In yesterday’s post reviewing Keys to the Cellar, I talked very briefly about wine retailers. While I still agree that most retailers would not be helpful for someone who has an investment cellar, I still think most wine buyers need to put more effort in developing a relationship with a retailer.

For starters, how do you find a good retailer?

• Ideally this should be someone somewhat close to your home. You don’t want to drive hours every time your want a good bottle, but it also might not be the shop around the corner. I’m not saying you can not join winery clubs or have good out of state shops to order from, but nothing beats a good local shop.
• Ask people whose taste in wine you respect where they buy there wine.
• Look on Localwineevents.com, local wine publications and newspapers for local retailers who do regular tastings. Regular public tastings are a good way to get to know the staff and develop a better understanding of the type of wine the shop carries and the knowledge the staff has.

Once you have found a shop of interest, now what?

• Look around and see if they carry the type of wine you are interested in. If you only like Italians and they have 2 Italian bottles? This might not be the place.
• How many of the wine labels on the shelf are new to you? You don’t want a shop that only carries wines you know. You want a place that can broaden your palate.
• Find out how often public tastings are held, weekly, monthly, never? A shop should hold at least a once a month tasting. See reasons above.
• If you have a favorite wine and you don’t see it on the shelf, ask if they can get it. You want a place that is willing to special order bottles for you, even if you only want one bottle. If the wine is highly allocated and there is none available in the city, that’s a different issue, but for readily available wine, the shop should work with you.
• You want to find out the knowledge level of the staff, yet, you don’t want to be a jerk about it. You can’t walk in and ask for credentials, rather you need to give them an opportunity to show they know there stuff in a conversation. If they are raving about a particular region or wine, ask a few questions about that region, what’s the weather like there, have they visited, etc.. Especially in the US, the more time you talk with a retailer about French wine helps you quickly find out if they know something or not. Again, I stress, you can’t walk in with a quiz for them to pass, this needs to happen in a conversation.

Purchase a few bottles of wines they recommend to you based off of information you give them. What are you drinking now? Cabernet only? Well, try 5-6 Cabernets from around the world. Only drinking French, try some new labels. Remember, you are dealing with someone who is attempting to get to know your tastes. If all the wine you tried was horrible, than time to find another shop. If they only got a few good wines for you, giving them the direction of what you liked and didn’t like and reasons why will greatly help improve your odds. If you liked most or all the wines picked out, run back to the shop and make sure they never go away!

If you are looking for hard to find wines, it helps to have already developed a relationship with a retailer. This way when new things arrive, you will be one of the first called. But if you are just starting a relationship, make sure to let the staff know what specific wines you are looking for.

And most important, become a regular. Either stop in for the weekly tasting and pick up a bottle, or getting a case every few weeks, but keep going back and especially purchase items. When you are there look to see what is new and inform the staff of what you are currently drinking a lot of or looking for. If you don’t ask, there is no way for them to know.

So what is your favorite wine shop?