Sorry for the teaser in the subject line...I just couldn't resist. As I'm getting back into wines more seriously, I really need to find a good local wine merchant that has the full spectrum of quality lines. Since I'm not Bill Gates, I need to buy some inexpensive wines as well as some "moderately priced" ones. I live in northern VA, and I think that there must be some really good wine merchants in VA, DC, and MD, which are all in my normal travels. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Andy
Just from a mailorder standpoint, the ones I know are MacArthur's/Bassins and Calvert-Woodley. I've periodically ordered from Mac's, and Mark S. recently turned me onto C-W during a Burg sale. My impressions are that both are slightly high-priced, but then have periodic sales that are pretty good. Just got a C-W mailer re 2000 Bdx sale, no fantastic prices, but some decent ones on nice wines like du Tertre, etc. They also are listing Corbin @ $20, which they told me was sold out couple weeks ago (it showed quite well against the big boys at a horizontal). They also seem to have decent prices on some everyday South American and Australian offerings.
Best, Dale
Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply
MD has only one that comes to mind, which is Silesia in so PG county
DC has many. MacArthur, Schneider, Calvert Woodley, Paul, Ace(yes. ACe), And probably a couple I am missing.
No VA has a number of smaller good shops. Arrow has great specials, I do not shop in No Va, so I do not know the names of the others.
I would recommend you avoid whaterver Total Beverage is now called, other than to look at the shightly damaged merchandise.
DC does not have the three tier system, so can on occasion, have terrific values as they taske their proffit only once.
What are you implying about Total? Do they buy damaged goods or simply don't handle it well or what. Now that Total is not part of the Haft empire but rather is part of Total Wines Inc which is the largest wine retailer in the US, I have not heard those complaints. I don't shop at Total because I am in Maryland but I have met a lot of very professional people that work for Total at various DC events.
If the label or the capsul is damaged, the price is very low. Sorry about the word choice.
Now that Total is not part of the Haft empire
They sell a huge number of private labled wines, and I have not found any of their prices, other than mistakes to be particularly good. They are usually 10-30% higher than the DC retailers.
I have met only one or two Total employees at any of the events I have attended. Price and professionalism do not necessarily go hand in hand.
Have you been to Corridor Fine Wines in Laurel? It's under the same management as Total and the look and feel of the store is practically the same.
dcr
Yes, I have. A friend was working on a consulting basis when they first opened. I told him I though all the prices were quite high. He responded with "Yes they are, but in a store this big, they've got to make mistakes". It took 10 minutes to find a RP90 rated Chablis mispriced at $9 instead of $19. Bought 4 cases and got the additional
10% case discount. Went back later and found Jacqueson Rully for under $10.They d>
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