best premium plcb in/near philly?

WINE TALK
1

one of my band practices in philly about once a month or so, so i figured i would start checking out the plcb stores around to see what chairmans selections were around.

a few weeks ago i went to the one on columbus in philly and i got a 1998 heitz bella oaks for $30 which was pretty tasty, but not earth shattering. worth $30 for the reference point.

yesterday i stopped in media and picked up telmo rodriguez molina real 06 for 24 (wholesales over 40 in md and was my gf epiphany wine. major bonus points for this purchase) and ken forrester chenin 05 for $13. i met and tasted with ken a few months ago and loved his stuff. my store has been carrying his petit chenin for 2 years now, but it was my first chance to try his nicer stuff. hopefully this will show well.

are there any other shops worth checking out? i picked those two based on their location and where i was heading. i like some of the deals that they have at the state stores.

2

The best PLCB shop - IMHO - is the one in Ardmore. It has a good group of wine guys doing the buying.
Ardmore is also one of the busiest stores in the system - and is sometimes the #1 store - esp with wine special orders.

3

Agreed re: Ardmore. Franklin Mills seems to pop up often on my searches but I’ve never been there. I frequent 1913 Chestnut. It’s not good. 1218 Chesnut is better, but not by a lot.

4

Ardmore and Franklin Mills seem good. Ardmore is a little farther away, but if it is the best it may be worth it if I have some extra time.

Thanks for the info on the Chestnut stores. They were next on my list. The Columbus one was a shot in the dark. But had some interesting wines.

Both stores had some Merryvale single vineyards and robert craig appelation cabs. Any experience with either of these?

Thanks again guys!

5

i should add the the plcb in media has sierra carche for sale at $20 i think. seemed like a good deal. buy or pass? paging dr. posner

newhere

6

Mike, if you want to invest the time “pre-visit”, as Ted alluded to above, you can do research on the PLCB website and then special order the wine for delivery to a specific location/store.

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yeah i had heard about that. i am having fun exploring the stores for right now. and in reality i dont “need” more wine! i spend half of my day at work looking for deals. i would get fired if i started scouring pa for deals too!

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This is what I use to search the “system.”

http://www.vinology.com/winefinder/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just scroll down to the PLCB Wine Finder. Put in a keyword and up comes all the matches. You can then locate a specific wine at all the stores with inventory - with the bottle count. It is also interesting to play around and do some research as to regional preferences. I also sometimes track what I know is an initial order and see how long the sell through is. It is humorous to see the same case of 12 bottles of something in a store sit for at least a year.

9

Agree with Ardmore. The one in Bryn Mawr also good.

One of my best deals was the 2005 Shirvington Shiraz for $29. May still be available

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The Shirvington was at one of the stores I stopped at, can’t remember which one.

I guess I need to make a trip out to Ardmore next time!!

11

Ardmore has 3
Bryn Mawr has 20