My current favorites are Sunfish & Surdyks. Sunfish purchases have gone up a lot since I started buying there in late 2015. Great place if your not looking for run of the mill stuff and the pricing is excellent even on single special order btls of little interest to most people. Only knock, Sunfish is not handy for me but I catch in between work appointments whenever possible. Other great places… South Lyndale Liquors and Thomas. France44 is the most expensive place in town. I like Haskells Minnetonka for some stuff and my frequent wine & food buddy, Lonny, is the guy to see there. Lonny knows their inventory well.
Well are there particular bottlings that you are looking for? Thomas has a great selection of stuff you dont see a lot of other places. Solo Vino has a bunch of the Theise portfolio and a bunch of the new stuff from Balanced Wine and others. Surdyks carries Theis stuff. South Lyndale has lots of offerings including Bereche. France 44 has a number of good offerings as well.
When I was there, they had it case stacked ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
also Raveneau 1er Crus on the shelf… You can find some gems in Minneapolis
Too soon. Too soon. RIP Prince.
I am amazed any Berserker recommends France 44. If you want to pay the max go there. I bought some 2003 Amon Ra for $70 many years ago and that was the only purchase I have ever made there.
The best by a landslide is Winestreets Email Blast. Brad has prices you will not find anywhere in the country but does not offer them that often anymore. Love what he does overall!
Hennepin Lake is fine and Sunfish on sale has some interested buys.
Surdyk’s for German Rieslings is number one by a landslide. Everything else they do can be beat elsewhere.
I buy from Haskell’s on some items (every day drinkers) because they match Morell’s pricing.
Not a fan of Solo Vino as I don’t like paying too much.
Most knowledgeable Twin Cities Wine Guys buy out of state from the many excellent places in Cali and a few in Illinois.
I will buy beer and spirits from Total Wine as they match anyone and take credit card.
I think I bought a handful of bottles from Liquor Barn, Thomas and a few mentioned above over the years. If you know what you are doing you don’t need customer service with a 20% plus up charge.
France & 44 is one of the top wine stores in the Midwest, period. No, they aren’t the cheapest store in town, and you won’t find all the major labels being given away at cost as you will Total Wine, But, they have as good and wide a selection as you will find in the entire Midwest, an ultra professional staff that actually knows what they are talking about - and it’s an absolutely beautiful store.
And, in regards to their pricing, they’ve gotten much more competitive over the last few years. I suggest you stop in and see for yourself John, It’s really a flawless operation.
And I totally agree with you on Winestreet Spirits. Everyone should be on Brad’s mailing list - he love’s to blow out the good stuff -
[quoteFrance & 44 is one of the top wine stores in the Midwest, period. No, they aren’t the cheapest store in town, and you won’t find all the major labels being given away at cost as you will Total Wine, But, they have as good and wide a selection as you will find in the entire Midwest, an ultra professional staff that actually knows what they are talking about - and it’s an absolutely beautiful store.
And, in regards to their pricing, they’ve gotten much more competitive over the last few years. I suggest you stop in and see for yourself John, It’s really a flawless operation. ][/quote]
I agree nice shop and good selection but prices are terrible.
Mondavi Napa $30
Domaine Serene Evenstad $79.99
Ramey Hyde $70
Indian Wells $19
If I cared to search more I could but how is that competitive? That is full boat.
You can pick and choose any wines from any store and find ones that are priced higher. If those are the wines you are looking to buy at France 44 then maybe you should go somewhere else, but I just went on the website myself and found multiple wines that I cant find anywhere else in the Twin Cities that are actually very competitive WS prices.
Same could be said about Haskells too where they have crazy high prices on some of their wines but you still shop there…
I have certainly found that actually developing a relationship with local store owners over a longer period of time makes me not always need to go out of the state for a few wines because they appreciate and reward my loyalty as a customer! Novel concept I know.
But none of us are knowledgeable anyways if we are buying from local stores though it seems…
Nate what wines are competitive?
I used to buy at France 44 but when they opened that beautiful store their prices JUMPED like Zack LaVine in a dunking contest. No reason for me to go there anymore.
John, Mike really doesn’t do “sales” at Sunfish. Occasionally he does a rare further mark down on a real slow overstock. His “everyday pricing” is predicated on pricing his wines at or near Winesearcher Pro’s lowest US price. Obviously, local distribution sometimes prevents him from being as low as the lowest WS Pro but most of his stuff is priced there or very near it. So, his stuff is on sale 24/7 everyday of the week and he does get cool stuff. His everyday pricing is now lower than most stuff at HPL or TW. Only issue with SF, they’re not handy to almost anyone 
unless you live in Mendota Hts and Lillydale.
Tom, if, there was still a Bloomington store with a manager named Tom, I’d go there. Brad is not my guy and the other store is 100 miles from me .
Tom, if, there was still a Bloomington store with a manager named Tom, I’d go there. Brad is not my guy and the other store is 100 miles from me .
The Bloomington Store was a few blocks from me. When it closed my bank account went way up. Yes it is quite the drive to North Oaks but Kevin is right by there if you ever need something.
A number of us had extremely bad experiences with WineStreet. Non-delivery of highest end futures. Excuses, financial problems, and the like. And the amount of what has appeared (after drinking) to be heat damaged wine exceeds any other supplier I’ve used. I can’t recommend them.
Good thing John. I’ve heard that Tom was quite the asshole anyways - a real blabbermouth know it all.
So you are telling me I should quit holding my breath waiting for my 2000 Bdx futures from winestreet?
Ha - yep not a fan of Winestreet.
They got my $$ I got nothing - tried phone, email and snail mail for years. All I ever got were promises, excuses or no replies - never wine.
So you are telling me I should quit holding my breath waiting for my 2000 Bdx futures from winestreet?
Ha - yep not a fan of Winestreet.
They got my $$ I got nothing - tried phone, email and snail mail for years. All I ever got were promises, excuses or no replies - never wine.
Did you guys not take legal action against them? Sounds like the Midwest version of Premier Cru which I never trusted their business model and was glad I never bought anything they did not have in stock. Their private email blast looked great on paper until a friend said it took forever to get the goods.
Suggestions for a shop in the greater metro with a decent grower champagne selection ?
Surdyks gets the bulk of Terry Theise’s catalog - so things like Pierre Peters goes exclusively to them. Best to follow their 2-3 times a year sales as prices are usually pretty good - I would check with the wholesaler called THE WINE COMPANY to track down the rest of that catalog. Retailers in Minnesota love to mark up bubbly 50% and price it out
of the market - so best to find a retailer you can wheel and deal with - and have them purchase fresh goods for you through THE WINE COMPANY -
I am just back in MN to see family for the weekend. I will stop at Surdyk’s tomorrow.