My favorite place to get a bottle of wine or three is the Balestieri Vineyards in Denver. The vint their wines in Denver and don't use nitrates or other preservatives in the wines. This is great as my wife is allergic to nitrates. She is able to drink as much much wine as the next person and not have any ill effects.
And, we are members of the wine of the month club so we always keep the wine cooler full.
FleetingSmoke I think I am allergic to nitrates too. Sometimes, I get the absolute worst heartburn. I am deducing this from eating cured meats (deli stuff, bacon anything with pink salt). But I am Polish and born and raised in Chicago. While I have cut down, I will not cut out. 🤣
I looked at their website….. very nice. My favorite reds are usually blends. Think GSM and the like. I also enjoy zins and syrahs. If I go heavy tannis like a big cab, then it has to be paired well with food.
Binny’s and Costco for us. We went to Napa for the first time ever last fall and ordered about 12 bottles. We’re not big wine drinkers and still have some bottles left from Napa, which I really like.
I married an Italian too and my father in law makes his own wine so we always have at least a bottle homemade vino at our disposal.
State law in Arkansas doesn't allow wine clubs, etc. In other words, no wine can be ordered from out of state! Hate that actually. We can have spirits shipped in. I am a fan of Armagnac and I can order it in. Usually when I go to a BBQ contest I'll go wine shopping in the area. I am a big fan of Central Market off of I-20 in Fort Worth and there's a wine store in an old grocery store in OK City that's fun. I search for Pauillac -- it's my favorite red, but has gotten to be rare and pricey. In a pinch for a red table wine any Merlot will do.
Weird, MI is the opposite, get all the wine you want (at least you used to be able to, not sure if that's changed) but no spirits. I can't even order spirits delivered from *within* MI. I don't understand those silly laws.
Scotch: Current favorite- The Arran (anything by them), Glenmorangie 12yr Lasanta, sherry cask finished. The Balvenie Double Wood, also like Oban 18yr, and The Glenlivet Nadurra (Oloroso sherry cask finished) among others. Neat please.
About meReal name: Aaron
Location: Farwell, Michigan- near Clare. (dead center of lower peninsula)
Occupation:
Healthcare- Licensed & Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) at MyMichigan Health, a University of Michigan Health System.
Hard to beat Total Wine, but they're as far away as the nearest Chick-fil-A to me (1.5hr minimum). There's a smaller version of that store nearer to me called Mega Bev. That place has the good stuff.
Here in the bullseye of Oregon wine country, we can literally walk to 17 tasting rooms, with another 250 wineries within a 20-mile radius. We're in 5 local wine clubs and get the majority of our wine directly from the wineries. We actually get to talk to the winemakers. Love the experience.
McMinnville is home to over 20 walkable craft beverage tasting rooms, and you can explore 250 Willamette Valley wineries and vineyards within 20 miles of town. Find your new favorite Pinot noir, craft beer, cider, locally roasted coffee or spirit.
A few of my Washington wine clubs are adding Pinot Noir, sourcing the grapes from Willamette Valley. I need to travel to Eastern Washington to visit the vineyards and tasting rooms in Walla Walla and Red Mountain but Woodinville near Seattle has a couple hundred tasting rooms in a condensed setting. The SODO district is also expanding and there are a few other locations with options. The PNW makes plenty of world class wines. What are your favorite Pino's?
https://www.splashwines.com/ Is very good. We have a lifetime membership for $150 and we have already earned maybe $60 off one-time discounts and the like so we can easily get a positive ROI here. 15 bottles is maybe $115 shipped.
Total Wine is a good mass-market store with huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge (wide?) selection. For us, it's a good place to go if you're looking for something very specific that may not be available at a local wine shop. Price-wise, we've found them to be typically very competitive. We do like their beer selections, usually.
We like having a relationship with local wine sellers. While their prices may be higher by a buck or two, the good ones know their inventory and can guide you in a way Total Wine staff are less likely to. (Not that the TW staff aren't knowledgeable, but it could be hit-n-miss)
Costco is a solid go-to. They will be names/brands you've heard of at terrific prices (and TW will usually be close in price if Costco is nearby). And those that you haven't heard of are usually going to be good too. We've shared in the Costco Wine thread elsewhere on this site that we are fans of the Kirkland wine labeled items ---- the Kirkland Pinot is typically very nice every year - at least, to us -- to bring it around to outta_ammo comment above.
Woot used to have wine sales that were decent to really good. When Woot got out of the wine business, they passed the reigns over to one of their partners, who runs CASEMATES in a woot-style method (sell a single wine for a day or two until it sells out, then sell a different bottle). Occasionally, they'll do mystery cases for about $100 - which can range from "OMG" to "WTH", but for a $9 price point -- how horrible can it be to try something new that *might* taste more expensive than that?
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