December 12 2007
Whenever somebody who is interested in wine, but not completely comfortable with the subject asks me where I buy wine, I usually glance over the question and make a recommendation for where I think THEY should buy wine.
Invariably the question is a leading one in order to find a spot that satisfies a couple of criteria—reasonably priced and giving of the ability to shop with a modicum of dignity for those that don’t like to enter the fray of retail help with the winemonger.
My recommendation? Cost Plus World Market. Don’t laugh. I’m serious.
These worldly purveyors of home bric-a-brac and housewares, found in most major cities, also have a decent, mid-priced wine section in most stores. Frankly, you could send a blind man into the wine section and he would come away with an affordable, eminently quaffable wine.
Yes, a blind squirrel finds a nut occasionally and a reluctant wine consumer can find a good wine at World Market. Unless I lose my wine blogging cred. here, note that I’m saying “eminently quaffable” not “eminently profound.”
The Cost Plus World Market wine section is like Garanimals for adults. Confidence runs high when risk is low.
This store is a good choice for a couple of reasons. First, the selection is carefully edited with a manageable number of SKU’s per wine region—Australia, French, California, etc. Therefore, the mind-numbing array of wine is reduced for the casual buyer. Second, the wines are all in the premium category, so you’re eliminating the plonk for your casual wine drinking friend who might be persuaded to go $5.99 as opposed to $12.99, all things considered equal, if he’s at the grocery store. Third, most of the wines they sell at World Market are well-reviewed and value buys according to professional wine reviewers. You’ll see lots of decent to good wines from Smoking Loon, Castle Rock, Rosenblum, and others.
So it was as I entered World Market just this evening to pick up a Petite Sirah for Wine Blogging Wednesday. World Market was not my original destination, but a good spot nonetheless.
The wife and I are in the midst of moving domiciles in Indianapolis, so I’ll now have a couple of wine shops a touch more convenient to me, even if I am noting that one such store happens to close at 7:30 pm, as I found out when I pulled in the parking lot at 7:43. I felt like pulling a Chevy Chase from the movie Vacation, and demanding that Wally World open. Alas, I beat a hasty retreat around the corner to find my Petite Sirah and 10 other impulse bottle buys at the emporium of African masks made in China.
I picked up the 2006 McManis Family Vineyards Petite Sirah as well as the 2005 Jewel Petite Sirah, both Lodi region wines.
As you would expect for Lodi wines at a Cost Plus World Market in Indianapolis, IN for $9.99 a piece, both delivered admirably and capably at price point.
The Jewel, in particular, was a touch more fruit forward and complex with a hint of toasty oak on the finish. The McManis, a nice wine, yes, just seemed a little less refined in the head to head tasting.
This month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday is a good one, highlighting Petite Sirah, a wine that is too frequently given short shrift amongst domestic wine drinkers. But, as I mentioned, even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then and you can find a couple of decent nuts at your local national chain of house warmth goodness, particularly in the California Petite Sirah wine section.
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