With five wine shops within four miles of each other on St. Pete's Fourth Street corridor, you'd think the town must be rife with alcoholics (or wine geeks). I'm not sure what motivated so many people to open shops within spittin' distance of each other, but, with competition, they've developed their own personalities. I traveled south on Fourth Street, starting at 54th Avenue, one rainy Saturday afternoon to assess their strengths and weaknesses. Here's the skinny:
WINE WAREHOUSE
5571 Fourth St. N., 727-527-7000
One of 18 Wine Warehouses throughout Florida, this location is owned by Janice and Joe Zamrin. WW employees are service-oriented; they greet customers immediately upon entering, but not in a needling mall-hawker way — you can emit "fuck off" vibes and they back away. The selection appears eclectic and well-thought-out, with prices so obscenely low (many under $10), it must piss off the other shops. I even overheard one of the salespeople pushing a $6 bottle in the same sentence as a $40 one. Navigating the place is challenging — it's so packed with wine boxes, stackers and racks that walking without toppling a mountain of chardonnay becomes a task.
Pros: Low prices, deals, service; they deliver orders over $100
Cons: Disorganized and a bit convoluted
VINO 100
5056 Fourth St. N., 727-522-8466
A three-minute jaunt south and you hit Vino 100 on the other side of the street. Vino 100 is a franchise out of Pennsylvania with over 50 locations scattered throughout the U.S. Its shtick is helping people figure out wine by assigning a fruity vs. dry and light- vs. full-body scale to each bottle. Tucked into a relatively new, generic strip mall, the St. Pete Vino 100 selection is very limited ("100 wines for $25 or less" is its tagline) with few under $10, but it competes with personalized service. Manager Kerry Ritrievi talks with virtually all customers who come in the door, holding their hands throughout the buying process. With fewer selections, he can speak about them in an earnest, comforting way, even though he openly admits he's not a wine expert. Clean, organized and easy to understand, the process is painless if you're new to the wine scene.
Pros: Organized, friendly, personalized service
Cons: Limited selection, not cheap
UNCORKED
2706 Fourth St. N., 727-892-WINE
Uncorked looks like its owner loves wine. And Cecelia O'Dowd clearly does. Every corner is stuffed with wine, reminding me of my messy house growing up. Which is comforting in a quaint, homey way, but, like my homestead, unbelievably disorganized. So it's a good thing Cecelia is there to help people find their way. She can introduce you to boutique wines you absolutely can't find anywhere else. In fact, I found more wines I've written up in Corkscrew in this postage-stamp-sized shop than anywhere else I visited. She also opens wines every day of the week that you can try. Prices are fair but not dirt cheap, most ranging from $10 to over $100. But that's what you'll pay for carefully selected, craft-made wines.
Pros: Great selection, hand-holding
Cons: Disorganized; service can be a bit brusque
ABC FINE WINES AND SPIRITS
3535 Fourth St. N., 727-894-4875
To be honest, I never think about the ABC Liquors chain as a place to buy wine. It just feels and smells so … so … liquor to me that it pollutes my wine experience. Yes, they have plenty of labels, mostly mainstream, non-boutique brands, but I'm such a supporter of the independents, it's tough to admit that liquor-store wine-shopping has its benefits. But it does. The selection borders on overwhelming, including many wines I've written about, plus some surprises: obscure labels like North Florida's Lakeridge Winery and a smattering of North Carolina offerings. The wines are organized by area, not grape variety like most others (something I overheard a customer bitching about). Plus, I found a lot that was mis-stocked — Australian and Washington wines sold in the California area, etc. But the maze is navigable. More so than in any other ABC I've visited, the service was attentive. Several employees approached me to help, and, like Wine Warehouse, were sensitive enough to know when to back off. The prices were expectedly low, since that's what chains are good at, but some bottles were shockingly under $10. Never a bad thing.
Pros: Cheap prices, good service, wide variety
Cons: Difficult to navigate; liquor store atmosphere
CORK & OLIVE
944 Fourth St. N., Suite 500, 727-823-8016
Out of all the wine shop franchise concepts, I don't get this one. This Florida-grown idea sells only private labels — brands consumers can only experience by trying them at the store or at one of Cork & Olive's in-home wine tastings. But here's the problem: If you find something you like at a local restaurant and want to buy a bottle at a retail shop, Cork & Olive can't help you. They will try to convince you that something else in the store will be similar in flavor and style, and even open a bottle for you to try, but it won't be the same wine. Prices are pretty much the same as at any other shop, even a little on the higher side, so there's no price advantage either. Odd.
Pros: You get to try the wine before you buy
Cons: You must rely on C&O's education and labeling
This article appears in Jun 13-19, 2007.