Wine Depot

Noooo!!! The train has derailed. They are closed. Out of business. Done. Sad day in Brea…

Great Wine, great cheese, and excellent service! A really fun place to go to start a night out. Walking distance from Downtown Birch Street!

If you’re searching for a quiet and comfortable location to enjoy a glass of wine — this is the spot. It’s a welcomed wave of calm and cozy in the buzzing downtown brea circuit. An ideal location for focusing on your companions instead of your surroundings — and you might learn a thing or two about your wine preferences. The staff is knowledgeable and candid, just the right level of friendly and not pushy or snooty. Employees are super passionate about wine and seem genuinely excited to help guide you through selections. Pricing is reasonable and the cheese plate is lovely. They don’t have a kitchen but are happy to order a pizza from across the street at a discounted rate. Great place to catch up with girl friends or even a date.

My first impression was, «Unique wine tasting experience on a train cart or casually outside on the patio, sounds good to me!»
This little Brea gem and landmark surely calls for all wine lovers, locals, and visitors alike to come in for a tasting. With friendly and knowledgeable staff (especially Brian who seems to be the main server there) your wine tasting experience will keep you coming back for more. Both the owners Jerry and his wife are always keeping this little wine shop well maintained and they themselves are part of this historic Brea must-​try. Whether this is your first wine tasting ever, or you are an oenophile, Wine Depot is a great place to follow up and wind down after dinner in Downtown Brea/​Birch St.
Brian really knows his wines, and will take the time to explain its history, region, flavors, and make recommendations based on some of your favorites. Their wine tasting machine as soon as you walk in is good for starters, you’ll be set up with a wine card (like a game card for wines) to try one or all. Their prices are so friendly, you’ll want to make Wine Depot your wine playground to try all kinds, it really feels like a wine boutique.
Make sure you check out their website or sign up for their mailing list during your first visit for their many specials throughout the week and their special wine tasting events. I recently went to their «Tres de Mayo» and «Opolo» tastings with 5 tastes for $ 10.00 and they provided a great list with wine descriptions and deals on the bottles.
The place is cozy and comfortable, but it is easy to gather a group of friends outside on the patio and you’d be surprised how many people can actually pack on board this quirky train. When I introduced a friend for her going away get together, we had a pretty good crowd mingle outside on the patio and everyone enjoyed the wine machine and tastings! The outdoor seating is great on Summer nights.
The lasting impression? «It’s a blessing and a curse that I am so close from Wine Depot! In love with this place!»

Wine and cheese on a train… equals a good time if you ask me. Come for happy hour and try the great wines they have in stock. Great place to hang out for a few hours.

Very cool place for happy hour on a Saturday. Starts at 4pm till 7pm.

I love this place because the vibe is so cozy. It is owned by an older married couple that make it very obvious that they are passionate about their business and wine. The customer service is great. They are always so attentive, quick, and knowledgable about the descriptions of their wines. It’s nice that this place is close to where I reside too. There’s no restaurant service here but they do have cheese plates and they also give you the option to order pizza from a local pizza joint.

Woot woot! Come on ride the train, hey, ride it!
Such an awesome feel to this place! The staff is super friendly and helpful. They have wine dispensers that are becoming very popular and you can buy it for a taste, half glass, or full glass. Or you can go to the bar and get a glass of wines they don’t have under the dispenser. Your friends don’t drink wine? Well, they’ve got a little bit of bottled beer in a fridge for them as well. Sit inside, at the bar, or outside.
I was able to try a cheese plate (half for $ 6) and we got a few little pieces of cheese and small slices of cheese cake. Tasty, but of course it wasn’t very much. It’s very close to downtown Brea, so you can take a stroll over there to sober up a bit before going home.
What I like about this place is that you don’t have to prepay a card. You give them one of your cards to hold, drink as much as you want, then put that total on your card! $ 10 minimum, mind you.
Check me out!

I call it the caboose. Great atmosphere, great service. I love to sit out on the deck and catching up with friends while having a great glass of wine. Great way to unwind after a long day at work. Not stuffy, not intimidating.

I had a 4 star experience, but its 2 – 3 star wine.
They have a wine machine that will bill you for exactly what you buy, taste, half glass or full glass. Its really cool– but over priced for the wines you get.
I want to go back and try the cheese platter. That could boost the review to 4 stars. Really nice guy behind the bar, and a cool atmosphere for an after dinner glass of wine.
They have outdoor seating which is a must.

Wine from a box … car… .train? A boxcar train! Well, I like wine and I like trains, so yea why not.
To start off, this place is a bit interesting. The building is a train station where at first you might expect to stand in line for funnel cakes or oversized lollipops, like at Knott’s Berry Farm or something. Then, with such a big patio and so many tables you might expect them to have a full service kitchen. But then, you walk in and see a wine vending machine and realize you’re in a place called Wine Depot. A wine train depot…
If you’re expecting a fine dining wine tasting experience, this isn’t it. I mean, the place is called Wine Depot. It’s pretty much what you’d expect if BevMo merged with TGI Fridays and made a wine tasting storefront. It’s an existing concept with some added «flair,» complete with a young peppy, over-​eager …sommelier? Probably more like a winetender? Not too sure… then again I wasn’t too sure of a lot of things while I was here.
Back to my visit…
My first thought when I walked in was, «is that a wine vending machine?» The old me would have been like «SWEEET!» But, having spent the better part of the last year working at an old style French restaurant with it’s own wine bar I’ve become, well… a bit of a wine snob. So I may have been a little put off by the idea of a wine vending machine at first. But it’s not like I tossed my basket of baguettes and croissants on the floor and waved my beret in disapproval. I suppose it is an efficient, labor-​free way for patrons to try several different wines. I just didn’t opt for it.
We ended up sitting up at the bar and trying the sample tasting and a cheese platter. If I remember right, it was $ 12 each for 5 pours. There’s no way I’m going to remember any of the wines, but I do remember there was a riesling and a Spanish rioja that we particularly enjoyed. The others really didn’t stand out too much. But I do want to mention that the «winetender» wasn’t particularly good at matching wines to our taste preferences. I wanted something more complete and complex. My date wanted something fruity and sweet. But each time the picks were switched, where I thought hers was more complex, and she thought mine was more fruity. Not a huge deal, but just something worth mentioning.
Overall, it was a good experience. Nothing outstanding. But fun.
Interesting sidenote is that they advertise pizza, but it’s not made in-​house. It’s delivered from across the street. I guess they don’t have a kitchen. Plus, I saw the wine guy cutting the cheese in the corner of the room behind a little counter. Yes, that was a fart joke. And I should add that the cheeses were good.

After our fabulous Bruxie dinner, my boyfriend brought me here for some wine. I am a bit torn on this review. I liked the wines in the tasting a lot, but the overall system here is a bit weird.
I have been to many, many places to do wine tastings (as you can see from my The Adventures of Lil Wino list) and every single place I have been, you either pull up a seat at the bar, stand at the bar, or sit at a table and you are served. Not so much here.
When we arrived we took a seat at the bar and we told the lady we wanted to do tastings. She gave us a list of five wines, and five tickets. She said we would get a pour for each ticket and then she said «you can get started whenever you like!» Okay. So we sat there awhile and nothing happened. Then she came back and told us we had to go to the tasting table by the front entrance.
Basically there is a guy standing at a table with five wines. Each time you want wine you have to get up and go over to the table to get it… makes it kind of hard to chill and relax when you are constantly getting up.
The guy would also disappear all the time, so we had to wait awhile for him to come back and serve us. I don’t understand why they don’t pour at the bar?
The wines were good though. The tasting menu was one white and four reds. I really liked three of the offerings, the other two were just okay in my opinion.
I will definitely give this place another shot sometime. Maybe it isn’t always like that, maybe it was just a Friday thing. Not sure. But I do think it’s a cool place and I will come back at some point and try it out again.

Choo chooo, this place is a train! I came here two Saturdays ago around 9:30 ish. I pulled into the parking lot before my friend got there and was a bit weary. There was only one car sitting there besides mine. Uhh, are you guys closed? This place was dead. I came here because of the good reviews. They do have a grand wine selection including the ones that are not on the menu. But this place just doesn’t give me that i-​want-​to-​drink-​wine-​and-​eat-​cheese-​while-​talking-​to-​my-​friends. The table we sat at was wobbly, and the décor was.old. Besides I didn’t really want to talk about my life with my friends since the only voice the server can hear was ours which made it awkward. We had one glass of wine and left.
I don’t know, maybe I came here on a bad night. I will try back again on a day they have an event going on and update.

#415 We were desperate for a place to enjoy a glass of wine without the crowd last night, but nothing seemed appropriate until we came upon the Wine Depot on Unilocal.After reading the reviews and checking out their website, we decided to give it a shot. They have a pretty decent location — about a block south of Downtown Brea — and they have their own private parking lot. After walking in, we were greeted immediately by the hostess and she graciously explained how they had the wine dispensers (with 16 different wines), a bar menu, as well as bottles to purchase in their «wine cellar». We opted for the bar and were seated amongst several others. After taking a look at their menu, we decided that their wine flight would be best — 5 wines for $ 12.
I thought it would be a good opportunity to sample all of the wines I have never had before so I immediately picked out the Sauvignon Blanc, the Viognier, and the Chianti. The boyfriend opted for the Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as the Pinot Noir. None of the wines were particularly notable and the Sauvignon Blanc was definitely the worst. But, we had a fine time enjoying our samples and chatting away. We ended up spending a good hour and a half there. The crowd, though, was a strange one. Plenty of girls having a night out and gossiping, but very few other characters. Another couple came in while we were about to leave, but that was about it. All in all, I would definitely recommend the Wine Depot to those looking for a quiet evening out.

This place is top-​notch. I moved to the area from a big city and was dying for something to remind me of life outside of suburbia — this place does just that.
I went here with a meetup group of about 20 women and they accommodated our same day reservation with ease, even sectioning off part of the outside patio for our group. The night we came they had an Oktoberfest tasting of 3 German wines and 2 German beers for only $ 10. Major deal!
Any night of the week you can order wine by the glass or bottle, and they also have a self-​serve selection of about 20 – 25 wines up front where you put a card into the machine and it dispenses a tasting portion, or half/​full glass, depending on what you want. It is a very affordable way to try many different types of wines in a non-​pretentious relaxing atmosphere.
Wine Depot is owned and operated by a husband and wife team who are very friendly and make every guest feel right at home. I especially liked that they have (what I think) is an old train car as part of the building.
It is a great place for groups, a great place for friends, a great place for anyone wanting to support a family owned business that is top notch.

Came here for a Wine & Cheese Wednesday, and had a great time. The train is super cute, and the sommelier? server? (I didn’t catch his title) did a great job of explaining the cheese plates, and taking care of us.
The red and white wines came with slightly different cheese pairings, which was a nice touch.
I dunno, there’s just something about this place that I love. Sure, it’s not as not as fancy schmancy, nor pretentious as that flashy supermodel you tried to hit on, but it’s definitely more like the girl next door, with the same kind of mellow charm and endearing quirkiness. This place nicely fills a certain niche, a void left behind by all the big, loud, beer & spirits type chain restaurants in this area.

I’ve been here a number of times, usually to grab a glass of wine after running errands in the area, and I’ve never had a bad experience. This particular visit was for 2 for Tuesday – you choose 2 wines from a short list for $ 7. Brian (my favorite sommelier) knows his wine. If you tell him what you’re in the mood for, he’ll give you a few well-​informed options to choose from. After glancing at the menu I asked him for a recommendation. He’s never steered me wrong, and this time was no exception. Canyon Road (?) is one of the regular wineries they pour, and the pinot noir was full-​bodied and mellow – very good and exactly what Brian had described. My friend and I spent the rest of the evening enjoying our wine and chatting with Brian about his favorite choices on the menu.
I prefer Wine Depot over other wine bars I’ve visited for a few reasons. First, the staff is always friendly and attentive. The aforementioned Brian will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the wines – where it’s from, how it’s grown, what you’ll taste – and carry on a conversation, but also makes sure every guest is taken care of in a timely manner. The owners are often around as well, and available for a friendly word.
Second, the prices are comparable to other wine bars. The wine list is a wide selection of local and international wines, all of which are available by the glass or bottle (with no corkage fee). A glass will run you $ 6 – 10, or you can buy a BYO (build your own) flight of 5 tastes for $ 12. There is also a machine where you can buy tastes of some nicer wines with a prepaid card. But unlike other wine bars, you’re allowed to bring in your own food. As long as it’s not on their menu (e.g. cheese plates, bread with dipping oil, cheesecake) it’s allowed. Have a birthday cake for your guest of honor? Sure! Want to have a pizza delivered from Jojo’s down the street? Here’s a menu, and you’ll get a discount! You won’t find any tiny, overpriced «entrees» on the menu here – always a pet peeve of mine. If I’m going to spend $ 100 on dinner, I’d better be full when I leave.
Lastly, I love the atmosphere. Just because I like wine doesn’t mean I’m a pretentious wine snob, and I certainly don’t want to be treated like one. Wine Depot is anything but pretentious. They have a fridge with a few different kinds of beer for the non-​wine drinker. There’s a nice patio with umbrellas and heat lamps for any weather. The music is mellow without being artsy or depressing. And there’s a TV in the corner if you prefer to watch sports while drinking wine. The motto on the menu couldn’t be more true: «Where good friends and good wines meet.»

I went here for an after work Happy hour event with some vendors and co-​workers. We each had our own debit card to try out about 16 different wines. It was pretty cool and cozy.
If you like to do a small little wine tasting with a couple friends, this is the spot. For me, I am not a big wine drinker so it was okay. They do have beer for the non-​wine drinkers but not much variety.
I personally wouldn’t go back but if you like wine and want to go to a small cozy place, this is the spot

I’m not much of a wine drinker but I like drinking anything that gives me a good buzz. Wine Depot was highly recommended to us by our previous roommate so last night, we decided to host a get together with 4 of our couple friends. I didn’t know how busy the place would get so I called in and made a reservation 2 days prior to the event. We sat in the «train» section of the bar and had the entire area to ourselves which was really cool. I think the train area would comfortably seat 14 people.
We purchased a $ 20 wine card and sampled 4 different wines — 3 from the wine dispenser and 1 at the bar (2 reds, 1 rose and 1 white). The reds were very good. Very little tannin and easy to drink. The rose was very sweet — too sweet. The white wine was German white wine similar to Riesling. It was very refreshing with a hint of sweetness. I liked the white wine a lot.
Nice cozy place, good selection of wines and great service. We’ll definitely be back!

Once called Wine Stop, Wine Depot can be a tad hard to notice at first if not for the fact the place looks like a train car. That itself sets this winery apart from other places. The place is small, but homey and well-​decorated. There’s a bar for ordering other kinds of drinks as well.
Well, what separates this winery from other places is that it has a self-​serve machine that serves wine, which you can operate with a wine card you can purchase. Price range for tasting is about $ 1-​$ 4 per pour depending on what you get. Upside is that you can take it to your table and enjoy it with a buddy. Downside to doing it this way, of course, is that you don’t get as much interaction with the pourer (or get that little extra pour), which is part of the whole wine-​tasting experience.
However, it appears you don’t have to go that route, and have it poured from the bar, as I noticed a couple come in and do that. The pourer seemed quite knowledgeable and friendly and gave us copious amounts of cheese, crackers, peanuts, and a little chocolate (to go with the Port).
Overall, a nice place to bring friends and enjoy a bit of wine. It closes around 6pm and given it’s not within a shopping plaza where you can walk it off (except across the street, which has the Blockbuster Videos, Costplus, Starbucks, and Ralphs), the place can feel a bit «off on its own.»