International Cellar

Found this little place in an otherwise uninspiring corner of the Tampa area. A decent selection of moderately interesting wines (smaller producers) from around the world, especially South Africa and Australia. The prices are not bargains, but are not too outrageous either. The sign out front says that they have 100’s of wines by the glass, which is not quite accurate. They have many wines by the glass that are $ 8 – 18, but much depends on how busy they are and what they have opened recently. They use nitrogen to protect the open bottles but are otherwise low-​tech. They are in the same trying-​to-​be upscale plaza as a Melting Pot, so you can get appetizers from the Melting Pot on any day but a Saturday or during Valentine’s Weekend. Of course, that is exactly when we visited, but we were happy enough with the wines by the glass. Our server was knowledgeable enough but no expert. They apparently also have wine classes run by the owners and are well attended and involve blind tastings. It’s worth a visit you are in the area, but there are more extensive selections elsewhere in the Bay area.