Just a note that the Ralphs grocery store chain appears to be having its holiday wine sale. Although many of the wines are basic grocery store fare, they do have some
nicer, higher-end goodies in the locked refrigerated section (at least, in my local store).
An especially good deal was the 2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, discounted to about $90/bottle if you buy a six-pack.
Bruce
At least they have a locked refrigerated room at your local store! Here it’s Meiomi, Conundrum, Layer Cake and Ghost Pines.
I use to drink the hell out of ghost pines in my early days.
The three Ralph’s near me have been having their wine ‘reset’. They do this twice a year when they take wines that haven’t been selling as well and put them in the clearance section. usually 30-50% off with another 30% if you buy 6 or more. In the past 3 weeks I’ve bought ridge York Creek for $15/bottle, Domaine Carneros (by Taittinger) Brut for $8/bottle, a few different Schramsbergs for $12/bottle and quite a few others. Great deal on some solid wines…
Some nice deals on every day drinkers.
Bruce
Where in LA you talking? I haven’t seen anything that enticing near Venice/National/downtown Culver.
Encino / Woodland Hills area. They usually do them in sections. Not sure when they’ll do it in your area but it’s done about once / twice a year. All the good stuff has been picked through now at the stores that I frequent.
The Ralphs in West LA (Olympic & Barrington) was pretty picked over wine-wise by yesterday.
One thing to note–just because it’s a big sale DOESN’T mean the final sales price is that big of a deal. I stopped by another Ralphs out in the Valley yesterday, and saw some of the sales prices were still a bit higher than what you could do buying from a retail wine store. Having winesearcher or a similar price comparison service is very helpful to determine if you’re really getting a “bargain.” The 06 Taittinger Comtes was a deal, the 06 Dom Perignon was not.
Bruce
The “sale” price is ridiculously overpriced in the Pacific Palisades. Even with that price and the 6-pack discount it usually ends up being more that you would get online. I guess it is zip-code dependent…
JF