Business & Tech
Buying Wine: Great Choices, Unique Shops in Mill Valley
With so many styles, varieties and countries making wine these days, it's easy to lose your way. We help you navigate Mill Valley's surfeit of good wine shops with talented merchants.
Mill Valley Market opened their doors in 1929 and began carrying wine after Prohibition ended in 1933. In 1976, original owner Jim Canepa expanded the wine department and became Chateau Montalena's second customer. Jim's son Doug now owns the market and manages all of the wine purchases.
It is Canepa's firm belief that you should be able to buy a good bottle of wine for under $15 and it's the wine shop staff's goal to help customers find the best wine for the money, regardless of where it originated. In today's economy, California wines do not present value but you can get beautiful wines with a better taste profile at this price from Europe (Languedoc and Rhône Valleys in France, Spain), Argentina and Australia.
Canepa's staff is loaded with wine geeks who have been in the wine business for years. The in-shop trend this year, however, is artisan beer. Mill Valley Market's specialty beer selection has increased 40 percent in the past 12 months. In response to customer demand, a bi-monthly Beer Club launched in May. The monthly Wine Club is still going strong after 15 years.
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12 Corte Madera Ave, 415.388.8466
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Vintage Wine and Spirits
With dark wood walls and wine piled in crates, Vintage is a classic wine shop without pretense. There has been a wine shop in this location since the 1930s. Richard Leland, owner of Vintage Wine and Spirits for 14 years and in the wine biz for 38 years as a grower, winemaker and winery president, specializes in small quantity, artisanal wines of California and the great wines of the world, including red and white Burgundies, Champagnes and Italian wine.
The unique selection at Vintage offers a good amount of regional wines produced in Napa, Sonoma or Mendocino and virtually all of the wines sold are made from grapes that are sustainably farmed. It is here, too, that you will track down the collectible and sought-after '03 Chateau Y'quem sauternes or the '05 Shafer Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon.
With a former winemaker, assistant winemaker and Master Sommelier-in-training on staff, Vintage hopes to find you that high-scoring bottle or allow the seasoned staff to help you discover the taste of terroir.
67 Throckmorton Ave, 415.388.1626
Whole Foods Blithedale
With two locations in Mill Valley, Whole Foods' mission statement is to "sell the highest quality natural and organic products available." Joe Kaulbach, wine buyer and specialist for the new Blithedale store, brought in a wine selection that complements that reality.
Kaulbach sought out local wines for this new store, and local does not mean California wines but Marin County wines and wines made from Marin County vineyards. You may see the label "Eco-Friendly" on wines here, to succinctly explain bio-dynamic wine, organically grown wine, organic wine, and sustainable wine.
Every Whole Foods has a different selection but the most popular wines of the chain can be found at any Whole Foods. Walk into Whole Foods at any time and there will always be fifty wines made exclusively for Whole Foods.
Kaulbach's team is dedicated to wine, beer and cheese, the better to help you select a great match from the stacks of Vinho Verde and Zweigelt.
731 East Blithedale, 415.381.3900
