I just moved from the Bay Area to Bergen County (Old Tappan) in Northern New Jersey. Trying to navigate New Jersey’s liquor laws and to find good wine shops in the area. Any suggestions on where to find good wine selections? So far I’ve only been to Wegmans and Bottle King, both of which have mediocre wine sections. I’m mostly in search of places that carry a good selection of California wineries (e.g. Carlisle, Alpha Omega, Bedrock, Turley, Saxum, etc.), but I also buy Rhône’s, Bordeaux, and Champagne on occasion. There is a Total Wine not too far from me, but I prefer supporting the smaller shops. I will be working in Tarrytown, so New York is also doable as long as I don’t have to travel in to the city.
Living in New Jersey is quite a change from being only 45 minutes from Napa…
The Bottle King on Route 17 in Mahwah is the good one (and you can visit Kinchley’s for pizza and egg creams before or after your visit).
The good Westchester stores might be more convenient. Nothing much on the Rockland side of the border.
Edited to add: nothing much in the way of good wine stores but you’re not far from Rockland Bakery if you want to get good bread. My favorites are the challah, onion rye and Irish soda bread.
You mean Westchester Wine Warehouse? A few years ago while wasting time (wife was getting fish/vegs at Apple Farm in same plaza) I told aggressive manager I was just looking. He moves on, a sales rep comes in. I’m next aisle as rep starts telling manager about the great pricing they’ll give on a new CdR if they take quantity, will have samples next week. Sales manager “great, we’ll take a pallet- we’ll slap a 92 on it and move it all in a week” Haven’t stopped in there since.
I’d second GTWC/Posner, but need to be on email list to get the sharp pricing. Grape Expectations in T’town is a cute little store, nice people though not a huge selection, and a little more quirky Euro oriented.
Varmax in Port Chester has wider selection and decent pricing (coupon on website). Zachys is big but pricey, though occasionally great deals. Wine Connection/Max is a good store, but long ways from T’town. As Jayson mentions some NYC stores deliver free to Westchester.
Gary’s in closter is pretty good. They get a good amount of burgundy and Bordeaux and often have good prices. And welcome to the hood! Someone should organize a north-east Bergen offline one of these days…what we lack in wine stores we certainly make up for in byo restaurants.
Echo Gary’s Wine and Marketplace. He has been an acquaintance of mine for 15 years and runs a great business. A few things worth noting in addition to the fact he has a great selection of domestic and international wines:
If the store doesn’t carry something you want, in a lot of cases it can still acquire it either direct from the winery (if it is someone they deal directly with) or through various distributors. You can go to the store and talk to one of the wine buyers/managers, they should be able to help you. If you have troubles, let me know and I can direct message you my contact.
They will take back/replace any bottles you purchased from the store if they are corked upon opening. Assuming you drank them within a reasonable amount of time or purchase, bring it back in and talk to one of the wine buyers, they will take care of it.
They will deliver to your house, assuming it is within a reasonable distance to a store.
Definitely check out the Gary’s in Wayne, about 30 minutes from where you are. Pretty solid. Wine Library in Springfield is a good 45 minute drive but also one to visit.
Gary’s is a good operation. Very consistent selection year in and year out, good prices, sometimes very competitive. Also, quite a few house labels ((GF wines) that you should try and decide for yourself if they are of value ( some folks do, some do not); are often being poured at the tasting bar. Bottle King is even more warehouse styled and priced, usually very sharp pricing, but other than the very long list of crappy house brands, it is not always going to carry a consistent slate of brands. But they do get some surprising, e.g., not widely available, very good wines at very good prices, so it is good to keep an eye on them.
Jon, Gary’s wine and marketplace carries Carlisle, Bedrock, and Alpha Omega. A fair amount of the GF wines or white label wines Gary’s offers are from Alpha Omega, so he has a business relationship with them directly. They will stock the estate cab and Chardonnay after the fall release each year. The single vineyard wines might or might not be in their wood rooms, but can definitely be acquired through their distributor or the winery. I have done so in the past to get their LPV bottling.
They also carry a nice selection of other winemakers. Will find Rivers Marie, Spottswoode, Barnett, Bevan (on occasion), Dancing Hares, to name a few you might not find at the big box store.
Unfortunately I have not seen much in the way of Turley or Saxum, but could always inquire.
Welcome to the area and if you truly wish to shop local, I work at the liquor store in the bistate Plaza in Old Tappan on Saturday afternoons for fun and would be happy to chat, try to win your business but if not, am equally happy to point you in the right direction.