Our Approach to Wine

Our Approach To Wine

No Pretense:
At its root, all wine is fermented grape juice. We don’t worship wine, we feel it is part of “La Dolce Vita,” and is to be enjoyed daily, if possible. Wine is groceries, so to speak, and belongs on the table as another food item.

Focus:
We focus our selection on people who grow grapes and make wine, not industrial produced wines. We feel that this results in wines of greater distinction that are better partners at the table. The only bad wine is a boring wine. We prefer to deal with winemakers and individuals who spend their time in the vineyards working the vines. That way we get straight correct answers to our questions.

What’s In Your Wine?:
We quiz winemakers and suppliers about their farming, vineyard and winemaking practices. If you think wine is made from just grapes, remember that the EU allows 59 additives to wine and there are approximately 80 permitted in the US.

We buy what we want and we don’t do scores: We buy the wines that fit our approach and values. We have no corporate requirements that we buy one wine or another. In addition, we have the buying power of our retail shop and two restaurants to help us get hard-to-find wines and keep our prices reasonable. You will see no “92 Point” shelf talkers in our store or on our wine list. Any comments about the wine are written by our staff — someone that you can talk to who has tasted the wine. A wine that gets a high score when tasted alongside 200 other wines of its type is not necessarily the best one for dinner tonight.

Remember, none of these reviewers have ever met you (for the most part) and they have no idea what you are eating or what your tastes are. Please, ask us questions about our wines.

Selection:
We have wines of almost every type and for every budget. Our inventory totals over 15, 000 bottles from around the world.

We Sell Cool Wine:
All – not just the most expensive bottles – of our inventory of 15,000 bottles, is stored under temperature control. We are the only place in New Mexico that makes this commitment to assure you quality wine. The air conditioning runs 7 days a week 24 hours a day. It makes a difference.