I look for wine regions i know a little bit about or have been to first. In my case Bordeaux, Rioja, Napa and Central coast. Then I look for grapes that are either more unique to that area, say petite syrah or zin in California or well known as being exceptional from an area ie Napa Cab.
Or if i need help with choosing a wine -I know my tastes tend to run less fruit bombs more mineral -To choose a white example maybe i’ll say something like ‘i tend to like white bordeaux with semillon’ to the Som who is probably going to think ‘i’m def not going to recommend the Pinot Gris to that dude’ in the end the point is hopefully I end up with an interesting bottle. If you can get the wine person excited about talkng wine usually you are in good shape.
FTC confession - I hadn’t been to a TJ’s in almost 2 years. They keep discontinuing things I like, but when I was there recently I did realize I miss a few things about it.
Edit: I “found” some new things too. I pretty much bought everything @Dommy has mentioned on this and other threads, lol. Thanks!
I choose wines primarily to learn more about them. Whatever wine I don’t think I understand, I buy that. And I also just buy stuff I like — but even then I try to understand the nuances.
I ordered from Kermit Lynch a few times during covid. They offer free shipping over $125 and they were doing 10% off a case (not sure if this still apllies). If you don’t want to join the club this is a good option.
I think the $15 - $20 table wines have been great. Super value.
Thanks @js76wisco. I was thinking the same thing - maybe it’s better to take advantage of the offers instead of committing to the club. I got this package and only opened 2 bottles, so far. One (‘18 Vittoria Frappato) I didn’t like and the other (‘19 Gard Rouge “Cru-Elles”) I loved. The dislike of the Frappato may be based on personal preference.
Generally I find Kermit’s wines too expensive compared with similar wines from other importers, except at the low end. And since they’re an importer / wholesaler / retailer, they typically don’t want to undercut their wholesale customers by discounting retail prices, so you can often find wines they import cheaper elsewhere.
The $39 club might be OK for local pickup but given shipping cost it would make more sense to place a $125 order once in a while.
The Hi Times end of the year newsletter. They are the best wine shop in the OC (IMHO). I tend to try finding wines from regions I am less familiar with like Greece, Slovenia, Georgia and others. I also like looking for natural wines on the list.
Hi Times is great and they have some harder to find tequilas that I like to try so it’s not always 1942 I’m sipping on. For natural wine you should definitely check out semi tropic which isn’t far from hi times.
Haha timing is everything. I went to Hi Times this morning to grab a case of wine. Younger gentleman helped me pick a wide variety of table reds ~$20 per bottle. One was from Crotia that seemed interesting. We’ve been leaning more towards old world lower alcohol reds but still good body and structure. Most of the bottles were French and Italian. It’s always fun trying out new bottles.
Hi Times seems to be consistently receiving shipments of Meinklang. Saw 3 different types while shopping in the Germany Austria section.
