Some of us love wine, really good wine. Some of us just love cheap wine. Some drink it every day and some drink it occasionally. No matter what type of wine drinker you are, you should always buy from a local wine shop.
Why, surely it’s much more convenient and cheaper to buy from a supermarket and you don’t have to talk to a pretentious sales person and reveal how little you know about wine. Of course big box stores offer a much bigger selection at even better prices, right?
While it may be more convenient to buy from the grocery store (yes, I have been known to do it in a pinch too), but all of the other reasons are mostly inaccurate. Not only will a local shop offer better wine for your money, it will increase your knowledge and love of wine. It will also provide you with the very best advice and guidance. Also, you will be supporting a local business person who’s employing people from your community. I can’t stress how important it is economically to support local shops, but that’s off topic.
Let’s start by looking at this from a business perspective. A wine store has a couple of things working against them. As we mentioned they aren’t convenient and have a limited selection, so they must make sure that it is worth you going out of your way to come in. Every bottle in the store must have great quality and great value. If someone pops in for the first time and grabs a bottle or two and one of them is not very good, that person won’t come back. How many times have you been disappointed in a bottle you got from a grocery store, but you keep buying from them anyway. That won’t happen to the small shop, every bottle needs to be a great value for the money. A small shop can do this because they deal with smaller distributers and smaller more boutique vineyards. Big box places mainly fill their shelves with wine from large producers that can supply all of their stores. That way they can buy in bulk and save money. They are not as concerned with value or quality. Some of the best wine values in the world are produced by smaller vineyards that can’t make enough wine to supply those stores. It takes a wine merchant that has the right connections, travels around the world to different vineyards and finds the best deals. Find one that is really good at that and you found your shop.
I know I keep harping on value, but in wine this is important. I don’t mind spending $60, $80 or even $100 on a bottle (if it’s a special occasion), but it better be worth it! I would need some guidance and a lot of trust in the sales person before laying down that kind of money for a bottle and there are a LOT of bad bottles, and bottles that need to be aged for years before they are even drinkable at that price. Believe me, wine is not a “you get what you pay for” type of thing. It is a lot easier to find a good drinkable $20 bottle than a $60 one. Even at your everyday drinking price of between $12 and $18, you want to feel like you got a great bottle for the money. I can tell you for sure that there is no way you can compare supermarket, big box wine to a local merchant. I buy bottles all the time for $12 to $18 in the local shop that are better than bottles I spent $40 on from the big retailers. It makes sense doesn’t it, if you spend $15 on a bottle and think this is kinda so-so, I’ve had better for $10. You won’t be back to that shop because it won’t be worth the inconvenience.
Lastly, because of the nature of this value hunting the wine turnover is pretty high as well. You can go into Harris Teeter and they have the same wine every time. Actually, all Harris Teeters have the same wine choices more or less. In the local shop, as vintages run out, they bring in different wine from other vineyards. Not that they don’t have some favorites that they try to keep, but there are always new things to try in there. I buy a lot of wine and always have new things.
So just to summarize, just looking at the brick, mortar and the wine in it, a local shop is going to have more good/great bottles for LESS money than a big retail chain. It has to, or it will be out of business for sure.
Now let’s talk about the staff. There is a common feeling that wine people are snobs and look down on people that don’t appreciate or understand (or miss pronounce) fine wine. While it may be true that there are some people like that, it’s isn’t the standard and it certainly shouldn’t be true of a good wine merchant. They want you to be happy and feel so good about your purchase that you will come back to buy every bottle of wine from them. They want every person in the world to drink wine and lots of it. Let’s face it they have a limited customer base. If you own a shoe store, you are selling something everyone needs. Wine has a small group of people to use as a customer base. Why would they ever do anything to turn anyone off from drinking wine and being a customer. No, their goal is to help, teach and support you in your quest to be a wine drinker.
Turnover in a wine shop is usually pretty low, so you will usually be seeing and talking to the same person or people every time you go. They get to know you and what you like and what you don’t like. They can help make recommendations that you will be happy with. Suggestions for pairing with foods and even recipes. I have even exchanged recipes with my sales person. Believe me these folks love to talk about wine and share their passion for it.
OK, now that I’ve convinced you to use a local shop which one should you choose? Well, first of all they should do all of the things that I’ve talked about here. Go and try some out. See how you get along with the people working there. A good personal connection with the owner or the manager is a great start to finding a shop you’ll be happy with. Buy 3 bottles at 3 different price points. A low end $10 or $11 one, a mid priced $15 - $18 and a decent, but not back breaking one in the mid $20s. If you’re new to wine or have a limited taste range of types that you like, ask for help. If you are comfortable take a shot yourself. Now have someone else set up a blind taste test. Write down your thoughts about each bottle and what you think they are worth. Try to be objective here and forget what you spent. Really try to price it at what it’s worth. Now check the actual prices and see how we did. Did you get good value wine? Did you like all of them? You should like ALL of them especially if you had help. If not keep looking. No store is perfect at matching your pallet, but you shouldn’t hit a clunker out of 3 bottles. I have been buying from the same shop for about 10 years and buy about a case a month for me and my friends and I have had maybe 4 bottles that I didn’t care for. That’s a pretty good hit rate. Honestly at this point I would walk in there and buy any bottle in the store at any price and be pretty confidant that I will be happy with my purchase and the money spent regardless of the amount I spent.
So where do I shop for my wine? I will tell you, but I have to tell you that just because this store meets my needs and has wine that fits my taste palate, it may not be a fit for you. Everybody has different tastes so don’t be afraid to explore. I tried several places before I found this shop. It’s Hillsborough Wine Co. in Hillsborough, NC. They have another location in Chapel Hill called Chapel Hill Wine Co. I have actually never been there, but they stock mostly the same things I think. The store manager in Hillsborough, Jen has been my go-to wine person for 10 years. I know a lot about wine, but I always let her pick out my wine for my monthly case. She knows what I like and what’s new and great. I tell her any special dinners we will be making and she makes sure to include the right pairings for those too. In fact Jen is so good at her job that I have been in the store and seen other customers come up to the counter with a bottle and Jen will say something like, “you won’t like that, I know what you drink and that isn’t you. That is spicy and leathery and you just don’t care for that.’ Now that’s service! She actually remember what people like and don’t. This is the type of place you want to buy wine from.
Cheers!
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