Bonjour,

I'm a French (with italian parts and snowbirds relatives) wine enthousiat that lives in Lyon, in between Burgundy and Rhone valley. I have a decent knowledge of French wines and pairings (get in touch, I'll be pleased to share what I know). I'm used to tasting wines from all over the places (even Bolivia, quite good by the way) either at home or while backpacking. My grand pas used to have small vineyards for the familly (nearby Lyon and Piemonte). I'm used to attending the Ampuis fair (where Cotes Roties, Cornas, Saint Joseph, Condrieu, Crozes Hermitages local producers go) and do my wine shopping in small liquor stores. Those are easily recognizable because they belong to a specific association.

I'm curious on how things happen on your side regarding local dealers. Are they competitive (vs supermarkets)? Do they have good knowledge of wines? How many of them have a wine catalogue (and not only beers and alcools)?
Anyone to provide me with some insights?

Thanks in advance,

Sitire
from latin (to be thirsthy, to have thirst for ... knowledge)

Regarding supermarkets, it's nothing like France.
Here most of the wines are low end.
I do most of my shopping on the internet because I can usually find what I'm looking for cheaper in another State.

It is very different from state to state, and sometimes from county to county. Where I live, you cannot buy beer, wine or liquor in a supermarket. Liquor is only sold by the government, in their stores. Beer and wine is sold in "beer and wine stores" but they are supplied 100% by the county government. This makes for poor selection and very high prices.

Some of the better stores in Washington, DC (which is not too far from me) have very good wine selections and catalogues.

PH

Welcome,

Our largest wine retailer uin the United States is Costco, a large low price store that sells items in large quantities and low prices. They have gotten very competitive in terms of both selection and price, up to and including Classified Growth Bordeaux, Burgundy Premieres Crus and some pretty good wines from elsewhere.

The standard grocery stores buy wines that appear on intensive marketing data to be sure to sell and turn over before the invoice is due. Our grocery stores have improved their selection dramatically over the last 10 years, as wine quality and an influx of wines from all over, most prominently Australia, have hit our shores.

With Internet access to online retailers, auctions and the loosening of state to state direct shipping to consumer laws, most sophisticated wine buyers buy much of their wine away from there local market (the store down the street). I certainly do. Besides "house wines", I buy everything else away from my local stores.

In the U.S (minus locked down states), you can pretty much search and buy any wine you want.

Yeah, it varies tremendously by state.

It's all a question of whether you want the best wine at a price or the best price for a wine.

For the first part, in California there are some good deals to be had in supermarkets and you can get some decent higher end stuff there, but obviously it has to be from a fair sized producer.

Similarly we have the warehouse chains like Costco that sell more wine than anyone else. Their prices are lower than almost anyone else, and they do carry some very interesting stuff occasionally.

As for local dealers, they range from the no frills, sell-it-out-of-the-box type such as The Wine Club (no disrespect intended) which is very similar to Oddbins or Majestic in the UK and now I believe mainland Europe too, to the more upmarket ones with nice wooden racks and prices to match. That type is finding it harder to compete now that the Internet is here and are having to lower their prices.

Bonjour,

Many thanks to all who have kindly answered to my post.
It appears that supermarkets are now leading the market in terms of volumes of sales. However, it seems that a portion of consumers are buying on line. My feeling is that those who buy online are searching for specific products which tends to impact more local liquor stores than supermarkets. Am I right?

This is based on the French experience : people who buy online are those who are used to visiting local liquor stores, not supermarkets. But they have no time to go searching in various liquor stores. Those visiting supermarkets are not aware consumers (??). Online buyers know the product, they know what they want and they do want it. Do you feel there is any canibalisation out there, or is it a misunderstanding on my side?

Best,

Sitire

People who want to buy "a bottle of wine" will typically go to a supermarket. They are the majority. People who want to buy a specific bottle of wine will do more research and will go to a specialist retailer, either a bricks-and-mortar store or an on-line site.

One of our local stores - Beltramos - is a high-end place. A while ago they cut their prices across the range by about 10-20% because they were losing out to online retailers. Last time I checked they had no on-line inventory.

Around here the smart stores - wine club, K&L - are making good use of the internet as well.

I purchase wines from multiple sources. Many new releases of higher end wines are available at supermarkets in upscale neighborhoods. I purchased a case of 2002 Insignia from a local Vons store for about $95 US with case and club discount.

I purchase most highly allocated wines from mailing lists. It took several years to get an offer for many of them.

New release wines I often purchase from the internet or other large retail outlets.

Older wines I purchase almost exclusively from a small brick and morter retailer that I know has proper storage.