wine shop on dekalb carlton

piratesofwaverly wrote: looking forward to it!

last week I heard some customer in l'epicerie go off on a rant about how he thought the gg people where a-holes. I think that was a bit extreme, maybe the dude was just having a bad day, but I do feel like gg skews a little expensive for me. I want a $6-7 bottle 'o red on a Tuesday, and their cheapest is $9-10. Anyway, I'm looking forward to another option, and I hope they think of us Tuesday Tony's.

The fact is that $9 is not expensive for a bottle of wine. You can find few decent wines at that price point and even almost none at $6-7. They are not trying to be a wine discounter and that seems to be what you're looking for. Try the warehouse place down on fulton by BAM. Better yet, spend the extra $2. I know that GG does sell some under-$10 wines, like vinho verde.

I really can't stand GG. Not only are they expensive, I don't think many of their wines are particularly well-chosen.

And if they stopped doing things like sending unnecessary color brochures to my house, they might be able to sell their wines at a lower price.

And there are many good wines under $10, even under $8, for that matter. Not that I would pick these for a dinner party, but yes, definitely for Tuesday.

The couple at Thirst Wine Merchants told me they're open til 9pm every day but closed Tuesdays.

The anecdotes are about GG preventing Brian Robinson from opening his store on Myrtle. They tried to block this new store too but failed.

That was me at 10.43am the other day. That's pretty lame about GG. I understand the motivations, but what bad press. Might have done more damage with those moves than the potential loss of business from competition.

The more wine and liquor stores the better, I say. I've never been to GG, but heard it was pricey. I usually go to Warehouse Wines on Broadway at Astor Place. By the way, did you know that Astor Wines & Spirits had closed? I did try that new place down by the Crunch gym, and it looks really good from outside, but I found the selection of wines a little...unusual. I didn't recognize any of the brands, and I do try to remember the ones I like.

went to the new wine store on carlton, called Thirst, on Sunday. They are still building their inventory, but the husband-and-wife team could not have been more helpful or excited to be open. they helped me pick out a few wines at decent prices ($12-15) and had a story to tell about each bottle. they are working on bringing more wines in the $10 range. specialize in french and italian selections. definitely worth a trip, and it's true that the woman who runs Greene Grape went to their hearing and attempted to block them from opening. she is obviously not on the consumer's side--isn't healthy competition a good thing??? worth a trip, especially if you are open to discovering some wines you haven't heard of but are willing to try.

Subject: Great first time shopping experience at Thirst...

Hi gang,

I may have been the guy who "went off on the folks at Green Grape in L'Epicierie." If so, I apologize if anyone was offended.

My wife and I try to do as much shopping as we can in the neighborhood to support the great and hard working folks who open businesses here. Every time I have gone into Green Grape wanting it to be a positive experience, it's been a bad one.

Don't want to sound like a jerk, but I don't think it's me. I have a lot of respect for small business owners and in nearly every instance have been able to establish good relations with the stores that I shop at. After four consecutive non pleasant interactions in Green Grape, I just don't go there anymore. My favorite was when they got annoyed at me because I asked for the least expensive bottle of red wine they had--for the purposes of cooking (braising). This while I also had several other bottles in my hands.

Apparently, I am not the only one. I know half a dozen other folks who have had similar rude shopping experiences. If you do shop at Green Grape and have a good experience there, then it is working for you. Keep going and keep supporting local merchants. In my case, I'll pass.

Now something more positive. I just popped into Thirst, the new wine shop on Dekalb and really liked it. The couple who own the store are just getting started (boxes still stacked and the racks are missing their signs), but what a lot of fun to shop there! These folks are passionately into wine and they appear to have tried everying on the racks. Prices are a bit high for the neighborhood (I paid $15 to $20 per bottle) but I think they will add some more budget priced wines ($7 to $10) as they get going.

More importantly, these guys are doing something really interesting. They are looking for wines from small producers, off the beaten path and not a part of publicly held wine consortiums. Don't get me wrong--I've had wine that I bought from chain stores for $6 a bottle that I thought was pretty good (for example, Yellow Tail), but I also understand that there is value in learning about and tasting wines from smaller and more traditional wine growers (good documentary called Mondovino on this subject).

In short, I was delighted by my shopping experience at Thirst and look forward to going back and supporting this new local business. I wish the owners well and can't wait to try more of their selections.