San Diego Wine Shops

One of my duaghters has just moved to San Diego and is in need of some advice as to where to buy wine. She’s fond of all wines, but most knowlegable about French and Italian varieties. Needs a good range of less expensive to mid range wines for daily drinking, but would like a place where she could splured of a $50-75 bottle from time to time.

Thanks in advance for all suggestions.

Vintage Wines over on Miramar is great. Back before COVID they did weekly tastings for a relatively small fee, which was always a fun experience. Their prices are generally pretty good as well.

For under $25-$30 house wine San Diego Wine company on Miramar is great, over that I second Vintage wines.

Vintage Wines is great. Over in La Jolla, Bird Rock Fine Wines has a great selection as well. Ken Chalmers owns the place and is very knowledgeable.

I am a long time customer of both Vintage Wines and San Diego Wine Co.
I have mixed feelings and since Covid have not bought much at either one.
Vintage Wines was awesome for their Saturday theme tastings.
But their web site totally sucks. Without going inside the store which I will not do, it is impossible to know what they have.
A wine shop without a functioning web site is worthless to me.
San Diego Wine is more lower end but they do also have a wide spectrum of wines.
I have gotten some smoking deals there on both well known producers and some unknown gems.
But those seem to be far fewer these days and they seem to be stuck on the same old stuff.
They also have a Saturday tasting but not nearly as nice as Vintage Wines.
Another good option is the Third Corner in Encinitas and Ocean Beach, they have a good selection and reasonable prices.
These days I buy most of my wine online, either direct with wineries, or online retailers.
With discounts and free shipping and a broader selection, it has eliminated the need to buy locally.
I am certainly willing to buy local if they make it worth my while.

I have family in SD and when we are there we go to San Diego Wine Company. Constantly changing, more Costco like than anything, but they can have some spectacular deals on good wines. When they are gone, they’re gone. We bought some wines early in the afternoon one day only to return to buy more later in the day and they were out.

Yep, had that happen several times.
Bought a bottle to try it and returned the next to buy more and they were cleaned out.

Wine Connection in Del Mar is a good option

Vintage Wines seems to have the best pricing in town, however most of their wines are not advertised on their site. Next choice would probably be Costco in Carlsbad, they seems to have the widest selection among the other Costco stores in SD. Lastly, Wine Connection in Del Mar, which has a fantastic selection, just slightly higher pricing.

Vino Carta is a great wine bar and retail shop (that, when I last visited, was 100% retail given COVID). Staff is knowledgeable, and a great selection of traditional and natural producers.

Second Vino Carta. The prices aren’t amazing, but they have a very good selection of European producers and Somm-approved US producers. You can also occasionally find some very good pricing at Herb & Wood in their retail section (e.g. Ridge Three Valleys for $20). Another real hit or miss is Crisp Beverages downtown. For example, they had a bunch of Bedrock offerings at one point (some at attractive price points). But most of their selection isn’t great.

The Carlsbad location is probably the best Costco in all of SD and OC

I have 5 Costco within 15 minutes of my house in OC and when I hit Carlsbad it’s “damn, why can’t mine be like this one?”

My list

Vintage Wines - great selection, limited stuff, very reasonable prices
SD Wine Co - great prices, some very good wines but less than vintage
Third Corner (OB or Encinitas) - was exceptional for quality and price but they sold a ton to diners that would pay $7 corkage to drink with meal and since that business died last year they pulled back big time on quality. Last time I was there it felt almost like Bev Mo. Ed Moore the owner has deepest connections in SD and Id expect them to return to better wines soon. Two or three times they get an insane deal on something a winery wants to close out. They get them because they have no website and it never appears online. They have the best email list of customers in town. She should get on it.
Costco - Ive had conversations with their in store wine specialists for years. Carlsbad is the best Costco around and 5 minutes from home but Morena is the flagship store. When they get very limited high end stuff it likely ends up there first over Carlsbad. Carlsbad is more consistent though.
Wine Connection Del Mar - has some of the best wines in town and knowledgable help. But it was sold a couple years ago and already high prices got higher. Still probably best place for Old World wines

Knowing all these places and the people that work in them very well Id say Vintage is her best bet for Italian and French. Just tell her to be watchful around Terry, he hates italian wines anyway

Is John still the owner there?

Yes, John is still the owner.

Vintage Wines, Ltd. has a good selection and excellent prices. John Lindsey and Terry Hudson are great guys. I would agree that the website is funky and does not nearly reflect their inventory.

San Diego Wine Company is a good shop with good prices and an excellent website. Matt Franke is a straight-shooter and a nice guy.

If your daughter lives close to La Jolla, Bird Rock Fine Wines is a good shop. The owner is Ken Chalmers, who is personable and pretty much always working in the shop. It is small, but the breadth of wines is excellent. Some wines are a bit more expensive than could be found elsewhere, but the convenience and level of service more than make up for it. BRFW’s website is excellent…I have ordered from them many times. I live in an adjacent state (Nevada) and the wines typically arrive at my door the next day (with very reasonable shipping fees).

Cheers,

Colin

Holiday Wine Cellar in Escondido has a fair selection of French and Italian wines, and is one of the few local wine shops to have more than half-a-dozen German wines for sale. If you go don’t miss the basement level where most of the better wine is stored.

It’s a nice shop, though the prices are on the high end if you aren’t a member of their wine club (the typical ‘we pick two bottles of wine for you each month’ kind of membership, along with 15% off other store purchases). Nice selection of spirits and beer as well.

Nice addition on Holiday and unique but can be pricey.

Probably would be good to know what part of town she was living in as there could be some other tips on shops and hangouts

Clos Wine Shop is run by my old friend and former sales rep here in NYC, Paul Masters and his wife. They lean to the natural/low intervention side of things. I don’t know what their pricing is like but I can definitely recommend them!

Thanks for the recommendations. Layvn was very grateful and us looking forward to being vaccinated so she can explore these offerings.

David, she lives in the Hillcrest/Bankers Hill neighborhood.