Gary on December 31st, 2008

2009 cometh, and that means it’s time to shoot through the graveyard of empty bottles pick out my favorites from this past year. The rules are the same as last year: these are my favorite five wines that I owned and drank in 2008. I’ve tasted lots more, but you know how things [...]

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Gary on December 7th, 2008

Spirits of Mount Vernon is a nice, spacious place to sit around and enjoy the light coming in through the huge glass windows at the front of the store. No chairs to sit around in, though, so, I got on surveying the wine around the store. They have a lot of regions represented, [...]

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The Wife and I were wandering through Fells Point three Fridays ago when V-NO Wine Bar pretty much fell out of the sky and greeted us. Sitting out on a nice spot facing the water, the place had a scrappy elegance about it when we walked inside. The menu (and retail section) is [...]

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Gary on June 2nd, 2008

Popped into D’Vines Wine Shop which just opened in the newly uppity Columbia Heights neighborhood. The shop is small but represents all of the major regions fairly well. There looked like an emphasis on Australians and there was a whole section devoted to Argentina and Chile. I asked for a recommendation on [...]

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Finally got the chance to get over to Harbor East and visit Bin 604. Bin 604 was managed and owned for several years by Wine Advocate reviewer Dr. Jay Miller (has has since ended his relationship with the shop). Still, the influence is there, with the only shelf talker scores coming from the [...]

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Gary on March 5th, 2008

Amazon.com, Internet purveyors of…. well, everything, are looking to expand that universe by beginning to sell wine.
Amazon is looking to recruit a senior wine buyer, whom it says will be responsible for “the acquisition of a massive new product selection” for its site. The wine sales will augment a rapidly expanding non-perishable groceries business that [...]

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Gary on February 25th, 2008

I’ve been holding off posting on The Wine Market for some time because I hadn’t eaten dinner there. The retail wine shop is small and cozy with two aisles with a wide range of affordable stuff under $10 and some high end First Growths high at the top of the shelves. If you’re [...]

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Gary on February 7th, 2008

Beltway Fine Wine, aptly named because it is about 500 feet from the Baltimore Beltway, is easy to miss. It’s nestled under an Ethan Allen Furniture store and the big front signage is actually pointed away from the highway.
Once inside, though, it’s all business. Beltway Fine Wines has one of the best selections [...]

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My vitriol for Maryland’s wine shipping laws will find no sympathy up I-83, where Pennsylvania’s Liquor Control Board keeps wine drinkers on a short leash. Not only can you not have wine shipped to you, but you can’t even purchase from a private wine shop. The only place to pick up your [...]

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Gary on January 21st, 2008

Popped into the Vineyard Wine & Spirits closing sale on Saturday. Got there around 4pm and most of the reserve room had been picked dry. There were some stragglers remaining and I plucked out a Brunello and a Chablis to bring home.  The $15 and under wines upstairs were holding up but were [...]

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