Seattle Wine Shops

[col klink]

I mentioned my wine shop in the inaugural bbq thread and I am curious about other wine shops in the Seattle metropolitan area.

My favorite shop is Le Savoir Faire on 15th and Lake City Way on the outskirts of Maple Leaf. It's run by a cute little French guy named Samy who's specialty lies in fantastic French wines between $8 and $18 but carries a wide variety spanning the gamut of prices and localities. I bought some great Italian and Washington wines there as well. So far my favorite wine is (and this was a winner at the 'que) 1998 Domaine Fond Croze Cotes du Rhone that sells for $11. I'm sure I've bought at least 2 cases of the beautiful stuff over the last year. Samy's is the only shop that I know of that carries the Fond Croze.

Every Saturday from 1 to 3 he has a wine tasting and usually picks a cheese or spread to go along. I usually end up leaving with at least two or three bottles in my hand.

Occasionally I've dropped in to McCarthy & Schiering Wine which is adjacent to A&J's Meats on Queen Anne and they seem to have a decent selection as well.

[tighe]

Surprised no one responded to this one.....

For smaller places, I really like Madison Cellars in Madison Park. The owner is really nice and very knowledgable (at least compared to me). If you like Cote du Rhone's, he seems to carry a good selection of those (and other French).

I used to be a big fan of Esquin, but had a horrendous service experience there recently and will be reluctant to go back....

[Blue Heron]

tighe, what was your experience at Esquin, if it is not too personal? I used to like Esquin as well, however, and although it's not a big deal... I once made a special trip to buy a wine they had advertised on their monthly flyer. When I got there, they would not honor their flyer price as they said it was printed in error. It was only a couple of dollars difference, but I felt they should have honored the price as a matter of principle and good will, especially since I made a special trip. I haven't been back since.

I'm afraid I buy most of my wine at Trader Joe's or Costco, but I'm recently branching out a bit more. My favorite way to buy wine, of course, is on a wine tasting trip, whether it be in Napa, or Sonoma Valley's, or Eastern WA. I would also like to do a wine tasting trip to Oregon sometime. Linda, one of our new members from Oregon has a vineyard and/or winery I believe, and I'd love to hear more about it sometime, if she gets a chance.

edit: I also sometimes buy wine at the WA State liquor store. Occasionally they will have a good deal on a closeout (perhaps the winery has been bought out or has changed labels). I usually buy one bottle and if I like it, I go back to buy more.

[tighe]

BH....I went to Esquin looking for a specific wine, poked around around for a while looking for it and then asked one of their employees where I could find it. The guy said, "it's around here somewhere" and then walked away. I thought he might be going to find out, so I waited around. 15 minutes later I see him behind the cash register yuking it up with the other salespeople. I left.

There's nothing wrong with buying wine from Costco and TJ's. TJ's is always like playing the lottery for me...buy some cheap foreign wine, rush home and find out if its a diamond or a rock!....I thoroughly enjoy it and the ratio of good to bad has been pretty good.

[Blue Heron]

ha, that's our experience at TJ's too. We get lots of 1 bottles and try and figure out what we like. I edited my post above to say that we also go to the WA State Liquor stores, as well, and when we find a winner, we go back for more, especially good deals on closeouts.

[mamster]

Oh yeah, I kept meaning to respond to this after I went to the wine shop on 15th that I keep meaning to go to after a friend brought a great Cotes du Rhone from there to our house. Well, that sentence should be taken out and shot.

I still haven't made it in there. In the meantime, sometimes I shop at Delaurenti; they're quite expensive but have a good selection of Italians. Ditto that for the Spanish Table and port. La Tienda Cadiz has well-run monthly tastings. At the last one I was introduced to an unusual basque white, Txakolina. La Tienda also sells a delightful cheap tawny port (I love port) from one of the Portuguese-owned houses, Porto Barros. It's $17 and way more than twice as good as the $10 tawnies.

[tighe]

If you're talking about the place on 15th on Cap Hilll, that is a nice little shop with some good and unusual finds. I'm seeing a Cotes du Rhone theme here. Have to say I've only started focusing on them in the last year, but in my book they're the best reds for the money out there right now. The one that Klink mentioned is excellent and I also love the Perrin Reserve. There are other good ones I've had that I can't recall the names of. There was an article on the Rhone Valley in a recent issue of Food & Wine (I think). Between the wines I've had and that article, I'm totally jazzed about the idea of a trip there....

[Schielke]

Check out Leschi Mart in...well...Leschi. The guy there started the place as a grocery store and a place where he can make his own sausage (which is quite good) and the like. Slowly over the years, more and more aisles are taken over by his wine selection. Today it makes up at least 1/2 of the store.

He offers probably the best prices in town (even better than costco in many cases) and has a great selection.

Check out the Leschi Mart Web page.

Enjoy!

Ben Schielke

[girl chow]

This is a post for any South King County lurkers.

There's a fantastic little wine shop in Federal Way (I know, I know, something cool in Federal Way??) called the Wine Basket. The guy who owns it (or at least used to own it) is Cort Freeley (spelling?). He's one of the funniest wine guys I've ever met. He's a former techie who opened the shop in the early 1990s after retiring from IBM or some other giant computer company. He used to have wine tastings on Saturdays, which I had a great time attending. He always had a really interesting selection.

My wine drinking days have been pretty limited during the last three years thanks to motherly obligations, but I plan to start drinking again like a fish now that baby is weaned and mommy can liquor it up. A lot has changed with wine since I hopped on the wagon. I missed out on a lot!

The Wine Basket is located at 2118 S. 314th St., across from Target in Federal Way; 253-874-3070. They used to be located in South Federal Way, near Home Depot and Costco, but they moved :)

Also cool things in Federal Way in terms of food: Indochine, a great Thai restaurant like none you would ever think you'd find in South King County: Verazzano's, great Italian with a deck and a view.... also, Roncella's, a fabulous and very small neighborhood Italian restaurant. And, of course, Lobster Shop at Dash Point and Salty's at Redondo.

[MsRamsey]

I ran into the wine shop in Pioneer Square last night. Pretty nice place. Not a huge amount of stock, but they have every price range. The owner was very friendly and nice. They have tastings on most Saturdays at 1:00-4:30. I don't know the name of the store, but it's underground next to the flora/fauna bookstore on 1st.

Kathy

[malarkey]

While not technically a 'wine shop', I do love to go to Pete's just off of Eastlake. Very knowledgable staff, and a killer-diller selection of wines. Good prices too.

[Blue Heron]

I've ordered wine through a catalog a couple of times, and also online and found that to work well, and is convenient (but not as fun as poking around in wine shops). I've ordered a couple of times from Geerlings & Wade (www.geerwade.com), which has a warehouse in Auburn or Kent, I believe.

More recently I ordered some wine from www.enocollection.com, out of Portland, OR. They advertise themselves as sort of a premier Concierge Service, offering things from wine to caviar. I was surprised that for my 2 cases of wine, shipping from Portland to my doorstep (took just a couple of days to arrive) was only $6! If you order from them, I suggest calling them, as they sold me the wine for a cheaper price than was listed on their web site.