While the occasional shot of alcohol or pint of beer might satisfy your wilder side, there is nothing quite like a glass of fine wine. From red to white, Orange County has plenty of wine stores to meet your winery cravings, offering a fairly wide variety. Since wine is a such a personal and social experience, finding a wine store with the correct staff that can complement your food with the correct blend is beyond valuable. The best kind of wine store is one that will allow you to taste before you buy, which is what makes OC Wine Mart such a catch. This shop will walk you through its dozens of wines along with its choice of various snacks, including bread and cheese, giving you a chance to sample what you will eventually bring home. A sense of intelligence and class is in the air during this session and custom baskets can be arranged to give as a gift or kept for your own pleasure. If you forgot anything during your trip, you can always order more on the website after you get home and realize your mistake.

Costa Mesa, CA 92627 The winner of many “Best Of” awards in the past few years, Hi-Time Wine Cellars is the gold standard for the industry in Orange County. The customer service is unparalleled and the expertise in just about every region of the creation of wine is the key to its success. The place is owned and operated by one family and its more than 50 years of experience in a single location makes for one historic wine store. best wine deals nzBe sure to join the wine club.box of wine funny 2952 El Camino Realwine on tap cost Total Wine in Tustin is going to give you the best bang for your buck, something worthwhile when you’re trying to dine finely in this economy. the best wine gadgets

The selection here is ginormous and it sells a wide variety of craft beers as well, allowing you to create your own custom six-pack. It claims to have the most options and offers more than 2,000 bottles under $10, so anyone can find something to bring home. Swing by Total Wine before any gathering to make sure all of your taste buds’ bases are covered. Related: Best Bars For Girls’ Night In OCred wine case for iphone 5 Mission Viejo, CA 92691best off dry red wine WineWorks is built for romance and does so with the modern design and its excellent wine and food choices. Whether you want to stay inside and have a meal or just want to buy something to take home and match with your perfect dish, it matches light, medium and full wines with its complementary food pairing. The couple that runs the place infuses its personal flair into the well-stocked retail wine space, making for a charming place to buy wine instead of the overly common musty cellar motif.

Located right off the freeway, WineWorks is easy to get to and get lost in while perusing the wide selection. 6735 Quail Hill Parkway The name is quite mysterious but Bacchus’ Secret Cellar lives up to the anticipation with an excellent wine tasting and the occasional live music. The god of wine would smile upon this establishment as its on-site food is fitting for its awesome catalog of vino, offering some killer burgers for those with a penchant for meat. The wine club also offers two bottles a month for the low price of about $50. A special argon gas system gives its wine the ability to be preserved for a longer time than most wines, and its nearly 50 on-tap selections provide wine fans with plenty to choose from. Related: Best Singles Bars In Orange County Jesse Seilhan is a writer, editor and photographer from the California Bay Area. After moving to Long Beach, Jesse continues his passion for writing and music by covering concerts, interviewing top artists, and giving a dose of wisdom in a crazy, mixed-up musical world.

BEST WINE SHOP OF 2017 BY OC HOTLIST _____________________________________________APRIL'S FEATURED WINE2016 CATTLEYA - ROSE OF PINOT NOIR Sonoma County, CaliforniaCattleya Wines are the result of a long and deep love story between the soul and wine of amazing winemaker Bibiana Gonzales Rave —born and raised in Colombia, trained as a winemaker in France, and now growing roots in Sonoma County. All Cattleya wines are made with fruit sourced from beautiful sites, farmed by the greatest viticulturists and talented crews. Her ultimate goal is to make wines with soul and character that are unique representatives of their terroir. My wine philosophy is simple: To produce unique wines of extreme purity, power, and finesse. This gorgeous rose is perfect for those spring afternoons where you want to sip a glass and the wine is so good, somehow you finish the whole bottle. This wine is made with 100% Pinot noir grapes, all fermented in stainelss steel tanks to enhance the crisp acidity and refreshing notes of raspberries that go on and on with this wine.

This wine is a perfect pairing for light dishes as well as spicy Asian cuisine. Enjoy this wine as the weather warms up! People love us on Yelp! Happy Hour Thursdays - 5 to 8pm Thursday, May 4th 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM HAPPY HOUR THURSDAYSWINES BY THE GLASS SPECIALS! When you enter Pavilions on Antonio Parkway in Rancho Santa Margarita, you might stop and wonder if your eyes are deceiving you. Close to the front door of the supermarket stands a huge refrigerated display case filled with champagne and sparkling wine. Behind it is a 500-bottle walk-in cooler stocked with some of California’s most prestigious wine labels: Pahlmeyer, Daou, Paul Hobbs, Grgich. They’re surrounded by row after row of wine, beer and spirits — more than 4,000 items in all, making this Pavilions’ inventory roughly the size of a mid-size standalone liquor retailer. Bringing an expanded selection of alcoholic beverages to the front of the store is a concept that’s going big soon. Orange County is home to the first two: the Antonio Parkway location, which officially opened on Wednesday, and Pavilions store No. 1911 on Newport Coast Drive in Newport Beach, which will bow on Wednesday.

Then the plan is to take it to more than 50 of the 354 Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions stores in Southern California. “The bubbly display was put there to make a statement that we’re serious about this,” said Phil Markert, sales manager for liquor at Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions’ Southern California division. He added that the company plans to match the impressive selection with expertise. “We have 100 wine stewards on staff throughout the division. We do training every eight weeks with wine sommeliers and whiskey ambassadors. We have a vibrant training program.” His company aims to train and inform its customers too, Markert said. “We do winemaker dinners throughout Southern California to educate our consumers on wine. Jenna Watkinson, Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions’ director of public affairs for Southern California, said her company has done its homework, matching inventory in each store with the preferences of its community. Markert showed what that means for the Rancho Santa Margarita Pavilions.

“Picnics are popular around here,” he said. (O’Neill Regional Park is close by.) “So we cater to the picnic set with a large selection of half bottles and wine in a can. On the opposite end, we know that entertaining at home is important to our customers, so we’re offering a nice selection of premium wines in magnums.” Like many supermarkets, Pavilions’ expanded wine inventory includes many familiar labels offered through large conglomerates such as Gallo, Constellation and Diageo. But surprisingly, independent winemakers are well-represented on the shelves, too. “We have great relationships with small, family-owned wineries,” Markert said. “Personally, I’m more into finding those highly allocated niche wines from small producers. We have a wine shop mentality. This place will rival anything you see in a fine wine store.” Markert had just returned from a trip to Napa, where he talked business with several small-output wineries. Imported wines are well represented here as well – more than 800 labels from South Africa, Argentina, Chile, Spain, Germany, France, Italy, New Zealand and Australia.

Markert is fond of Provencal roses, and he stocks more of them than many wine stores. On a different row you’ll find high-end liquor such as Bruichladdich’s legendary interpretation of scotch. Close by is a brew section that includes some of Southern California’s most popular craft beermakers, including a healthy contingent from San Diego, one of the nation’s beer capitals. Markert’s enthusiasm is palpable, but if you’re an O.C. resident, you could be forgiven for harboring a sliver of doubt about Pavilions’ gambit. Beverages & More, Total Wine & More, Hi Time, Costco, Trader Joe’s – isn’t Southern California already awash in a plethora of wine, beer and spirits choices, much of it at affordable prices? “We’re confident in our research,” Watkinson said. “We think people will like the idea of buying quality wine at the place where they do their other shopping rather than making a separate trip for that.” Industry experts confirm the validity of Pavilions’ marketing strategy.

“It has been tried in similar situations in other parts of the country — very successfully in the East,” said Burt P. Flickinger III, managing director of Strategic Resource Group, a New York-based consumer industry consulting firm. “It’s a very savvy strategic initiative on the part of Vons, which tends to attract more of an upper-middle income shopper who is buying wine both for everyday (consumption) and special occasions. In terms of both buying and merchandising, Vons has a tremendous amount of skill and expertise in fine wine. This (concept) is analogous to what (the late Trader Joe’s executive) John Shields did when he expanded to a finer palate of wines for Trader Joe’s at very good values.” Vons, like all retailers, undoubtedly keeps a close eye on larger retail and consumption trends, and for wine the numbers look very positive. Total U.S. wine consumption continues to rise — Americans now drink an average of 2.83 gallons of wine per year, 15 percent more than 2008.

From 2010 to 2016, the U.S. wine industry’s sales growth averaged 9.7 percent per year. Compare those two numbers and it’s obvious that we’re not only drinking more wine, but we’re also willing to pay more for each bottle. Others are taking advantage of the trend, too. “Both Total Wine and BevMo are moving to expand their product portfolio in California,” Flickinger said. Consumers’ increasing interest in high-end and small-production wine is good news for that part of the industry, he added. When powerful buyers such as Vons and Trader Joe’s start buying and marketing them, “oftentimes they contract for (those wines) on a long-term basis. They commit to a big percentage of their product, which gives (the winery) the cash flow to expand and prosper much more quickly.” Vons is also capitalizing on Southern California’s higher-than-normal level of wine knowledge and appreciation as well as the area’s many neighborhoods with high disposable income, Flickinger said.