The Question About Wine Shops: What to Look for (With Out of Town Examples)

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“How do I choose a wine shop?”

It’s late Sunday afternoon, and Phyllidia is thinking about an evening glass of wine. Or maybe two.

Phyllidia likes wine. Actually, Phyllidia loves wine. And she knows wine, but she wants to learn more. She wants to shop for wine where every bottle she buys adds to her knowledge of wine. Where the merchant or their staff greet her, recognize her, know her palate, recall which kinds of wines she likes and which she doesn’t, and encourage her to discover wines she doesn’t know about.

And so Phyllidia asks me the question about wine shops.

What Phyllidia wants is what you and I and anybody who likes or loves wine wants. She wants a wine shop owned and operated by a wine merchant who reliably chooses a variety of quality wines for their shop, who fairly prices the wines in their shop, and who values engaging the customers in their shop. Wine intimidates a majority of its consumers. A serious wine merchant staffs their shop with people who have a zeal for wine and who invite its consumers into the unpretentious sect of wine’s cult. They make choosing a bottle of wine easy. They turn what was intimidating for the consumer into enjoyment.

A serious wine merchant is devoted to the truest ideals of wine. They believe wine is a product of agriculture. They have no truck with wines made to market like soda in a factory. A visit to their shop feels like a visit to a farmer’s market.

Two exemplary wine shops are Chambers Street Wines in New York and Square Wine Company in Madison. They illustrate what you and Phyllidia should look for as you shop for wine in Milwaukee. Chambers Street Wines is owned and operated by David Lillie and Jamie Wolff, who opened their shop in June of 2001. Square Wine Company is owned and operated by Andrea Hillsey, who opened her shop in June of 2012. Both Chambers Street and Square Wine devote their shops to small growers making honest wines. Andrea in Madison, like David and Jamie in New York, own one distinctive shop, not a chain of two or three or more.

How do shops like Chambers Street or Square Wine reliably choose their varieties of quality wines? Jamie offers us a list of criteria:

  1. Is the wine made from organic grapes?
  2. Is harvesting done by hand?
  3. Are indigenous yeasts used for fermentation?
  4. What are the cellar techniques employed? What additions or adjustments are made? What is the amount of sulfur in the finished wine?
  5. Is the wine a good representation of its type and origin?
  6. What’s the story? Who did the farming? Who made the wine?
  7. HOW DOES IT TASTE?!?

“The wines must be delicious,” underscores Andrea. “A wine cannot just be cerebral, it must also deliver joy to the drinker.”

Any consumer who finds their way into Square Wine or Chambers Street is struck by the quality of the two shops’ staffs. These are people whose objective is your comfort and enjoyment in their shops. They want to talk with you about wine. “I’m big on customer service,” says Andrea. “We are a very hospitality driven shop. I think anyone that works with me would echo that.”

The staffs of the two shops are also people who, as Jamie says, “have caught the wine bug, bad.” They know a lot about all kinds of wine, and they want to learn more. “I think tasting is our biggest tool,” Andrea says. “I think tasting constantly gives you confidence in your palate and communicating with customers. Anytime there is wine open, I’m pouring it for my staff. I also employ sneaky education. I like small, digestible facts, not long seminars. My staff doesn’t need to know everything about every bottle in the shop. They just need to be comfortable and always learning.”

Lastly, and just as importantly, Chambers Street and Square Wine price their wines fairly. They price their wines in a way which tells you they want you to enjoy more wine. “I want the shop to be accessible,” explains Andrea, “so I think it’s important to hit certain price points. Wine is already intimidating enough. I want people to trust us. I undersell quite a bit. We’re playing the long game here. I want to be there for our customers throughout the arc of their wine drinking. Our bottles start at about $9 and go up from there. The average bottle we sell is around $20.” Jamie adds, “We’re consumers too, so that’s a good place to start from. We’re not discounters, and it costs a lot to operate a small business on this small island off the coast of the United States, but we try to be fair.”

So there’s your answer, Phyllidia. Now go out and shop Milwaukee for wine.