I live 2 miles from K&L. Having no shipping charges makes them more price competitive including auctions. But yes I also find most prices a good bit more exoensive than other retailers like wine.com
(commercial post: I do business with K&L)
As a shopper, K&L’s website and broad selection are the draws for me. I find the prices competitive, but I don’t buy big on single wines like others here, so that it’s not as big of a concern for me.
As for service, a couple years ago I bought a Francesco Rinaldi Brunate from them. Received the standard Barolo by mistake but didn’t catch the mistake for well over a year (possibly 2). They made the exchange without any worries - top notch response.
I’m curious as to how you arrive at this conclustion.
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Jermey, recently it’s been German Riesling and Loire wine that I’ve found myself buying from them.
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Good stores. Strong service. Pricing is strong on some things but less strong on others. The selections can be pretty good at times. Definitely someone I can trust and buy from. Not exclusively but as good as anyone in California I’ve found. We have several good retailers and K&L is one of them.
Store loyalty is a funny thing. I too like K&L a lot and am ok paying a bit more from them. They offer fantastic selection and service, and free/cheap delivery in San Francisco is a winner. And there is a real value in consolidating spend with fewer merchants just to make wine buying not so darn complicated. Still, I shop around and if I can save $50 buying elsewhere I probably will (thanks you Wine-Searcher!).
But K&L is definitely missing a few ways to leverage both their scale and my commitment with them. I’ve been pretty surprised how little they really offer me to differentiate from other stores.
One stop shop. I can order this and that, at various times, or go hunting for themes, plus auction winnings here and there for any store, and consolidate it as a single pick up or delivery. Some wines cost a little more, some a little less. If something is enough of a better deal elsewhere, I can buy it elsewhere. There are great deals with Insider Advantage.
It’s wine by wine for me, and I’m forced to buy a lot less from them now anyway due to shipping restrictions.
Recent examples of strong buys I saw include Max. Ferd. Richter 2019 Kabinetts at $19.99, 2013 Sky zin at $19,99, 2018 Ridge Pagani at $29.99.
I’ve also always been a fan of the Franck Bonville NV BdB Grand Cru bubbles they direct import and sell for $30-something a pop.
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A couple regions I’ve recently seen/gotten good deals. I often sort by “inventory clearance” and go from there.
Santa Rita Hills and SB area Chardonnay
Santa Crus Mtns
Rousillon-Languedoc
Southern Rhone AOCs like Cairanne and Vacqueyras
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I find their general pricing across the board to be pretty good since I can pick up at the store and so don’t have to pay shipping. But pretty much the only things I buy from them are recent back vintages of strong Californian producers in the $20-50 price range. Something really good comes up on a good special pricing every couple of months.
I have been a customer for many years. Great service and when the store was open it was easy to get some nice recommendations from their staff and during their Saturday tastings. And, as others have mentioned, you can find some good deals on their “Insider’s Advantage” specials. They also have made it easy to pick up at their stores, which saves shipping for those of us who are local.
Ed
I’ve found good value in domestic wines lately. Qupe, Copain, Wind Gap all with a few years of age. Signal Ridge and Sky were both really good (and unique to K&L) deals lately if those are your thing.
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This. I really loved the 2012 Franck Bonville BdB when it came out. I tried a bottle and went back for at 8 more — at $40, I can’t think of a better deal in bubbly.
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Not wine, but they have really good scotch, tequila, and mezcal offerings
+1 on all of these. Was tempted by the Signal Ridge but been easing up on the Pinot lately. The 2012 Copain Brosseau Syrah at $30 was a steal.
I think they have the best website of any wine retailer I have experienced. It really makes transacting with them so much easier whether its over a desktop, Kindle, or phone. What’s really strange to me - considering how much wine in the COVID environment is being sold online - how little upgrades I see to other major retailers websites. It should be easy to shop/find bottles, easy to determine shipping/tax policies, easy to figure out Hold Til Ship (if any) policies. In todays world - this is as important as locating a store in a good trade area, with good socioeconomics.
What kind of makes me mad is how many retailers do irritating things like ‘you forgot this in your cart’ ticklers that chase people a day or two after they look at the site but don’t have anything useful like alerts that can tell you when a producer or item comes into stock that you are on the look out for. K&L doesn’t bug people if things are in the cart, unchecked out , and has a useful alert system that has helped me many times. Also their real time inventory tracking is useful if you are debating between which item to pick (normally I’ll go with whatever is more likely to run out).
All of the above feeds into their reputation for great service, even before one interacts with staff in person/chatbox/phone. And that’s how they have earned some warranted pricing premium on some SKU’s. I do grant that I have been spending less with them in the last couple of years, but that’s more a function of other factors. Otherwise, I’ve been a small (but happy) customer since the 90’s.
Example of pricing premium on KJ Vintners Reserve Chardonnay, just to use a multi million case example
Costco $10
Local Supermarkets $8-12 (depending on sales cycle/# purchased)
TW $10
K&L $14
WDC $15
B21 $11
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I miss their in store atmosphere. being local is a huge difference as shipping is not a factor. I loved walking the wine selection to see what is new. I dont mind spending a few more $ for a better experience. but with the shutdown of the store a few things have changed. I love the pickup as as mentioned above I love their bourbon selection. they have many great barrel selections, so I have become more of a spirits drinker lately. but locally, for every day drinkers, its easier to browse the selection at costco and very occasionally total wine, but those places have nobody who knows much about fine wine.
maybe prices have to go up slightly to survive in this strange time? I drive by a lot of retailers that have gone out of business in the last year. very sad
Any particular producers to recommend? Looking to expand the German & Austrian representation in my cellar and have some credit at K&L.
They don’t typically have a large Austrian inventory, but what they do have is well chosen. You cant go wrong with any of the 2017 and 2019 selections they currently have in stock. The Brundlmayer is a particular favorite of mine at that low price point.
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Not an expert, but I’ve tried wines from some of the more represented producers they carry. Always good. “Well chosen” is an apt description, which applies to others more niche wines they carry. That segment of their customers know what they’re looking for and have quality expectations. Like, as opposed to someone who’d go in there and buy a grocery store brand like KJ. The Sudsteiermark Sauvignon Blanc should go in the cart. Haven’t had that one, but have had others, and you really don’t see those in the U.S. Unique expression to those, which the TNs they cite are consistent with.
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