Sunfish Cellars Wine & Spirits

This place is amazing. Their wine selection is great, as is their beer selection. They have a nice little wine bar there that serves food as well.
But the best thing is their periodic wine (and beer) tastings that are free! I’ve gone to them intending to just try things but not buy, but invariably when I try 100 wines head to head, I find some gems that I want to get and so I do just that! Well played, Sunfish Cellars! Their prices are a little higher than discount stores like Total Wine, but they aren’t outlandish, and the tastings make it so worthwhile.
Note the tastings are free but you do need to make reservations, and hundreds attend them. Also they have wine and beer classes every month. They’re a little pricey, but there is usually a Groupon for them that makes them more reasonable.

Attended a fabulous wine tasting one evening and it was absolutely fantastic. There were 12 tables set up all around and at least 6 tastings per table hosted by people that are happy to share fun facts and tidbits and just talk wine. It was a great opportunity to try some new wines and discover new favorites and mingle with other people that love wine. Some of the table hosts were friendlier than others and my favorite was Table 9 because of the host AND the wine. I discovered a delicious Mauro Molino Barolo that can be aged for 20 years and a Nice Bortolotti Prosecco. Table 5 had some beautiful wines but the host of the table seemed to be a little more inclined to talk to some of the guys in sweaters vs. just some regular people like me. Tip to her don’t judge a book by it’s cover… I bet I spend more money on wine over the course of a year than half of the people there. I just don’t act pretentious. That table had a lovely Gerard Boulay Monts Damnes Sancerre it is a great white that ages well. Some other wines of the evening I feel i must mention would be Anthill Farms Pinot Noir, Matthiasson Tendu Red, Moillard Grivot Chablis, and Covington Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon. The little flatbreads they serve are really flavorful. They have a Date Night special during the week. So yes all the wine is divine… but i have to mention the large and amazing specialty beer selection. If you have liquor lovers in your life take a little trip to Sunfish and get it on like donkey kong.

I bought a 4-​person wine tasting Groupon and was very disappointed in the wine they had us sample. We had approximately 6 samples, which seemed like low quality wines, with the most expensive one being approximately $ 15/​bottle. Were they trying to clear out their lower end wines on us? Although the sommelier was entertaining, I think the price I paid for this Groupon was way too much. They did serve various cheeses and breads with their wines, but the very skimpy portions they give you are not worth the $ 20/​person Groupon rate I got! Will never go there again.

My friend and I went there for a free wine tasting… it was informative and fun! They let you try some wonderful wines, the staff are friendly and the appetizer we had was great! Their wine bar is so cute with nice seating and ambiance. It would be a great place to go on a date. It is much more than a liquor store. Awesome little spot!

First, I have to say my wife and I have been to Sunfish Cellars dozens of times, including several of the classes that Mike has conducted. We’ve always had a great time and have learned things in the process. The wines served at many of the classes were simply stellar. Others were more off the beaten path. Just by way of example, I’ve never found any wine shop in the Twin Cities that offers a large selection of rare Cotes de Jura wines like Sunfish does.
It seems a little odd to me that one particular group complained in a previous review about being «scolded» in a class. I’ve attended maybe a half dozen classes at Sunfish over the last couple of years and have never seen or experienced anything like they describe. Could it be that this patron and her friends perhaps did something to deserve the treatment they received? Even the woman who was scolded (a public school teacher) suggested that perhaps the classes should be redesigned to «allow people to talk». I can only speculate, but maybe the truth is that they were a little too talky and disruptive, and that’s why they were scolded. I wonder how this teacher would react to a group of students in her class who acted that way? Maybe this group’s time would’ve been better spent on a «pub crawl» than trying to have a wild Groupon night out at a wine class that others had paid $ 50 to attend for the learning experience. Just a thought, but it all sounds like sour grapes to me (pun intended).
My wife and I very much enjoy going to Sunfish and spending time at the wine bar. It’s become somewhat of a Friday night ritual for us to stop in and have the wine flight (which changes often) and an appetizer or two. The people who work behind the counter are awesome and very friendly. I would also highly recommend signing up for their weekly newsletter. We’ve bought a number gems that were announced in the newsletter — some for as little as $ 8.
All in all it’s a great place to go!

Dear Sunfish Cellars & potential customers,
I am the friend who was scolded as mentioned in the previous comments from the evening of May 8^th, 2014. I had been looking forward to this evening for quite some time. I felt humiliated and uncomfortable for most of the evening. Had it not been for my 5 other friends (one of which I hadn’t seen in over a year) I would have gotten up and left! The sommelier Mike Dombrow was an embarrassment to the establishment! Unless you’re going for bad word of mouth and making sure wine loving people never come back. My 5 friends and I spend a fair amount of money on wine and now will make the trip to Total Wine & More in Roseville.
I have been a teacher in public education for over 20 years as well as spent time in and out of food and beverage sales. Mike’s lack of self-​awareness and presentation skills are a huge deficit to your wine education program. I would suggest Mike make some huge adjustments to the class design (allowing for people to talk) as well as his «script», tone, and volume (all of which were overbearing and offensive). The immense wine knowledge Mike may have is overshadowed by his lack of knowledge in people soft skills and understanding of customer service.
Once the «class» was over I proceeded to leave as quickly as possible whereby I then was able to speak freely with other participants outside. I approached and «apologized» to several other couples. They told me they were all afraid to even speak in the case that they too would be scolded and another couple told me that the instructor was simply rude and that I should go to the wine tasting (s) offered at Canterbury Downs. I hope that this great little venue doesn’t go to waste due to experiences like this, more importantly I hope other people don’t get treated by Mike the way he did me without a blink of an eye that evening. I also hope these comments are taken seriously!
Thank you for listening.

When you arrive at Sunfish Cellars it’s hard to know what to expect from the setting «Hmmmm …is this an old Wild West movie set plunked in a strip mall in West St. Paul ?» There is a Moose Country bar anchoring the opposite side of the parking lot and a strange variety of other small businesses in between. When I walked in I was pleasantly surprised with a warm yet very clean modern atmosphere, what I would equate to a what a brand new Embassy Suites lobby must start out looking like. I sat in the wine bar and had a friendly greeting and great service. I enjoyed a quality local brew (yes, they have beer!) and a friend had a lovely house red. Happy Hour prices were in effect and it looked like a great place to chat with a friend or two, have a little nosh and look out over the lovely river view. The rest of our party arrived and we went through the retail liquor/​wine store upstairs for our wine tasting class. It was a nice loft space with a number of tables set for our class, each with a wine glass, a plate with a small variety of cheese and a few marcona almonds. The class had about 25 – 30 people total. It could have been so lovely, really, looking back now. The presenter came out and greeted everyone and proceeded to enlighten us how he would like the evening to proceed. Within the first minute we were told that if we drank all of the wine from each tasting it would equal about a half bottle (good information to have) and that he would have no problem calling the cops and giving them our license plate numbers and he would relish the view of them pulling us over outside crossing the bridge. He had done it before and he would not hesitate to do it again! WOW! I can think of about a million ways to say that differently. None of which involve a threat and creating an immediate anxiety amongst your paying guests. He then went on to explain how alcohol affects us and that and he would be watching for signs that we had had too much, were getting too loud, etc. Okay, now I have to make sure this stranger doesn’t interpret any of my behavior as over the line in his view. He proceeded with the most pompous, condescending, and abrasive presentation possible. Peppered with obscenities, which I’m not offended by but clearly others were. Yes, he did know his wine and perhaps if toned down it could have been interesting, even pleasurable. However his obvious contempt for his customers (he’s been in retail for 15 years we are told) and then the fear created by his overbearing demeanor pretty much ruined the evening. This guy needs to be tucked in an office somewhere NOT dealing with customers, he is bitter, resentful and angry. My friend was called out, humiliated, and told she was to pipe down or he would ask her to leave. Mind you this is a grown woman who had the audacity to be enjoying herself and laughing with friends. The look on everyone’s faces reminded me of what it would be like if your friend was spanked in front of the class as a child. I was ready to leave but some of my party were frozen (no one wanted to be next !) I endured another twenty minutes and then it was over. Not a single person clapped. We filed out and left. Then we went to a dive bar and laughed our heads off at the miserable experience that it was. They need a new sommelier…
I wouldn’t even bother with a groupon.
The wine bar service was wonderful, and I can’t say anything about the retail area which looked interesting and I HAD fully intended on visiting.

My friends and I attended a Seriously Sweet Wines class at Sunfish Cellars… and I don’t mean «sweet» as in «It was so awesome it was ‘sweet’», which it was, I mean flavor sweet.
First and foremost, we were told that it is ok to like sweet wines. You drink what you like. Thank you! How many wine snobs do you run across who look down on you because you prefer sweet or you prefer white? Here’s a direct quote from our class, «Wine is just fermented grape juice that we drink because it gives us pleasure. It’s a beverage, something we drink to enjoy and share.» Isn’t that really all it should be about?
We sampled 8 wines ranging in price from $ 14.99 to $ 47.99. The wines were from all around the world and covered a range of sweetness: Extra Dry Champagne, Ice Cider, Amarone, Bordeaux, a couple of Rieslings, Ruby Port and a very interesting Jean Bourdy Macvin du Jura (still wondering if I liked that one or not). We learned the history of sweet wines and what goes into making a sweet wine. Troy, our instructor was very informative, engaging and passionate about the subject.
Afterwards, we checked out the wines — we each purchased 3 bottles of what we all hope will be yummy wines — the staff was fantastic about helping each one of us out, asking what we like and making suggestions.
We didn’t spend much time exploring — there is so much more to this place. It’s huge, has a great selection of wine and beer and despite being in a strip mall, is beautifully decorated (the space where our class was held was very comfortable with nice tables and chairs and artwork on several walls) and it has a gorgeous view out the back windows!

Service was excellent! We got wine flights, cheese platter, spiced olives and a flatbread. The cheese was ah-​MAY-​zing! We also enjoyed the wines! Atmosphere was cozy, not stuffy. We definitely plan to go back!

The store and product selection is fantastic and really knowledgable staff… but these classes they offer are WAY over-priced…I would have been REALLY unhappy if we would be paid $ 50 pp for a class, but got them for $ 20 pp through groupon. A few chunks of cheese and crackers are not exactly appetizers to me, and the class said it was 2 hours and it was over in 45 minutes, maybe less. But I mean the product that was provided was good, and it was informative, just really overpriced for what you got… in my opinion anyway. I would never do another class… but if I was ever in the area, I might swing in to shop.

I won’t lie. We were lured into Sunfish Cellars by a mailer that arrived at our home advertising $ 7.99 Surly 4 packs. In the end, we feel it was worth the trip from St. Paul to stock up on some beers that most area stores do not carry.
First, the store is impressively large. It’s much larger than it seems from the outside. There’s a massive selection of wine but we were there for beer, so we headed right to the chilly refrigerated room. It was SUBARCTIC (which is good if you want cold beer but bad if you are wearing a short-​sleeved shirt). But one of the employees kindly came in and offered to turn the fan off while we were shopping.
Second, we picked up more than we intended to – always a sign of a good beer selection if we are involved. And we were really delighted to find some real rare gems and some of our personal favorites from around the country.
And, once I got out of the cooler, I found even more to love in the 750 mL bottle beer section that housed a lot of IPS and other custom stout type beers.
In all, we had a pretty good time shopping and sure we will be making a trip out every now and then at the very least to stock up on Surly. I asked the employee who rang us up and he basically said that they run that sale all the time. That’s quite a loss-​leader if you ask me, but I know where I’m buying my Furious from now on!

Went to a wine class last night and had a blast! The people there are friendly and super knowledgable about wines, but in a way that doesn’t make me feel like an idiot like most other wine shops! Great selection of cheeses too! We will be back for sure!

Bill and everyone at Sunfish Cellars are great. My girlfriend and i went to a wine class last Saturday and it was fun and informative.
I would recommend this class to everyone, 21+ of course. I have been to may like it, but i would have to say the knowledge that the staff had was more than the others I have been to.

Attended the Italian Cheese and Wine class and had a great time. The wine was secondary to the variety of cheese presented. Learned a ton about cheese and several times the presenter wanted to make sure that we were happy with the amount of cheese. There were also a few people who didn’t show up and the cheese plates were shared with the group. Loved the knowledge that this shop has.
Why only four stars you may ask? Well, that is due to them not having a specific wine that is listed on their website. When I asked for it, they made it sound like it was something they no longer carry; however it is still on the website. (I hate when companies don’t keep their sites updated)

I bought a Groupon for a wine/​cheese class and I attended the Wines of Napa class last weekend. As has been noted by other reviewers, the class is described as a wine and cheese class, but it’s really more of a wine class that comes with a small cheese plate to snack on. This didn’t bother me at all, but for people who want to learn more about food pairings, this might not be your class.
The sommelier that taught our class was awesome. Friendly, knowledgeable, and entertaining. I’d highly recommend taking one of these classes even if wine isn’t necessarily your thing. It’s a fun experience.

I’m rewriting this because I believe the situation warrants it.
We went in tonight and the experience was wonderful. It smelled great in there, it was well-​lit and I found a kickass beer that I’m pretty sure I’m going to obsess over now.
Maybe we just went at an awkward time of day last time. Either way… I take it all back. I’m fairly certain this will be our new liquor store to frequent. They do have a lot of items to choose from and I’m anxious to try some of the bourbon and scotch selections I saw.

Sunfish Cellars looks like a cute boardwalk location in a beautiful area south of St. Paul and overlooking the Mississippi river.
Our group ordered several flatbreads to share which were very tasty and well-​priced (especially The Savory-​yum!). We all tried different kinds of wine, and the wine bar manager took the time to explain each one to us. The wines are priced very well and we were all very satisfied with the quality.
It’s a hidden gem– definitely will be returning very soon!

Went to a wine class here on a groupon deal and felt completely ripped off!
This was advertised as a wine and cheese pairing class and when we got there we were told that there was no cheese since the cheese store had closed! — what a lame excuse for an advertised class. And the instructor acted as if it shouldn’t be a big deal to us!
For the class itself, seemed like the instructor was winging answers on the go and although he had a lot of experience with wine, he did a poor job of keeping the class focused/​entertained.
Overall they were very under-prepared.and as a result we felt under whelmed by the whole experience!

I think I need to take a trip to Spain!
A friend and I decided to spring for a $ 25 (or half price) Crowd Cut certificate for their wine tastings. Between the 2 of us, we literally had one night we could do it. It happen to fall on Spanish wine night. Great choice!
We were running a bit behind from our slow ass service across the parking lot so we got there and the instructor has to ask a couple people to add chairs so we could sit together.
We tried 5 Spanish wines and were given some great history on the each of the wines from the sommelier. He was a fantastic teacher and seemed very knowledgeable on the subject. He actually made me want to travel to Spain and check out the different regions. He corrected most of the class on some of the misinformation in the wine industry.
I would highly recommend checking this place out for a tasting. Although, I think the Crowd Cut said wine, cheese and crackers. We ate ahead of time so it wasn’t a huge deal, but the cheese and cracker platter is quite small for an eight person table. I would consider going back to purchase cheese as well.
I ended up finding a wine I’m dying to try one of these nights. Of course, I keep telling myself I need to not drink the whole thing myself… we’ll see how that goes.

I discovered Sunfish today after purchasing a Living Social coupon, and was wow’d. The place was really clean, friendly, and the cheese guy was a wiz! Their variety in cheese is amazing (#1 = Epoisse), and their prices beat Lunds by about ¹⁄₃. Plus, who can beat free cheese samples and amazing prosciutto?
While it seems off the beaten path (e.g., not right in the Twin Cities), this place has class, great cheese, and wonderful service to boot. Definitely coming back.