Half-litre Bottles of Wine in Montreal

[kpzoo]

Hiya, does anyone know which SAQ(s) in the Montreal area has the biggest selection of *half-litre* bottles of decent red wine? Bonus points for anything in the West End or downtownish. Hubby has already tried the SAQs on Monkland, Somerled & St-Jacques (near Loblaws), as well as at Rockland, but the selection is pretty limited.

Thanks for any help!

[carswell]

You know, given the uninspiring selection and relative expense of half bottles, hubby's best bet might be to buy full bottles and invest $12.55 in a can of Private Preserve, which is sold at many SAQ outlets. Then, when he uncorks a full bottle, he can transfer half the contents into a half bottle, squirt in some inert gas (which acts as a barrier to air and impedes oxidation), seal the bottle with a screwcap, stopper or cork and stick it in the fridge. I've kept bottles up to three weeks this way with little apparent deterioration.
www.privatepreserve.com
http://www.saq.com/webapp/wcs/stores/...

[kpzoo]

Ooh - thank you! He's been using a vacuum sealer-type thingee but it doesn't work that well. We'll check it out.

[hala]

hi,

usually the different SAQs will have a couple of standard 1/2 liter bottles and then each one will have a few bottles that the others might not have. So, my advice is when you see an SAQ stop by and look,

also, i found the SAQ near loblaws behind the radisson metro (penultimate station on green line going east) to have a bigger collection than the ones close to me. Just make sure to ask where their 1/2 liters are since they have them in two different locations in the store (one location for nicer wines)

[kpzoo]

Great tips - thanks, hala!

[heliotrope]

I realize you are asking for wines "in Montreal." I live in Montreal, but I’ve been able to scoop up quite a number of smaller format table wines in the Niagara region, when visiting the wineries directly. I don't know if many ship to Quebec, but here's the general web site, and it is possible there is a much wider selection of smaller format table wines this way: http://winesofontario.org/

Maybe someone there could help you.

I did look into one winery that stuck in my memory:
Frogpond
http://www.frogpondfarm.ca/
An organic winery, that regularly sells 500 ml format. I’ve bought the Cab Franc, great for the summer. All the wines I’ve tasted there are light, but tasty. This is a younger winery, and I think it is really great what they’re doing there. 10$ delivery charge per order (doesn’t seem to matter how much you order – that seems like a great deal) within Ontario, for other provinces, it says “please contact us”.

[kpzoo]

Thanks, I'll keep this in mind if we ever do a winery tour of that region, for sure! I appreciate the links.

For now, I'm just interested in Montreal sources. Hubby wants to be able to pick up a small bottle or two locally on a regular basis.

[carswell]

I think the answer is none. 500 ml isn't a very popular format for dry wines though a few winemakers (e.g. Radikon) are opting for it. Glancing quickly through the listings at www.saq.com and excluding dep "wines," I saw slightly more than half a dozen dry reds and zero dry whites (quite a few sweet whites, however). The Atwater outlet appears to have several of them.

Half bottles (375 ml) are a different story.

[MartinSLR]

Château Le Puy Bordeaux Côtes de Francs 2003 - 5617, avenue de Monkland
Brouilly Georges Duboeuf 2007 - 6600, chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges, 2675, avenue Van Horne, 2313, rue Ste-Catherine Ouest, 4855, rue Sherbrooke Ouest
Costalunga Bersano Barbera d'Asti 2006 - Dollard-des-Ormeaux boul. St-Jean, Dollard-des-Ormeaux boul. De Salaberry, Dorval rue Carson

[kpzoo]

Thanks, Martin - I'll pass these to hubby and see if any appeal!

[kpzoo]

OK, half bottles then! I don't know all the right lingo! ;-)

Thanks.

[MartinSLR]

use this
http://www.saq.com/webapp/wcs/stores/...

[kpzoo]

Thank you. :-)

[SnackHappy]

The Selection outlet on Beaubien has a pretty nice half-bottle section behind the information counter. It's not huge, but it's not bad.

Although, I'm still not clear on whether you're looking 500ml or 375ml bottles.

[kpzoo]

> Although, I'm still not clear on whether you're looking 500ml or 375ml bottles.

It doesn't matter - either is good!

Thanks for the Beaubien tip.

[MartinSLR]

Recherche avancée saq.com