Later this month, I’ll be flying into Reno, renting a car and driving to Lake Tahoe to meet my family for the holidays. Can anyone recommend a good wine store in Reno where I can pick up wine to take me with me to Tahoe? Or alternatively, does anyone know a good store in Lake Tahoe?
Thanks.
Whispering Vine on Mayberry at W. McCarran is my favorite local store. The emphasis is domestic and there is an ok imported section. Prices range from fairly priced to pretty good when they get a deal.
Peter - bring your own. I have family in Reno and tend to be there often. It’s not really a great wine city, mostly it’s beer and liquor. It’s like shopping for wine on Staten Island or Schenectady. You gotta look really hard and in your particular case, even harder since what they do have that’s good is mostly CA, which I don’t think is your first choice. It’s even hard to find WA wines there. You go to Trader Joe’s and you see people with cases of Two Buck Chuck in the carts and you understand. We get so spoiled in NYC that we don’t realize how lucky we are sometimes.
That’s not to say there aren’t any wine lovers in the Reno - I know plenty and there are people there with lots of money who can and do buy whatever wine they want. But overall, there’s not the market to support really great wine stores. Besides, the city is a few hours from Napa so it’s not that hard to make a day trip. Another reason for the CA focus - it’s essentially the local product.
Whispering Vine opened about 10 years ago, you may look there. Vintage is a little smaller and they’re trying to do some wine education. Then there’s Booze Bros, which is pretty much like you’d expect. You can find some good CA wine though - Heitz, Mayacamas, Dunn, Beringer, Pride, etc. There was a great coffee place though - a cranky old lady who roasted her beans every day, but a few years ago I was told she closed, much to my Mother in law’s great dismay.
But who knows. I haven’t been there for 2 years now so maybe I’m all wrong. Still, I’m heading out there in January and I’m bringing my own, like usual. Cheers.
Greg is right. The biggest problem is that the big distributors OWN the market in Nevada. So most wine stores can only get product from Southern, etc. The law also prevents stores from buying from auction or directly through wineries. Everything must go through the 3-tier system. Reno is my hometown and I am friends with someone who used to own the best wine shop in town (Washoe Wine Co.), but it is now defunct.
Booze Brothers has recently closed its doors. Vintage is worth checking out but the selection is not large. Bens has an ok slection but I do not like the storage conditions related to winter heating temps in some of the stores.
I agree that the selections are West Coast centric overall and I have most of my wine purchases shipped from out of state.
Peter,
Where will you be in Tahoe?
Truett
My nephew rented a large house for our family – it’s described as being in Meeks Bay, Lake Tahoe West Shore.
Thanks to everyone for their thoughts – I don’t really need a very high end wine shop, but would like something with a reasonable selection of Italian and French wines.
In Squaw Valley, look what I found… http://www.uncorkedsquaw.com/
No online selection, so you will need to give them a poke.
Robert’s post and others’ comments about Reno wine stores made me wonder whether I should also be looking for stores in or closer to Tahoe – so I changed my initial post to reflect this.
Truckee has Bacchus and Venus. Tahoe City used to have The Cork and More (not sure anymore) and another decent store near the Y.
There’s also a little store in Truckee, a small stand-alone building one block north of Main St. in old town. Both Truckee and Tahoe City have Safeway stores.
Since I’ll be in On the north side of Lake Tahoe this weekend thought I’d bump this old thread and see what I’m looking at. Anything worth visiting near Tahoe? I’ll be flying into Reno but won’t be in town long. Coming from Texas so interesting CA wines would be good. French non bdx stuff even better.
In Truckee, The Pour House has some interesting California and French wines (closed Sun & Mon). Fancier environment but smaller selection at Uncorked Wine Bars which sell bottles and wine by the glass at their four locations (Truckee, Palisades (née Squaw) village, Northstar village (as Petra Restaurant & Wine Bar at Northstar), and Tahoe City). There are also Safeway stores in Truckee and Tahoe City with reasonable selections. The Raley’s grocery store in Truckee has perhaps the largest wine selection on north shore.
In Reno, Whispering Vine (4th Street location) mentioned earlier is still pretty good and the most ‘on the way’ if you’re driving up I-80. Craft Wine and Beer has a fun selection and — big win — their inventory is online but not organized well, just a big wine category. There is also a Total Wine in Reno.
Thanks… I always head up with my own stash, but both of these seem worth a visit.
I second both of these choices.
Flavor Studio in Reno might be worth looking into. Not a huge selection but some decent stuff along with higher end foods as well. I would email Laurel the owner to see what they currently have in stock. Lee’s can also be good from time to time. I just picked up 08 Montrose for $90 and 13 Kutch McDougall for $50 a couple weeks ago at the Northtowne location, which does seem to always have the better selection of the 2 locations. They had a few back vintage JJ Prums Kabs for <$40 as well. As others have mentioned Whispering Vine is good as well. Definitely some good deals to be had there
Wow, really old thread. Haven’t been there for a few years now, but I did end up becoming a fan of Whispering Vine. Good food too - stop in and try some. Bison sliders, good hummus, and oddly enough a very strange selection of Euro wines. I decided I liked them when I found a whole bunch of Raul Perez wines. Who would have so many of those? Definitely have a unique approach to things.
BTW - its all Reno. Don’t know about Tahoe.
No joke, the Raley’s in Incline has a great selection. Hard to believe as it’s a grocery store but it’s really extensive and they do have some to have some nicer high end wine locked up in a cold case. Mostly domestic but some good French selection, champagne is solid too with the likes of gimonnet, Pierre peters, chiquet, etc
+1 The Raley’s has really improved their selection in the last several years. It is a mile or so east of the Mt. Rose Highway/Tahoe Blvd. intersection. Also, since this thread was started, there is now a Total Wine on South Virginia in Reno, south of the Convention Center. I have not been up there in a few years so I have no idea what their current selection and prices look like.
Ed
Raley’s used to have a MW running their system wide wine dept, so it used to be surprisingly good at stores/brands with high local socioeconomics. However he left roughly a year ago, and things have gone downhill in my observation, especially on the imported side. As Tyler notes, the bubbly section can be very strong for a grocery store. Maybe the Incline location has avoided those problems.
We’re nearby and nearly always bring our own up to the mountains.
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There is also a Costco up in Reno (parking/access is crazy) but that could be worth checking out if you have any other items meriting a warehouse visit.