee. All you can want in a store!
i frequent different wine shops depending on what I am looking for.
For free tastings and daily drinkers (not great priced) I go to
Stew Leonards of Farmingdale
210 airport plaze
farmingdale, NY 11735
http://www.stewswinesny.com/
For current release wines to go in a cellar
Bottles and Cases
99 East Main Street
Huntington, NY, 11743
http://www.bottlesandcases.com/
Seaholm Wines and Liqours
134 Wall Street
Huntington, NY 11743
631-427-0031 (no website)
For older vintages, depth of cellar, verticals, special orders, etc I use
Post Wine and Spirits
510 Jericho Turnpike
Syosset, NY 11791
Pops wines and spirits
256 Long Beach Road
Island Park, New York 11558
http://www.popswine.com/
Pops has a crazy HUGE cellar selection dating back to the 30’s. They have awesome sales and deals throughout the year.
Post has a smaller cellar selection than pops but almost as diverse and it goes back to the 19th century.
I am also lucky in that i have dozens of local wine shops in between the shops listed above, some of which pour tastings on weeknights, others on weekends. I can taste wines pretty much every day of the year for free.
In the DC area, I recommend:
Arrowine
4508 Lee Highway
Arlington, Virginia 22207
703.525.0990 (phone)
877.418.9858 (toll free)
703.525.2218 (fax)
This is the place to go if you want small producer hand selected wines that nobody else has. Had Cedric Bouchard Champagnes years before anyone had heard of them for example. A place to go if you want recommendations from staff. Doug Rosen and Shem Hassen in particular really know their stuff. Arrowine also has by far the best cheese of any store I have been to (including Cowgirl Creamery). Cowgirl is about three blocks from my office and when I am having dinner guests over I generally get the cheese from Arrowine.
Bassin’s MacArthur Liquors
Toll Free: (866) 674-3716
Local Phone: (202) 338-1433
Fax: (202) 333-0806
E-mail: wine@bassins.com
4877 MacArthur Blvd., N.W.
Washington, DC 20007
This is a big store that will likely have what you are looking for. Esp. good on Bordeaux (and Bordeaux futures), California wines (and Cabernet futures), Italian wines and German wines (the best selection in town). Manager Mark Wessels is a Bordeaux expert and is great to deal with. I also esp. like Phil Bernstein, who is the top German wine expert merchant in town.
Weygandt Wines
info@weygandtwines.com
202-362-WINE (9463)
fax 202-362-0437
3519 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Has only Peter Weygandt’s wines, which is good and bad. Means virtually every wine in the store is quite good, but definitely not the place to stop in to get some specific non-Peter wine you may want. Talk to Todd Ross, who manages the store and is a joy to talk to.
Bernard’s Wine Gallery
23538 Calabasas Rd, Calabasas
www.bernardswinegallery.com
Went here recently and found some really cool older wines. Friendly staff as well. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
What’s the story with Total Wine & More? Should we be excited they are opening a Sacramento store or is it a BevMo? It looks promising --8000 wines, 3000 spirits, 2500 beers
They have other stores in Phoenix, Nevada, and on the East coast.
Rapid City, SD (The Black Hills)
Canyon Lake Liquor
4244 Canyon Lake Drive
Rapid City, SD 57702
Phone: 342-7639
10 am - 10 pm Mon-Sat
11 am - 7 pm Sunday
This is the only wine shop worth mentioning for, probably, 300 miles in every direction. Andy has a great selection of Californian wines - ranging from everyday drinkers to the Harlans/Screaming Eagles of the world. His selection of wine outside of California isn’t too great with Italian being the only other region that’s well represented. It’s a family run operation, that been open for almost 30 years now.
It’s also about a 5 minute drive from my house, so if I hear of anyone from this board shopping here and not letting me know you’re in the area…well…I’ll be sad.
In downtown Livermore:
1st Street Wine Co.
2211 First St.
Livermore, CA 94550
925.294.5825
http://wineco.com/
Small shop with a tasting bar, and excellent selection of local wines as well as some difficult to find favorite small producers like Carlisle, Wind Gap, McPrice Meyers, Denner…
Many restaurants in downtown offer free corkage on the first bottle from 1st Street Wine Co (check with them for details).
Any recs for Houston, particularly the Heights/Memorial area? Would love to grab some Burgs, Piedmonts, and maybe some traditional Rioja.
Restaurant wine-list recs would be great, too. Coppa, maybe?
City’s too large for me to make any broad generalizations, but I’ll do it anyway. Largely, a wine wasteland. The big Specs had the best selection I found. Coppa was a misfire, with the few interesting bottles on their online list unavailable, and those that were on the list were uninteresting or too young to drink.
For Massachusetts… Brixx in downtown Boston for a great random sampling of good bottles. In the Burbs you have Marty’s in Newton (Peter Tryba from this board is the second in command of wine there didn’t post, but he is a great wine source); Gordon’s in Waltham. Wine Conextion in Andover! Probably the best run wine shop in Massachusetts is in the Berkshires. Formerly NeJaimes in Lenox, it is still run and owned by Jim NeJaime and now called Spirited! This is a place you can stop in and browse, and has great cheese and other provisions. Whenever I have a wine or liquor I want to find, a future I want to order, I call Jim! And, after some time doing this he reciprocates by contacting me when things I might be interested in are available in tiny allotments! Jim and Peter are my go to guys!