Retailer Check: The Wine House Los Angeles

PaulJ · January 4, 2013, 10:21pm

Hoping some voices of experience can speak up. Looking to grab some burg from them and wanted to check in first to make sure everything is kosher here.

Thanks!

Roberto_Rogness · January 4, 2013, 10:27pm

Our largest (friendly!) competitor. Solid as a rock.

Poppy_Davis · January 4, 2013, 10:28pm

Completely solid. No hesitation.

Ramon_C · January 4, 2013, 10:28pm

Kosher.

K_Koda · January 4, 2013, 10:29pm

HAve bought from and sold to for years, top notch. No issues.

PaulJ · January 4, 2013, 10:30pm

Thanks so much!

Vamsi_Kaipa · January 4, 2013, 10:40pm

100% SOLID. I buy from them all the time. My wine storage is close by as well. I live in SF now, but when I am in LA I definitely stop by. Always find good stuff here.

Veronica_Castro · January 4, 2013, 10:44pm

Great operation. Yes, competitors with us too, but very cool people.

Kevin_Lloyd · January 4, 2013, 10:47pm

Continuing the theme, I’ve never had an issue with them

Joel_W · January 5, 2013, 12:03am

Anytime I head up there I make sure to stop by…

You can go broke and spend all day on The Wine House, 20/20 & Wallys…

Brian_G_r_a_f_s_t_r_o_m · January 5, 2013, 12:32am

True. But it only takes 15 minutes to go broke in 20/20. 30 - 45 minutes to broke in Wally’s.

Vincent_Fritzsche · January 5, 2013, 12:48am

Outside of an airplane, this is pretty much the definition of business class. Nice Roberto.

Mike_S · January 5, 2013, 1:21am

+1 for you Roberto.

AlexHay · January 5, 2013, 12:30pm

Great shop.
Have you considered checking the shop owned by Roberto?

Milton_Hudson · January 7, 2013, 7:00pm

Bought from them since 1994 or so. Back in the day I could ring them up and buy a Bryant or a Harlan for about twice list and have them ship.

Bruce_Leiser_owitz · January 7, 2013, 8:10pm

Paul–I shop there frequently–they are one of the best broad inventory wine shops in the LA area.

If the wine you are buying is an older vintage, it’s quite possibly a consigned bottle instead of something that’s been in their inventory. They do, however, put their Old and Rare wines in a temp/humidity controlled room.

Bruce

Joel_W · January 7, 2013, 8:52pm

Hey Bruce,

Quick question for you… have you ever purchased consigned or older wine from the Temp cellar? I was there just a few weeks ago and spent some time in there. There were a few things I was interested in and didn’t take any time to grab a sales associate but I had concerns (and ended up not buying anything out of that room) about the history of the bottles there. I saw a lot of older bottles with auction stickers.

Just wondering what their policy is on provenance, potential returns for damage, etc? It was obvious that many of the wines there had been owned by more than one person. The last thing I want to do is buy a 30 yr old Bordeaux, only to open it up in a year and find it wasn’t properly treated and thus I made a bad purchase.

I’ve never returned a bottle in my life, but I just have a lot of apprehension about buying a rare old bottle from them for that reason.

…sorry for the threadjack

Bruce_Leiser_owitz · January 7, 2013, 9:32pm

Joel W:

Bruce Leiserowitz:

If the wine you are buying is an older vintage, it’s quite possibly a consigned bottle instead of something that’s been in their inventory. They do, however, put their Old and Rare wines in a temp/humidity controlled room.

Hey Bruce,

Quick question for you… have you ever purchased consigned or older wine from the Temp cellar? I was there just a few weeks ago and spent some time in there. There were a few things I was interested in and didn’t take any time to grab a sales associate but I had concerns (and ended up not buying anything out of that room) about the history of the bottles there. I saw a lot of older bottles with auction stickers.

Just wondering what their policy is on provenance, potential returns for damage, etc? It was obvious that many of the wines there had been owned by more than one person. The last thing I want to do is buy a 30 yr old Bordeaux, only to open it up in a year and find it wasn’t properly treated and thus I made a bad purchase.

I’ve never returned a bottle in my life, but I just have a lot of apprehension about buying a rare old bottle from them for that reason.

…sorry for the threadjack

Joel–I have bought some wine from that room, and it was fine. HOWEVER, they take consignments from a variety of sources (as far as I can tell), and thus I would assume you would have a wide variety of provenance situations.

Bruce

Fred_C · January 8, 2013, 1:47am

Joel W:

Hey Bruce,

Quick question for you… have you ever purchased consigned or older wine from the Temp cellar? I was there just a few weeks ago and spent some time in there. There were a few things I was interested in and didn’t take any time to grab a sales associate but I had concerns (and ended up not buying anything out of that room) about the history of the bottles there. I saw a lot of older bottles with auction stickers.

Just wondering what their policy is on provenance, potential returns for damage, etc? It was obvious that many of the wines there had been owned by more than one person. The last thing I want to do is buy a 30 yr old Bordeaux, only to open it up in a year and find it wasn’t properly treated and thus I made a bad purchase.

I’ve never returned a bottle in my life, but I just have a lot of apprehension about buying a rare old bottle from them for that reason.

…sorry for the threadjack

Bought an older Ch. Palmer from them a few years ago. Didn’t notice capsule was different until a couple of weeks later. I took a pic of their capsule vs other Palmers that I had. They allowed me to return it without any problems. Turns out the other capsule was most likey due to capsule differences between direct to US vs being sold in France first.