FREE Italian Tasting

FREE Italian Tasting
Tuesday, September 1st
6-8pm
FREE Italian Appetizers as well!

We love all things Italian (who doesn't!) and thus we decided to put together a FREE Italian tasting featuring many of our favorite Italian wines as well as some free food. As a reminder, you now have the added bonus of being able to attend this FREE Italian Tasting at either winestore location, Southpark or Blakeney. So...skip your spin class, twitter all of your friends and join us from 6-8pm for our FREE wine tasting Tuesday night! We will pour the following 4 wines:

Briccotondo Barbera
La-Vis Pinot Grigio
Ali Sangiovese
Santome Prosecco

Shafer vs. Phelps Taste Off!

Doug Shafer vs. Joseph Phelps
TASTE OFF

Saturday August 29th
11am - 8pm

2006 Shafer Merlot
2006 Shafer 1.5 Cabernet
2005 Shafer Relentless
VS.
2005 Joseph Phelps Cabernet
2006 Joseph Phelps "Le Mistral"
2005 Joseph Phelps Insignia

Even if your passion for wine stops at the glass on your dinner table, you probably have still heard of the wines from Joseph Phelps and Doug Shafer. They are names that wine lovers worship - Insignia, Hillside Select and so on...These guys produce some of the most sought after wine coming out of California.

Back in May we put wines from two other celebrity winemakers - Bob Foley and Paul Hobbs - up on the machine for a taste off and not only was it a ton of fun, it gave us a great excuse to taste some pretty amazing wine.

That is why, back by popular demand, it is time for the 2nd Taste Off of the year - Doug Shafer and Shafer Vineyards vs. Joseph Phelps and Joseph Phelps Wines (although we must point out Jospeh Phelps is no longer the winemaker at his winery - that position is now held by Ashley Hepworth...). We'll even be featuring the California Icon Joseph Phelps "Insignia" for you to taste (I mean, for $150 a bottle this stuff better be rocking!)

So come on in before you watch the Panthers take home their first pre-season win of the year and taste some seriously great wine.

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday and, as always, thank you for your support!

Case of Wine for only $66

Salmon Creek Sampler Case
12 bottles for only $66 (or just $5.50 a bottle)

We are always wary of really inexpensive wine (who isn't!) - but we were very impressed with Salmon Creek's entire lineup of wines. They are the perfect "I need a wine for Monday night and I don't want to break the bank" sort of wine. That is why we are going to offer you a Salmon Creek Sampler case for only $66. Available in the case are Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir. You can mix and match any of the varietals of your choosing to fill out the case. We'll get the wines up on the machine ASAP for you to taste as well. Perfect for parties, weddings, BBQ's, Tailgating or just because...

Here is the offer one more time:
12 bottles of Salmon Creek
$66 (or $5.50 a bottle)
Mix and match any of the following varietals (Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir)

Sooooo - save a couple of dollars, enjoy some super tasty wine, and impress all of your wine snob friends once they ask how much the wine cost!

To order your case simply swing by the store or:

Call SouthPark @ 704-442-4024

Call Blakeney @ 704-443-2944

Save 15% off Total Wine - Everyday

Does Big Box mean Big Savings?

With our End of Summer Sale starting tomorrow, we felt it was an appropriate time to tackle the issue of wine prices. Not in the educational sense like Doug does on occasion, but rather straight up store vs. store (or bottle vs bottle). Since we opened in 2006, we've been asked on numerous occasions how our prices stack up against the "big box" retailers. Most often the store in question is Total Wine. It's a fair question as most of us just assume that a bigger stores means lower prices. Large retailers are suppose to wield endless amounts of buying power in order get lower prices and squash independent retailers right?? Well, not exactly. We thought we would put this theory to the test by purchasing a case from Total Wine and comparing it to the exact same case from winestore. We selected several wines for every day drinking (e.g. Borsao and Hob Nob Pinot Noir) and a few nicer wines for a special occasion (e.g. Rombauer Chardonnay and Flora Springs Merlot). The results were as follows:

Case of Wine from Total Wine (with tax): $195.07 - click here to view receipt

Case of Wine from winestore (with tax).: $166.00 - click here to view receipt

Savings of 15% or $29.07!

We were not surprised but we thought you might be. Even if we did not discount mixed cases by 10% (we do - Total Wine does not) you would still be saving almost $15. What could be better than being able to support local business and save money at the same time! What could you do with the money saved? You could buy 29 songs on itunes, a case of diapers, a round of beers for you and your friends, groceries to cook your loved one a nice meal at home, or several order's of Pan Fried Corn from Rooster's - and that's just the tip of the iceberg!

All in all we want you to know we are looking out for you and your wallet - bringing you the best wine possible for the lowest price.

Enjoy your extra cash and we'll see you soon!

End of Summer Sale

End of Summer Sale!


15% off all cases!

10% off 6-11 bottles!

Thursday August 20th - Saturday August 22rd

Why should your kids get to buy all of the goodies when they go back to school? We did an end of summer sale this time last year and it was such a huge hit, here it is again! This Thursday - Saturday we'll have a host of new wines in the store placed on the machine with special deals - as well as a few deals on your favorites. Special six pack deals and case deals will be featured in our stores so come on in, try some great wine, and get some great deals!

The 15% off cases and 10% off 6-11 bottles is running online as well so be sure to notify your friends so they can order wine and have it shipped by going to http://www.winestore-online.com

Fine Print!

This sale is for in-stock wines only and may not be combined with any other sale or promotion. Sale not applicable to "net" items. Sale ends August 22, 2009. Sorry, discounts are not retroactive. Please just give us a ring if you have any questions

2007 Chateauneuf @ 25% off!

2007 Chateauneuf at 25% off!

2007 Domaine de Vieux Lazaret Chateauneuf du Pape

Regular Price $39.99

Winestore Price: $29.99 (Save 25%)

Case Price: $27.00 (Save 33%)

If you've heard a collective ooh-ing and ah-ing about 2007 southern Rhone wines (some of it coming from us), it's not crazy talk. It's true; it's a brilliant vintage, the last in a series of four fantastic vintages. Most of us would love to take a few of these brilliant 2007 Chateauneuf's home, but we don't want to have to sell our youngrest child in order to be able to afford a bottle. That is why we're delighted to offer this well-regarded Chateaneuf-du-Pape at the lowest price in the United States. It's a wonderful wine to enjoy tonight with friends or in 10 years at your 25th wedding anniversary. All things considered, we're just excited that at this price, we all can join the 2007 Rhone hoopla!

We only have 75 bottles available at each store (this includes what we are offering online). The wine will be on the machines all weekend or until we run out!

To order you can:

Call SouthPark Store @ 704-442-4024

Call Blakeney Store @ 704-443-2944

Order ONLINE for in store pickup or to ship nationwide by clicking

What about 2006?

2006 Andre Brunel "Les Cailloux" Chateauneuf du Pape

Regular Price $34.99 (net)

Winestore Price $29.99 (net) - This weekend only!

All the hype for the 2007 wines has started to lead some to overlook the wonderful wines made in 2006 (a great year that got sandwhiched between two exceptional years). Andre Brunel's Chateauneuf's are as good as anyone's, and 2006 is a brilliant vintage for the best to show their abilities. Perhaps 2006 isn't as famous as 2007, but it's every bit as delicious.

We'll have this beauty on the machine as well and are offering it at $29.99 just this weekend today through Sunday!

Taste Caymus Special Selection - Blind!

Taste Caymus Special Select - Blind!

Blind 2006 Caymus SS Tasting
Saturday August 8th, 2009
11am - 8pm

Our blind tastings have been a huge hit - especially when we bring out the big guns. We've had Opus One, Silver Oak, Caymus and others go blind up against rivals and now it is time for our 2nd Annual Caymus Special Selection Blind Tasting! This Saturday we will be tasting 2006 Caymus Special Selection blind against 7 other rivals. Caymus Special Selection is one of the best known and most sought after California Cabernets on the market today and now it is time to put it to the test. We've been working on the wines we will put up against this California heavyweight and we assure you that you will not be dissapointed. Prices of the competition range from $15 a bottle to $130 a bottle!

If you don't know the price, can't see the label, and can't hear someone barking in your ear about the wine's "score," then all that is left is the juice and your taste buds. It's a scary proposition for any winemaker. That's why you have marketing departments that design catchy labels, create campaigns to build a wine's image, and spend all of their time and energy essentially trying to convince consumers that a wine is great. The problem is that you can't out "market" a blind tasting.

Which is why we're playing "Find the Caymus Special Select" this Saturday. It's simple really. Eight wines will all be tasted blind. One of them will be 2006 Caymus Special Selection and the others will be an assortment of wines at every price point from a number of different regions. All you have to do is taste and pick your favorite. Yes, that's right, your favorite. If that's the Caymus SS, then great, if not, well that's OK too. You may be surprised as to what your favorites actually are.