In most other situations I’d have an out of state retailer ship something to a hotel, but given this will be July the heat means I would need to pay way more for overnight shipping and still run risks of heat damage. Plus I’m going through a few decent sized cities so I was curious what I could pick up along the way.
Regarding the Cellar d’Or in Ithicia, we are more likely taking the route north across the finger lakes than south so are unlikely to make that location work, but will keep it in mind. Blacksmith in Cold Spring also not on route. Appreciate the recommendations for Sorriso Market and Table & Vine. Neither are particualrly aligned to the route and timing well, but are good options to have in mind.
Regarding Federal Wine & Spirits, location is much more feasible. I noticed this page on their site, which is a good start: https://www.federalwine.com/Older_Wines_%26_Rarities/
Would you say this is comprehensive of their inventory, or should I expect to find more in store not listed on the site?
Also some good stuff at Gordons. but that Waltham location isn’t particularly convenient.
I’ve always liked the Cheese & Wine Traders in Burlington.
I don’t know about older vintages, but I’ve found things there that have been hard to find. And if you don’t like their wine selection in the basement, upstairs is filled with tasty treats.
(eg. I was wandering around talking to the guy in the cellar and found that he had two cases of mixed Turleys in the back room. I looked through them, and bought a few.)
Ya know, my brother brought me a case of two buck chuck from central CA to OR, where I caught a plane for northern NY via Ottawa…to make a long story short, because of duties, it became three buck chuck. Also, took a case of wines to my daughter for a house warming in Ottawa, and the Canadian border folks really did it to me. As my brother says, “I like to keep my lawn ‘duty free’.”
The owner of Federal is Len Rothenberg – he’s very knowledgable about wine and they have the best selection of old stuff in Boston. Gordon’s has a great selection – we buy more from them than from anywhere else – but if they have older bottles, it’s probably only because they have somehow escaped notice on the shelves.
Obviously Boston’s a big city and is going to have more options, but on a trip in 2019 for my Mom’s birthday, I stopped by the Beverage Warehouse outside Burlington VT and took advantage of their Wine Cave which turned out to be some temperature-controlled storage in the back of the store. You’re not going to get a huge selection but I was quite happy with the results and the prices were very reasonable.
You may want to explore Lynnway Liquors in Lynn MA. They have older stuff sitting on the shelves but their back room is temperature controlled and the owner Cliff has his own stash there that he sells. You may want to try to contact him ahead of time to see if he is available or has a list of what he has. The other one, and that’s also part of the same buying consortium is Rapid Liquors in Stoneham MA has some older wines that are temp controlled. Best of luck.