The below recently published article covers most recommendations listed above + a few others.
Good list!
Would love for someone ITB to explain why prices are so high here.
Is it rent? Volume? Added cost of supply chain in the swamp? I have a hard time reconciling because:
- B21 has routinely better price (they’re in Tampa and deal with the temperature/supply chain issues)
- NY shops face huge rents but are way more price competitive
- Is there enough demand? If not are shops marking up form profit and maintaining cash flow on <$20 retail purchases? I went to two of these shops listed above this past week looking for a gift bottle and, somewhat sticker shocked, just opted for something from my cellar instead.
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I’ll guess lack of volume #1. More of a mixed drinks/beer market. The rents don’t help. B21 is juts an outlier, but there is a new shop in Orlando that seems pretty good. In NYC, it’s definitely higher volume. The center of the wine universe almost, but with high rents you need volume.
I’m not sure what’s the status now but quite recently a significant amount of none-supermarket wines were coming from New York, so I guess that would certainly add an extra layer of markup.
If you are talking about Golden Hour that’s a great shop
when i have ordered from finding.wine the prices have been very sharp. i think they do their own importing?
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Finding.wine does have very fair pricing most of the time, but seems like they focus on newly released vintages and more commercial style wines.
I believe it’s a supply issue in Miami. If a shop gets the allocated/geeky wines that berserkers seek out, they are usually the only shop in the entire state that sells this wine, so they mark it up 20%-50% sometimes more. Some tourist or uneducated buyer will purchase it eventually. Any smart/savvy local Miami wine buyers are not going to purchase wines locally because it’s a ripoff, I get sick when I walk into a local shop and see a $25 wine marked up to $50.
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J hit the nail on the head. Without a density of wine nerds, price discovery isn’t driven by savvy shoppers but by aisle talkers.
So it kinda makes sense to mark up your bottles if the buyer is unaware, the norm for wine shopping for the majority of customers.
I also wonder if the climate making it generally prohibitive to ship impacts consumers choosing to look online, further reducing competition.
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You see this type of pricing strategy in DC at shops near hotels, but the competition is the hotel or restaurant prices not the major wine shops.
FL is #3 behind Kentucky and Alaska.
That amounts to about 40 cents per bottle delta with NY state. Not insignificant but probably not the principal component.
+2 for Vino Nueva. First online order I placed last year the co-founder Bernardo called me a short while later and we chatted about all things wine but mostly Burgundy for half an hour. Have not visited in person but have placed a dozen orders or so.
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I think this is a terrific deal:
Thanks all. Had planned to stop at Maison Mura but lunch put us closer to Vinya Coral Gables, which turned out to be a great stop. Picked up the champagne needed and filled out a case with some interesting things I havent tried. Great and friendly service.
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