Best Wine Store in the Area?
marylago said:
Corbett Canyon? Where is that puking emoticon?
I used the Corbett Canyon white zinfandel for my ice bucket challenge last summer...I like to think it was the best use for it.
j_r said:
I don't know about "best," but I like Gary's in Madison, especially if you can describe what you have liked to the helpful salespeople wandering the aisles and let them pick some similar or new choices. A friend with a nice wine cellar stocks up at and orders from the Bernardsville Gary's.
But in these matters, I defer to the advice of @hankzona.
thank you @j_r and I defer to your musical taste. 
hankzona said:
thank you @j_r and I defer to your musical taste.
Then I highly suggest heading to Pier 84 tomorrow for 4Knots to see Mikal Cronin, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, and Super Furry Animals.
hankzona said:
j_r said:I would if I could but I cant.
hankzona said:Then I highly suggest heading to Pier 84 tomorrow for 4Knots to see Mikal Cronin, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, and Super Furry Animals.
thank you @j_r and I defer to your musical taste.
It would also mean missing the awesome bands at MWS.
Which I'm going to miss, too, because I'm going to be at Irving Plaza grooving to Yacht Rock Revue.
hankzona said:
ridski said:private label and co-operative wines can be great, good, acceptable or sucky...it depends on the wine maker. When they are on the plus side of the quality range, they should be excellent values. Co-operatives make and market wine from a group (varying in size) of grape growers and/or winemakers and the wine is then sold under one name. The worst example off the top of my head is Santa Margherita. The best example off the top of my head is Produttori del Barbaresco. Private label wines can be mass produced and marketed with a name that makes you think you heard it before. It can be misrepresented as Wine Library often did with their Clone 5 and Sharpshooter ("we loved this so much we bought the whole lot of it for you!"). Or as Gary's does, they tell you right in the store that its private label, all the wine names have the owner's initials in the name (GF...like Go Figure) and in some cases, the name of the winery even appears somewhere on the label, and they will tell you what the wine might cost under the winery's label. I think that's the right way to do it, not just for private label wine, but any private label consumer product.
Also, is it a rule that private label wine is necessarily bad
Okay. That all sounds mighty complicated, but I defer to you as you know what you're talking about. I'm totally cool with being a quarter ignorant.
the ultimate advice I give...drink what you like. Its all a matter of personal taste and there is no wrong choice. Except white zinfandel.
ridski said:
hankzona said:Okay. That all sounds mighty complicated, but I defer to you as you know what you're talking about. I'm totally cool with being a quarter ignorant.
ridski said:private label and co-operative wines can be great, good, acceptable or sucky...it depends on the wine maker. When they are on the plus side of the quality range, they should be excellent values. Co-operatives make and market wine from a group (varying in size) of grape growers and/or winemakers and the wine is then sold under one name. The worst example off the top of my head is Santa Margherita. The best example off the top of my head is Produttori del Barbaresco. Private label wines can be mass produced and marketed with a name that makes you think you heard it before. It can be misrepresented as Wine Library often did with their Clone 5 and Sharpshooter ("we loved this so much we bought the whole lot of it for you!"). Or as Gary's does, they tell you right in the store that its private label, all the wine names have the owner's initials in the name (GF...like Go Figure) and in some cases, the name of the winery even appears somewhere on the label, and they will tell you what the wine might cost under the winery's label. I think that's the right way to do it, not just for private label wine, but any private label consumer product.
Also, is it a rule that private label wine is necessarily bad
I was actually homeless for a while, Hank. Even having been in that situation, and knowing how a single bottle of wine can turn a day of ***** into a day of amazingness, I would still stand there with a 1.5 of Corbett Canyon White Zin wondering if this will actually help. And you know what? It won't. Get Thunderbird or MD 20/20, or some off-brand Cinzano or something because that will help, and WZ is just a liver-tease.
Which is pretty much the extent of my wine knowledge, other than, of course that you shouldn't buy Merlot because the guy in Sideways said he wouldn't drink it if someone bought it
Sure they do. They might be out, but they do. Or did, anyway. And it would come up if they did. 10 bucks says they spelled it Montalena.
dave said:
If you use their web site you'll learn they don't carry Montelena. Would you judge Honda harshly for not carrying Toyotas?
truth said:
He was a sales associate using the store computer.
Private label does not automatically mean bad but it can be a warning especially for wines produced in communes or traditionally processed, blended and bottled by and under the name of negociants. Selling to the private label may mean the producer is cash strapped or could not sell it through regular markets.
A few years ago Total Wine was selling private label Barolo $6.00 cheaper than other bottles of that vintage and it was awful. I did not think it was possible to make a bad wine from Nebbiolo but the winemaker succeeded.
I'm a bigfan of the Wine List in Summit. They have a very good selection, without being overwhelming. Somewhere between the Wine List (when they're stocked) and a boutique. Also a very good beer selection. And the staff is very helpful and I've never found them to be push. Great cheese too!
Total Wines Private label is Saranty Imports. They are also doing private label liquor with copycat labels. The employees are told to push their private labels, most of which are mediocre at best. The WO store layout is a nightmare to navigate and makes no sense at all
I like Stew Leonard's for mid-low priced wines.
I went into Cool Vines in Westfield but they were blasting some heavy metal/acid rock and couldn't handle it and left
Agree about Wine Library, I was never really a fan.
Wine Legend is opening a store in the Whole Foods mall in WO. I really don't know much about them.
Most of the WO stores are ok for a bottle or 2 but nothing to write home about
White Bordeaux pairs well with piripiri chicken and Yacht Rock Revue on Spotify. OMG I know all the words.
Another shout out for Chamber Street Wines. It's the only store in the city that carries Cour Cheverny and a wide selection of cru Beaujolais which I like to give my staff for Christmas. They also have the best selection of organic and biodynamic wines in the city.
hankzona said:
I think its good to really get to know someone on staff in a wine store. Some places I buy wine, staff members know what I like and look for, and I even have gotten to know their tastes. Its like a movie reviewer...you tend to go back to the one who writes reviews that tend to be in sync with what you like. Joel Siegel thought every movie was a blockbuster...they aren't. Any wine person who tells you every wine is amazing is like Joel Siegel. Also, try to establish a customer relationship in more than one place...not every store carries every and all the same wines. T
Couldn't agree more. The manager/buyer at the Wine Store (diagonally across the street from the Springfield Shop Rite and just up Morris Avenue from Wine Library) was my go-to guy a few years ago. While the store was small, he knew what I liked and always hooked me up with a great mixed case for a reasonable price. But, he's gone, and the store now is a mess (at least it was last year when I went). I also agree on Gary's staff - several of them are super knowledgable but don't make you feel like a peasant for not knowing the third varietal in a regional blend from lower Slobovia.
Cool Vines in Westfield is an amazing wine shop. They don't carry big-name brands and do an excellent job picking smaller vineyards and less-known stuff of great quality and good price. They do a nice tasting every Saturday and the staff is awesome
Cool Vines in Westfield is an amazing wine shop. They don't carry big-name brands and do an excellent job picking smaller vineyards and less-known stuff of great quality and good price. They do a nice tasting every Saturday and the staff is awesome
slight drift but where would i find a better assortment of hard liquor ( tequila ) was going to wine library and vey limited selection - or is this antoher thread that should be started -- what the best tequila (within a modest budget )
Were you looking upstairs at Wine Library? When I was looking for a specific brand of tequila they had at least two dozen, including all of these:
http://nyti.ms/146dTlB
Not a tequila fan, but the review might be helpful.
Total wine had a very extensive Tequila section - had a lot of brands I only saw in Mexico
Sometimes the bigger the store, the narrower the selection...I think box stores are a good example of that. And although its not my favorite store, they do have wine you wont find elsewhere. Someone this week asked me about wines to pair with Lebanese food and I suggested Lebanese wine and WL had 7 or 8 including some from two producers I knew to be very good. I have seen a decent collection of southern Italy at WL, but most places will be front loaded with Tuscany, the Veneto and Piemonte, because that's what sells most. The former general manager at Gary's told me 75-80% of the wine they sold was from California and Italy. Now, that doesn't mean 75-80% of their stock was from there but it definitely leans heavily. You carry what people buy. He once asked me if I had tasted anything different and I told him about these excellent Turkish wines I had had made from native grapes. He said, Is love to try them but I could never carry them at the store because they probably wouldn't sell. He is almost certainly right.
were you willing to buy the entire case? as long as a store has a relationship with a wholesaler, they should be flexible...of course, the extra cost of only ordering one case gets passed on to you since in NJ, the wholesale cost of wine depends on the amount of wine purchased (one reason why small stores have a disadvantage off the bat against the big players). Some wholesalers also have an order minimum so a one case order with a wholesaler they don't work with already is even less likely. Of course, a place their size is more likely to have a relationship and can absorb a one case order within a larger order, so it may simply be a case of someone being dickish. It is also possible the wine is not available in the US, or in NJ...or they dont want to order the wine and only know for sure they will sell someone one or two bottles. At a place like Wine Library, those Top 10 wines are wines they get better deals on because they have gone long on the orders for them...so the margin is better or they sell them at a lower profit (you cant sell alcohol below wholesale price by law but again your wholesale price is determined by how much of the wine you buy).
An example of a major buy in on a promotion from the bonded warehouses is Bogle Chardonnay. Total Wine sells it at $6.07 (no further discounts allowed) which is less than most stores can buy it for. Total Wine had to buy a lot.
Bogle produces over two million CASES of wine a year...they are one of the largest independent producers (but as an example, Barefoot, owned by Gallo, had five times the Bogle volume in sales). So a national chain like Total Wine is buying not ten cases (which is a significant commitment for many wine stores) but tens of thousands of cases.
Chains like Total Wine, Gary's etc. makes deals with the wineries, and the NJ company that sells the wine/liquor/beer files separate pricing that is 'hidden' from other retailers. The quantities they have to purchase are huge. They may also receive special incentives to buy the huge quatities that can be anything from grills, to boats to monetary incentives.
In many cases smaller retailers can buy in groups and get the same price if there is no national deal and they buy the qualifying quantity level. They may also pay an additional delivery fee.
Right...for example, there is a large consortium of Indian wine store owners in NJ that buy in bulk. There are special national sales operations with the larger wholesalers and incentives aren't always a reward but at times a way to tie up a customer. Some large wholesalers will only give a restaurant or store Brand A if they carry Brand B and maybe even C. Or they may tell a restaurant that they will give them free beverage napkins or print their menus for free for six months. As in other businesses, the large try, and often succeed in pushing out the small. On the flip side, some of the big players on the buying side ask for and receive incentives, including monetary kick backs. One slight exception though...a Gary's or Wine Library is huge compared to much of its competition in NJ, but still nowhere close to Total Wine, Target, Costco, Whole Foods, etc, who are the largest players. Their incentive and pricing programs are on another level.
Ten years ago I was told by an independent wine store owner that the Bogle buy in for the lowest price at that time was 4,000 cases.
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private label and co-operative wines can be great, good, acceptable or sucky...it depends on the wine maker. When they are on the plus side of the quality range, they should be excellent values. Co-operatives make and market wine from a group (varying in size) of grape growers and/or winemakers and the wine is then sold under one name. The worst example off the top of my head is Santa Margherita. The best example off the top of my head is Produttori del Barbaresco. Private label wines can be mass produced and marketed with a name that makes you think you heard it before. It can be misrepresented as Wine Library often did with their Clone 5 and Sharpshooter ("we loved this so much we bought the whole lot of it for you!"). Or as Gary's does, they tell you right in the store that its private label, all the wine names have the owner's initials in the name (GF...like Go Figure) and in some cases, the name of the winery even appears somewhere on the label, and they will tell you what the wine might cost under the winery's label. I think that's the right way to do it, not just for private label wine, but any private label consumer product.