Vine Styles

How did I not know about this place?! I walk by the Kensington location on my way home every day and I’m on 10^th Ave a couple of times a month at least so what gives. Best kept secret from me anyway. So I have a Unilocal ELITE event to thank for finally getting me in the door and I am in LOVE with this store. They sort by styles: Bold, Lush, Crisp, etc and their pricepoint is reasonable for good quality wines. This is not your Co-​op Liquor store but hey they have a place in my booze soaked liver too but this place is special. You will likely find a wine you have never heard of, fall in love with it and never be able to get it again. Sounds heartbreaking but when you specialize in small batch its bound to happen. I count myself lucky that I’ll have a brief moment of delight, some bragging rights with my fellow winos and then the chance to do it over and over again. Oh, did I mention they have an awesome selection of indy brew too. Told you this place was heaven.

I’m in love with Vine Styles lately. I found my way into this store one day and stumbled upon one of their Category Tasting events. It’s an open to the public event that they do ever couple weeks, and they had no less than 6 (probably more) bottles of wine available for me to sample from each of their different styles.
What do mean by styles… like grape type? Country? Nope, and nope. Ok, while the grape varietal and country definitely play into the way a wine tastes but there’s a crazy amount of variation from bottle to bottle. Vine Styles takes it a step further and does the homework for you by organizing the store by exactly what’s important — how the wine tastes.
Flavour styles like Bold, Lush, Crisp, Elegant — they have a list of tasting notes for each, and if you come on a category tasting day you can rely on your own pallet to narrow the field. What I really love about this organization is that it empowers me to explore. I know that if I’m in the mood for a bold wine, I can basically pick anything off the bold wine and I’m going to be happy. I don’t need to go for the same bottle I’ve gone to time and time again.
More that I think is super awesome:
— They pretty much only carry wine I’ve never had. Not that I’ve had every kind of wine going, but even in their «under $ 20 section» there’s no chance you’ll come across your usual liquor subjects. Yellow Tail, Apothic Red, Jackson Triggs… Hell no. This is not that kind of wine store.
— Oh yah… They have an under $ 20 section! And a very well thought out under $ 20 section at that. Sometime you need a bottle of wine for a fancy dinner, or at a family gathering where you hope to impress the in-​laws… but sometimes (and likely more regularly) you need a good bottle of wine to have a much needed pajama and Netflix marathon. And if you do want that to be a good bottle of wine… maybe check out Vine Styles some time.
Oh yeah — I also joined their craft beer club today. You get a variety 6-​pack of excellent beer each month, as well as some deals and cool tasting events. Currently enjoying my Dogfather Imperial Stout while writing this review. I’m already looking forward to next month!

Really nice shop! Full disclosure I did go to an event here where I go to sample wine and get a small discount on purchases.
That being said I was impressed enough to buy a bottle of wine and a bottle of beer, and I am usually a whisky/​vodka exclusive.
Their selection is arranged in categories like «lush», «crisp», «organic» & several more, as well as a section where they wrote different popular food pairings to go with the wines on display such as pulled pork, vindaloo, thai, burgers, pizza etc.
They also carried some unique spirits such as Apple moonshine, canadian gin, and the official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby.
Staff seem fairly educated and helpful
good range of price points and some truly delicious inexpensive bottles as well as mid to high price points.
I went in with a distain for wine and came out with 2 bottles of it! Haha.

Vine Styles is building on their successful Kensington location formula of stocking small producer value-​for-​money wines (e.g. $ 30 Sauternes!) that you won’t typically find in other stores, and they are arranged by style («lush», «crisp», etc.) instead of origin. The staff are super helpful as well, having tried most of the wines for sale. Every time I’ve been, there are often several bottles open for tasting, including some of the interesting high-​end hard alcohols they have for sale like boutique vermouth and native herb gin from Northern Quebec. At this location, they have a dedicated beer room as well covering all kinds of styles and price points, with a preponderance of craft American brews. As an example of them trying to make a unique experience for customers, they are offering a craft brew «advent calendar» as a beer lover’s gift. Overall, I can’t think of much more one would want from a liquor store experience, if you’re past the college dorm room grab-​a-​bottle-​of-​CC stage.