inexpensive wine store w/lots of Int'l & Ca wines?
Hi, I'm a NY chowhound coming to SF for the weekend for a wedding and am looking to find a wine store that stocks lots of CA wines and wines from abroad - esp. Italy - at inexpensive prices (if it specializes in hard to find wines it won't work for me, because I'm trying to find relatively inexpensive ($30 or less) wines for my wedding in Jamaica and the selection there is not the best). Any particular place in San Francisco you can recommend? (I don't have a car and no time to travel anywhere outside of the city). Also, it has to be open on Saturdays - since I only have a few hours before the wedding to shop. thanks in advance!
wurstle
Jun 10, 2004 09:58AM
Try The Wine Club on Harrison St (btwn 5th & 6th).
You can check their website first to see if you like the selection and prices. Just note that not all of the wines listed will be stocked at the SF store.
Link: http://www.thewineclub.com
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K&L (638-4th Street, SF) offers a good selection and reasonable prices, and if Mike Parres is in, he's a font of knowledge on Italian wines. He's steared me to some perfect-for-the-occasion wines at both ends of the price spectrum. The staff there is generally very knowledgeable, but Mike's particularly great for Italian wines.
Link: http://www.klwines.com/staff/staff_di...
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Second the K&L recommendation of Amalia. I've had good experience with them shipping to the East Coast for me.
And, as mentioned, check out the website. I've entered the homepage link below.
Link: http://www.klwines.com/default.asp
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Try Trader Joes- they have CA & international
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given your situation, just take a cab to k&l and then if that doesn't give you satisfaction, walk a few blocks to the wine club. both are semi-warehouse style, and have wide selections, good prices, and tasting bars.
ed
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Second the recommendations of Wine Club (the Costco of good wine) and K&L. They both have Web sites so you can check inventory.
For Champagne only, also D&M on Fillmore.
Trader Joes: generally, what's good's not cheap, and what's cheap's not good.
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I understand that you have time constraints, but consider this:
Although Paul Marcus Wine is located in Oakland, it is literally across the street from the Rockridge BART station...Rockridge Station is a straight-shot, no-transfer ride from SF.
Last fall, I helped some family friends with wine selections for their Italian themed wedding...they are a young couple on a tight budget...Paul Marcus was able to help them select two wonderful Italian wines that met their $10.00-ish per bottle budget. They give a case discount
Paul Marcus has a website, I think, so that you may be able to contact them in advance of your visit, and make some preliminary inquiries before you arrive.
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Paul Marcus has a good selection but they don't discount like Wine Club or K&L.
And there's no good reason to make a trip across the bay when there are similar stores such as Amphora, Ferry Plaza, and SF Wine Trading Co. (nee Mr. Liquor) in SF.
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I just did this for my sister's wedding.
We picked up a bunch of selections from K&L. I prefer K&L to the Wine Club. Much better customer service.
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I shop a lot at K&L (about every other week) and occasionally at Wine Club. The service is 100x better at K&L. Wine Club gives me the impression that they don't really care about my business (true of both the SF and Santa Clara locations, I've discovered).
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I've been shopping at both Wine Club and K&L for years, and have had more bad experiences with K&L staff. Sometimes they're downright rude.
But I'm not sure what you mean about service. I don't need them to do anything but ring up and box my purchases.
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True, I never realy need any of their help either (except for charging me).
The only thing I ever ask is if a certain wine I'm looking for is in stock.
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By service I mean not being rude, taking back corked bottles, and, if asked, offering suggestions.
Getting the Wine Club guy to recommend a port was like pulling teeth. He could not be bothered.
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Wine Club used to be the best price wise. Not so anymore. Premier Cru and Wine Exchange are usually better, and K&L is very close. On 2003 Bordeaux futures, Wine Club has been higher than the others by far.
As for a service comparison, I have tried to return maybe three corked bottles to Wine Club in four years. I have gotten attitude and resistance each time.
The last time I purchased about $300 worth of wine. I opened one of the bottles, an Elk Cove Pinot Gris, that was hideously corked. It was $10.98. I brought it back. The guy at the Wine Club said to me "how do I know you properly stored the wine?". I said its corked, not cooked. He said he would have to speak to a manager. They made a huge deal out of it.
Not only that, but their website blows. K&L has real time inventory of both locations and the warehouse and will transfer the wine to the nearest store at no cost. In my mind there is no comparison.
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glad to know i'm not alone.
i returned 4 bottles out of a case of 2000 bordeaux to them about a year ago because they had small drips around the capsule. i assumed they may have gotten hot at some point during shipment from france. instead of any professional concern or even sympathy, i got lots and lots of attitude from the staff, starting with contemptuous hauteur and progressing towards acrimony. they wouldn't even consider any possibility that anyone could've mishandled the wine other than me, their ignorant customer.
finally i get to talk to the manager who says he'll replace them when he can find other bottles. he leaves no doubt that he considers the entire episode to be my fault and that he is doing me a service of profound sacrifice and selflessness. they had splits of that wine, but they wouldn't give me 8 of them even if i paid a surcharge.
believe it or not, i'm still waiting. he has 4 bottles of mine which i paid for back in 2001. his name is william eagle, and the so and so hasn't returned my recent calls or emails. i can only assume their 'service' philosophy stems from his.
well, it's a warehouse, so maybe i'm expecting too much. it's just that anyone who works in a wine store should have some love of their product, and that kind of love likes to be shared.
and in case you're wondering, i brought the case immediately back to my cool, concrete-walled bayside condo, and kept it in a dark corner. sheesh.
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i am delighted to report that mr. eagle has just received the 4 replacement bottles i mentioned. i thank him and chowhound for bringing about this prompt resolution.
as an aside, i do still wonder how most bottles make their way here. i can only imagine a real possibility that they sit in a hot steel container on the docks of bordeaux, and/or on the container ship inching along the tropical canal of panama, or on the docks of long beach, or on the truck chugging up I-5 through the central valley. i never really thought about it until this episode, but now i wonder. perhaps someone in the business or studying wine marketing can answer.
and to the previous poster who returned corked wine, i give this comment-- a corked bottle is not the fault of the retailer. the feedback must find it's way to the bottler, who must invest in pricier corks. it's unlikely that the retailer can pass that feedback that far up the supply chain. a cooked bottle, on the other hand, is possibly the fault of the shipper, with whom the retailer should have a much more direct connection.
when i get a corked bottle, to some extent i consider it an accident of nature which is part of the roulette game wine lovers must play. this is an unfortunate price for tradition.
but this situation should not really be accepted forever, and we consumers should be open to any suitable alternatives the industry can find.
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thots on corked wines
Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...
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Our latest experience at Wine Club was inexcusable. I saw in their newsletter that they had some 1998 Vieux Telegraph Chateauneuf du pape at a good price but it was in the Santa Clara store only. Some other wines I wanted were also located in the SC store. So we placed a fairly large order (about a case of mixed wines) with the SC store, PAID for it and were told they had deliveries coming back and forth between SC and SF all the time and it should be there within 10 days. 10 days goes by and nothing. Called SC store. Got apologies and told we'd have it in a week. Still nothing. Called again, same story. Promised ABSOLUTELY that week. Then no call. Finally called a few days later to scream at the manager. We were told they did not have the CN du Pape, ran out of it even though we had ordered it and paid for it (I assume they sold it to someone else who they knew personally rather than us.) So, they sent the REST of the wine up to the SF store. Needless to say I was very angry since no one bothered to tell us this and the reason we were told they held the order was because they hadn't filled the CN du Pape part of it. We were also promised (a week ago or so) that they would credit our charge card for the wine we didn't get. Still hasn't happened. So I would say, DON'T shop at Wine Club if you want good service.
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Wine Merchant at Ferry Building - went in today and they showed me a red that owner Peter Granoff (master sommelier) said was incredible - eight buck! I have tried (and liked) so many reasonable wines there I don't go anywhere else - and they have a wine bar.
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So what was the wine?
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I've been very happy with the recommendations and selection at Weimax in Burlingame. The staff is very helpful and they've got lots of really nice things in the $5-$12 range. The wines don't taste "cheap" and everything has some personality. They offer case discounts on many of their wines, as well. Great web site. And a tasting bar with about 25 wines.
Paul Marcus in the East Bay, which someone mentioned, is also a store with many interesting wines.
Neither of these places sells based upon Parker points or numerical scores, awards, etc. Since they have knowledgeable people, they are quite capable of suggesting good wines.
Link: http://www.weimax.com
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I agree that Weimax is a great shop, one of my favorites in the Bay Area. Absolutely great people, and I love their drop-in tasting room.
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thanks for the recommendations!! Due to the fact that I had a delightful morning at the farmer's market in the Ferry Building (loved the salmon candy, the potato waffle, caviar and sturgeon at Tsar ------, the truffled mustard, the candied almonds and the magnificent produce) and then interesting and tasty dim sum at Yank Sing, I only had time to go to one wine shop and happened to be closer to the Wine Club than K&L so picked that. I found them to be very helpful and courteous (but then I'm a NYer who is used to being truly ignored and treated poorly at some better than thou NY wine shops) and I thought the prices were quite reasonable. They even offered to help me get a taxi. so thanks again for all the advice!! You made my short visit truly enjoyable.
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