Notes on a Wine Shop

I stopped into a little wine shop today. Much like my father is unable to pass up a used bookstore, I am unable to pass by a wine shop without stopping to browse.

I’ve written previously about a somewhat recent trend in wine shops: smaller selection, wines arranged by style and a hand-sell approach to staffing. This place was called “Corked.”

That’s right – Corked.

Okay, so they chose the commonly used term for a bad bottle of wine as the name for a wine shop. Strike one.

It’s the same basic layout I’ve seen elsewhere, with wines lined up on opposite walls and not much of a selection. They had maybe 60 or so wines to choose from.

It’s not unusual to have a selection like that at our house. Strike two.

It was a good-looking store, and the prices certainly reflected the décor. Most of the wines were easily $3-$5 more than I would pay elsewhere, more in some cases. But, it’s catering to upscale clients. Fine.

I didn’t want to leave without buying something – the place was empty less than 10 days before Christmas. Not good. They happened to have one of my very favorite, inexpensive white Burgundies, Caves de Lugny Mâcon-Lugny “Les Charmes.” It wasn’t a terrible deal, so I grabbed a bottle.

The guy running the place looked at my selection and said, “Ah, you got the may-kin.”

You know, like the city in Georgia. Strike three.

All I could think was for the money they spent on that place I could have opened a great, cool wine shop with a larger, diverse, quirky selection. And my French pronunciations would be much better.

And if I can top you at that, you’re in bad shape.