Total Wine is coming to Minneapolis -St Paul Metro - What should we expect?

WINE TALK
41

That’ll be handy as I’m looking for kindling for this winter’s bonfires;)

42

I’ve visited two locations in Raleigh. Huge selection but not too many wines that interested me. (I will have to check it out for Ridge Geyserville and Lytton Springs.) I did find several rose’ wines to have over the summer and as another mentioned, some Sauternes at reasonable prices. I went back for more of the 2007 Doisy-Vedrines which I quite liked. I haven’t been back for several months now.

43

TW is a customer of mine, just fyi.

On the other hand I dont find the stores as non geek wine worthy as many of you seem to.

The selection is so large its often hard to really find the wines many of us would want. I have found it can take an hour to get through the cab section.

Out of my roughly 600 bottles I really only have less than 50 from tw, but we find many of our daily drinkers there, especially in the summer. Its fun to go try a random bunch of whites and rose and be able to go back and get more if you find one you like.

On pricing, I find it hit or miss. I can say often if I search wine searcher, TW will have the wine I want at one of the lowest prices. Especially camleback in PHX.

You do have to watch prices on mid level wines as they can magic turn a 35.00 bottle elsewhere into a 45.00 bottle there, but thats any store really.

I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt they bring local wine stores much more inline with competitive pricing. I know I saw a major shift in my favorite local store. The good news is two years later both my favorite local stores are still open and thriving, but they are different now, and in a good way.

44

I thought Phil must have died.

45

What - the TW is going right next to an existing Trader Joe’s, which is where I though you bought most of your wine anyways. [berserker.gif]

46

for some reason the TW in Laurel MD has some killer cognac deals. Prices way below anyone I’ve seen. Ex-Decourtet XO for $42 and there are others. Just the thing for a cold winter’s night.

47

Been going for 5 years…seen one coupon in that time…if something sells well the price starts creeping up…bordeaux used to be very well priced, not anymore…recommendations from staff are usually private labels with the most mark up for the company…the wine consultants(insert laugh track) are told to push these labels period…I go or Rioja and great beer selection…good luck

48

I’ve seen Joe’s cellar, it’s fantastic! (and I’m still holding wine for him to pick up).

49

50

LOL! [cheers.gif]

51

Not sure what is going on, but the Bloomington City Council tabled the issue until an April 2014 hearing.

52

Went to Total Wine for the first time in Seattle. The selection seems to be decent for a store that size.

I bought their last two bottles of Domaine Serene - Evenstad Estate.

53

I went to Bellevue recently and found some good deals on WA and OR wines. One weird thing the people have done on more than one occasion is walk up to my cart and inspect the bottles I have selected, and make remarks like “oh that one is pretty good,” or “you seem to be picking some decent wines,” or “you really should buy so-and-so”. It feels very judgmental, like an invasion of privacy and is very annoying.

54

What is going on here is that the licensed beverage association in MN pulled a bunch of complaints from other states against Total Wine to delay the decision on the liquor license for Total Wine in bloomington, at least that is what has been reported. So as of last night they were saying the earliest the store will open now is May of 2014.

55

Wow, I thought they were just trying to keep them away during the year end December wine bonanza. Bummer!

56

They have a location in the Albany area?

57

Hard to add anything to the general consensus here, which is pretty much spot-on, imo. Nothing nefarious about the place, though.
And I do remember being in a mom-and-pop Willamette Valley tasting room last year, and the lady said, “Oh, we just began distribution in Virginia. We’re in Total Wine.”
So there are some surprises there.
Back when I was a pup of 21 or so, I used to stop in to Total and buy Columbia Crest Grand Estates Cabs for $6.99, which I thought was awesome stuff at the time.

58

Recently revisited a Raleigh-area TW to stock up on Ports for a Port-focused tasting. I can’t say they had everything I wanted, (I don’t think they had the 20-year Cockburn Tawny) but they did have a good variety including white Port and ruby Port so I can show a progression up to 10 and 20 year old Tawnies and a vintage Port.

59

If I had one close I would browse every now and then.
Even though they mostly have mass produced uninteresting stuff, you never know.
I recently saw Drouhin Clos des Mouches for $65 at Total Wines online.

By the way, I heard Sam’s is expanding… [snort.gif]

60

I’m going to Total tomorrow, so I’ll wade in. Have not been there in about 3 months, but it is a block away from another appointment. Likely I will leave with a six pack of every day drinkers, probably 4 whites and 2 reds. They have a good selection of Italians, some ok Rhones, and the usual chardonnay suspects. The pinot aisle is ok, too, although I already have enough pinots. I have seen Kutch and Bevan wines on the shelves. Over 50 percent of their sales (not sure if that’s dollars or cases) are their own swill. If you play dumb and ask one of the consultants for a rec, they will always steer you to those.

As an aside, it figures that Minnesota would try to delay them; what a strange set of liquor laws. Is Sam’s supposedly opening in Minneapolis? I heard that rumor.