City Cellars focuses on selecting and selling fine wine and specialty beer. Their selection reflects the diverse food and wine background and their overall experience.

City Cellars is committed to having a selection of labels not available in supermarkets or convenience stores. If you wish a handselected quality wine at a value price, visit their Downtown location or call 513-621-9463.  They’ll strive to serve your wine and beer needs.

Backed by more than 13 years of industry experience, Market Wines professionals pride themselves in their personalized services and wine pairing knowledge. They can also help you complete your shopping experience at the Findlay Market to complement your wine selection perfectly.

About five steps into the store I was personally greeted by owner David Pustinger who immediately offered his help pointing me in the right direction.  This was the first taste of a common theme throughout the store:  make it easy and comfortable for people to explore wine.  David offered to take me on a personal tour of the shop which I gladly accepted.

Our first stop on the tour was the Wine Advisor kiosk, a concept that makes it easier for you to find the perfect bottle (click here to try it online!).   A very easy to use (and fun) touch screen computer helps you narrow your wine search by color, varietal, price or even food pairing.  You can imagine how helpful this tool is if you’re in a hurry or just want to make your choice less overwhelming.

Making the wine shopping experience less overwhelming is a focus you see and feel throughout the store.  David and his team at A Bottle or Two are trying to accomplish this through technology like Wine Advisor, good old fashioned customer service, and great store design.  The store has a modern but comfortable feel and I think truly unique in how much space is available just to browse.  David says they’re striving for a shopping experience similar to Barnes and Noble, but wine and cheese instead of books, of course.

A comfortable seating area towards the back of the store is dedicated to regular wine tastings.  Click here to join the mailing list where you’ll hear about upcoming events.

A daily tasting is also available through A Bottle or Two’s Wine Preservation System, allowing you to sample 10-20 wines kept in perfect condition to ensure the best taste, freshness and body.

A comfortable bar area is available if you just want to sit and relax with a glass of wine.

A Bottle or Two’s focus on a comfortable wine shopping experience that takes a bit of the complexity and mystery out of wine makes this shop absolutely worth visiting.  They are located at 11920 Montgomery Road in Symmes Township, just south of Union Cemetery Road.

A Bottle or Two
11920 Montgomery Road
Cincinnati, OH 45249
513.583.8163
ABottleorTwo.com

We’ve wanted to visit this shop for awhile as it sits right in the heart of historic downtown Glendale, one of the most charming spots in all of Cincinnati.  Picture a New England town square with quaint shops and wonderful little restaurants, made even more spectacular with Holiday decorations.

Piazza Discepoli opened its first location in College Hill in the Spring of 1989, with the Glendale store added in 2003.  Piazza focuses on a broad selection of American and International wines, commitment to personal service, and an aesthetic environment to deliver an overall great wine experience.  The Glendale store feels welcoming from the minute you work in the door.  We were really impressed with the sophistication and coziness of the store that urges you to stroll and explore.

Last night’s tasting was a selection of the staff’s favorite last minute wines for Christmas.  The list included:

• 2008 Independent Producers Chardonnay – $11.99
  Always nice to taste an American Chardonnay that is more fruit than oak.  Apple and pear was especially forward.
• 2006 Three Doves Merlot – $19.99
  Full disclosure, we’re not huge Merlot fans and the Three Doves wasn’t our favorite of the night, but overall not a bad bottle.
• 2007 Cline Cashmere – $15.99
  Our favorite. A combination of Mourvèdre, Grenache, and Syrah gives this wine a smooth, creamy feel.  More importantly, a portion of the Cline Cashmere proceeds helps fight Breast Cancer.
• 2006 Amalaya de Colome – $17.99
  This wine, we discovered at the tasting, comes from the highest vineyard in the world, and the oldest winery in Argentina.  This Malbec is smoothed nicely by Cabernet Sauvignon.
• 2008 Stump Jump Shiraz – $9.99
  The value of the night!  This is a wonderful Shiraz and at $10 an absolute must-have.

At the end of the night we walked away with a bottle of the Cline Cashmere and the Stump Jump, as well as a new appreciation of one of Cincinnati’s great wine shops.

Piazza Discepoli’s Glendale shop is located at 23 Village Square in Glendale.  For more information visit www.PiazzaDiscepoli.com or visit their profile page on Uncorked.

Daily wine tastings are available so you can learn the differences in wines and ensure you make the right selection. Prefer a microbrewed beer while you shop? Choose from A Bottle or Two’s selection that can be purchased by the bottle.

For the independent connoisseur a self-service Wine Advisor kiosk in-store is available to help you find a wine you are sure to love, whether by color, body, or food pairing. Then read the descriptions of each wine prepared by a master sommelier.

Come in and visit A Bottle or Two today and taste some of the finest wines. You’ll enjoy the atmosphere, find many delightful wines, and perhaps leave with a bottle or two.

I’ve not yet visited the new shop, but from the A Bottle or Two website some of the store’s features include:

• More than 300 wine labels
• Microbrew Beers
• Gourmet Foods
• Gift Cards & Gift Baskets
• Space for private functions

Something that immediately caught my eye as unique is their use of technology to bring a great wine experience to life.  Two examples:

• Wine Preservation System – A Bottle or Two utilizes a state of the art Wine Preservation System to provide guests with 10 to 20 wines to sample every day in varying colors, varietals, bodies, and appellations. The system ensures wines are at their peak of freshness, body, and taste.
• Wine Advisor Kiosk – This looks very cool, and I can’t wait to try it out.  With their self-service Wine Advisor kiosk you can search for a wine by color, varietal, appellation, price, body, taste or food pairing.  You’re then able to see a print out of your perfect wine selection with notes prepared by a master sommelier, with the exact location of where to find in the store.  Looks like this feature will be available online soon as well.

I’m hoping to get to A Bottle or Two very soon.  In the meantime please share your thoughts here at Uncorked Cincinnati if you get a chance to visit.

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A Bottle or Two
11920 Montgomery Road
Cincinnati, OH 45249
Ph: 513.583.8163
Web: abottleortwo.com

Founded by John and Rosemary Vankirk in 1973, The Wine Merchant is now operated by the Vankirk’s daughter, Kathee Vankirk, along with managing partner Lisette Sehlhorst.  We were able to catch up with both on a recent Saturday following one of The Wine Merchant’s famous Friday Night Tastings to talk about the business.

UC:  Taste Before You Buy™ is a trademark for The Wine Merchant.  Can you talk a bit about what that means and why it’s so important?

TWM: That’s the scariest part about the process…actually going in and purchasing a bottle of wine. If you go to the grocery store and have $10 to spend, and you decide to buy a bottle of wine and get home and don’t really enjoy it, then it’s not a good experience. So we always have a selection of 10 or so bottles open during the week and 20 or so on the weekends. People that like the wine they taste at the bar can purchase the wine, and it helps us hone in on what people are describing when they’re wanting a dry wine, or a fruity wine.  The descriptions mean different things to different people. So if we can kind of pinpoint what they are describing that they want we can better make our customers comfortable in their decision.

UC: My wife and I are still developing our palates and just want to taste as much as possible to see what we like. So I’m sure Taste Before You Buy™ is also a great way for people to just explore.

TWM: Part of our company philosophy is to not make wine buying such a mystique. Taste a few things and then decide what you like.  The Friday Night tastings help people do that. People get multiple wines to taste based on a region or a varietal. People like different things, and it’s important for people to realize they don’t have to like everything. That’s why they make more than two types of wines!

Part of Taste Before You Buy™ is to encourage comfort for the customer and also stress that it’s really not complicated. When you go to the grocery store you maybe experiment with one bottle. But if you’ve had a chance to actually taste the wine before you might find out you really like something and maybe want six bottles for your home stash.

UC: What do you think makes The Wine Merchant unique?

TWM: Well, when our parents retired they began traveling and used to go to France five months out of the year. Because they spent so much time in France we have developed a lot of relationships with certain French wineries, so we have a fairly large selection. We hear from other people that it is the largest around. We have a lot of wines from the Bordeaux and Rhone regions in France.

Now that they’re not going to France as much they’re spending a lot of time in California. Because of that we’ve been developing or investigating some of the smaller, less nationally distributed wineries, so hopefully you can find something that won’t be carried in every shop in town.

UC:  What would you say is your specialty?

TWM: People comment on the French selection, but we also have a fairly large Italian selection. We went to Argentina a couple of years ago to learn more about Argentine wines. All the distributors have 10 Malbecs now so it’s difficult to know what to choose for our customers. You always learn more if you actually go to the place of origin and talk to the people who make the wine. You have a better understanding of the geography and overall better knowledge.

UC: Other than wine you guys seem to have some other fun little gadgets for the wine lover. Can you talk a little bit about some of that fun stuff?

TWM: Well, I would say one of the gadgets we’ve done very well with and would really recommend is the Vinturi Aerator. That has been receiving a lot of national recognition and we brought it in last fall and were sold out by the beginning of December. It’s something we really believe in.

We also are big proponents of the Screwpull brand of corkscrews. They make a Lever model that costs about $100, which seems like a lot to people, but it does have a 10 year guarantee. If anything goes wrong with the corkscrew you send it back to the factory and they’ll either fix it or replace it. With some of the less expensive brands you don’t get that, and it’s not going to last.

UC: For a person looking to explore wine and learn about it a bit more how can the Wine merchant help?

TWM: The tasting bar is great. Our Friday Night tastings are great because they have a theme to them focused on a region, like Italy, or a varietal like Syrah. The Friday Night tastings are not too formal and they’re go-at-your-own pace. We have information so people can learn as much or as little as they want. If they just want to come and have some wine then that’s great, too! Tasting wine is really the best way to learn about wine and what you like. If you come in with a question there will always be someone in the shop to help. We strive to have a very relaxed atmosphere so people aren’t intimidated to ask questions.

UC: Are you watching any certain regions around the world that seem to be hot right now?

TWM: Spain has been big for 8 years or so because they have been producing a broad variety of good value wines. They certainly make good $50 wines, too, but in comparison to some of the other European regions they’ve done a better job of producing a lot more value oriented things. Some of the varietals they produce are very interesting like Grenache or Mourvedre, for the Reds.

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The Wine Merchant

Oakley
3927 Edwards Road
513-731-1515

Hours
10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday; 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Sunday

OK…it doesn’t really tie to Halloween, but we are excited to launch this new section that will hopefully make it a little bit easier for you to find a local wine shop close to you.  This is definitely a work in progress as we’ll be adding more and more shops in the coming days and weeks.  You can visit the “Wine Shops” section via the link in the site menu above, or directly at www.uncorkedcincinnati.com/wineshops.

If your favorite wine shop isn’t included please let us know by leaving a comment or sending us an email to bryan at uncorkedcincinnati.com.

And the next time you need a bottle of wine we hope you’ll visit a local wine shop to help us continue to grow Cincinnati’s vibrant wine industry and culture!