I want to start collecting more half bottles. Looking for any suggestions for retailers who have a large selection / better prices?
Thanks
I want to start collecting more half bottles. Looking for any suggestions for retailers who have a large selection / better prices?
Thanks
Half Wit Wines, selling half bottles exclusively: http://www.halfwitwines.com/
Review of Half Wit: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/dining/08sfdine.html
No affiliation, not a customer, but get their emails and have been tempted…
I have bought from them a number of times…when they have their deep discount sales… only in the under $20 category. Never thought their regular prices were particularly good but they seem to have a “decent” selection of every day type drinkers (as opposed to anything that fits the collectables category), though with a few more interesting wines sprinkled in. Last sale for instance, I picked up Tablas Creek white and L’Angevin and Hyde chards which i thought were nice finds and have picked up Champanges from time to time which I like having in half bottles…at least for me more of a needle in a haystack than go to retailer.
As a generalization, I tend to think the easiest higher quality category to find in half bottles is Bordeaux. Seems like everything from top to bottom ends up in half bottles. Probably best to check the websites of the big futures buyers…Zachys, Wine Exchange, K&L, Premier Cru (regularly see halfs in their emails), Binnys, etc.
Seems like from everywhere else it can be hit and miss what producers even bottle halfs…and as hit and miss which retailers sell which.
We’ve been gradually upping our 375 inventory, because they’re so practical. But I recall reading a post not long ago from Dujac, commenting on the relative unreliability of Burgundy in halves (or so I understood), and his decision to stop using this format for his wines. B’x would be sturdier, intuitively.
This has always been a specialty at Zachys. Keep an eye out for their annual Half Bottle Madness sale.
Macarthur Beverages (Bassin’s) has a separate section of half bottles in their shop and I usually pick up several on each visit to DC.
Like almost everyone on here, I love half bottles but never seem to have nearly as many as I’d like. Ironically, what ends up happening is that I’m reluctant to open my half bottles because I don’t have that many of them, when the whole point of having half bottles is that it should be easier to open them.
Fundamentally, I think you just have to be willing to pay the higher price for them. Not only do they sell for more than 50% of the cost of a 750, but you have fewer places to source them, probably pay proportionately higher shipping when you have to have them shipped, and probably very rarely find them on sale. So, you just have to want them enough to accept the pricing, availability and selection challenges.
I think Dan Gordon is right, the people who seem the most successful at accumulating half bottles are your Bordeaux futures buyers, who can basically call their shot on getting whatever they want in half bottles. Those of us looking to buy them here and there at retail tend to end up like me, not having enough and always wishing they had more.
One thing about seeing listings for futures on Bordeaux half bottles…don’t necessarily assume that the selection will be as broad when they arrive as the big stores may only offer half bottles until the time that they have to put in their final requests to the producers for format and then not necessarily choose to take their unsold inventory in half bottles.
If you happen to like Boillot white burgs, I have found those relatively easy to find in 1/2s. Flickinger, who direct imports Boillot, brings in a lot of 1/2s of those.
This year one of my ‘wine goals’ is to stock up on half bottles. I’m picking up 1-3 different halves each month of the year. So by December I should have about 24 halves. That is if I don’t crack any. I do enjoy the option when a whole bottle isn’t needed.
I’m in the Chicago suburbs and Binny’s has a nice selection of halves that vary from store to store. They range from a $4.99 Perrin Cotes du Rhone, to a $30 half of Pride Merlot.
I love half bottles. They’re wonderful for those of us who drink a glass or two a night and don’t have spouses (or who have spouses who don’t drink). A full bottle often takes me 3-4 days to get through by myself…
K&L and JJ Buckley both have a decent though selection of half bottles. I agree that bordeaux seems to be much more prevalent than other regions in halves.
Of course, sauternes are always fabulous in halves.
Dan Posner/Grapes often offer halves as well. I like halves, but mostly for sweet and desert wines. I wish I could find 1/2s for German/Alscatian wine. My wife isn’t a fan, but I sure am!
From Germany/Alsace, the only (non-sweet) wines in 1/2s I’ve seen are Trimbach - bought some 1/2s of the FE bottling from time to time. Not sure why more aren’t made from other producers in those regions. Of course, I’ve seen TBAs/Eisweins and VTs/SGNs in 1/2s but not really the regular “dry” wines…
Thanks all for the suggestions. I like half wit wines, mostly simple selections but a neat site. Anyone know when “Zackys Half Bottle Madness Sale” is?
I agree with the bordeaux comments as all of the half bottles I current own are bordeaux. It seems bordeaux has the niche in the other than 750ml market.
I’ve found that demand for 375s is really tough to predict. Some years they fly out the door, some they rarely attract interest and it seems to have little to do with how the 750s are selling. Half bottle buyers tend to pick up a half or full case at a time while (unfortunately) that’s not always the case with 750s.
Half bottles are great for drinking during the week. Having a 375 over two nights is the best way to evaluate a wine’s evolution after exposure to air. My favorite US 375s are Match (so keep putting them out Randy), Montelena, and Anderson’s Conn Valley. Great selection of Bordeaux and Italians in 375.