Do you enjoy intensely flavorful, mineral-packed wines that are mostly dry, lower in alcohol, and usually organic with a strong sense of terroir? If so, then you should join the Garagiste email club. But mind you, if you prefer super-oaky wines on the sweeter side that pack a high-octane punch like so many 4-buck chucks, do not sign up to be on the Garagiste email list. Just go to Safeway, pick a bottle, and you'll be fine. So, what is Garagiste and how does it work? It's like a wine club, or co-op, that has no minimum purchase requirement and no fees. First, you sign up for daily emails. Sometimes, you'll receive as many as four a day. Read through the messages. If a wine sounds good, click to order it on-line. Your credit card will be charged. If you live in Puget Sound country, you can schedule a time to go pick up your treasures in Renton after they arrive; otherwise, have them shipped to you anywhere in the USA. I'm a picker-upper. I've been averaging about 12 cases of wine each year from Garagiste since 2008, and I've never had a bad bottle yet. Repeat: I NEVER HAD A BAD BOTTLE OF WINE FROM GARAGISTE. Instant gratification this is not, so if you need a bottle of wine this very minute, go to a store. But patience will be rewarded with some of the most unusual and rare bottles from far-flung places that only Garagiste can offer. I order throughout the year but usually pick up once in the summer so I can enjoy all those yummy rosés right around Bastille Day. When I do go pick up, the warehouse staff is always cordial and professional as they walk me through the pages of inventory sheets. They load the car for me, too. Such nice people! I also really like the owner, Jon Rimmerman, even though I never met the guy. The biggest challenge you'll face as a club member is plodding through the habitual hyperbole that flows forth freely from Rimmerman's keyboard. Expect a heaping helping of excessively embellished hype and some impenetrably recherché cultural references that occasionally include the pointless inclusion of the word "literally." Despite a slight predisposition to esoteric bloviation, I always look forward to reading his words because Jon is extremely passionate, super smart, and he possesses an extraordinary palate. If Jon likes the wine, I know I will like it, too. I consider Jon to be the vinous Delphic oracle. Not only do I love Jon's taste in wine, but I have the highest regard for his support of sustainable farming practices, which is another reason why I am one of his biggest fans. Many of the wines Jon offers are raised BIO/organic, some with horse plow/hand-pick/no mechanization, native yeasts, or zero cellar intervention, and they are usually a family affair, as opposed to being produced by some giant faceless conglomerate. Believe me, you'll get the entire fascinating backstory of each unique wine when you read his emails. Garagiste offers exceptional, one-of-a-kind wines from around the world, created in a way that respects our world. Jon's wines are good on your palate and good for the planet! God Bless Jon Rimmerman and Garagiste. May they both live long and prosper! read more

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Hand curated wines from the best wine growing regions in the world, including everything from Tuesday night sippers to special occasion Grand Cru offerings. Cheers! read more

I have been buying most of my wine online, here for 7-8 years. It has been a wonderful experience. There are a couple of things a new comer should know, 1. The wine is not going to arrive in 2 days like Amazon, it may be 6 months. 2. If you have it shipped as I do, there are spring and fall shipping times which are safe for the wine to travel, and you have to wait, 3. The wine descriptions are effusive, but accurate. 4. These are wines you can open and drink for 2-3 days without the "mass produced wine" type of dramatic decline in quality that you get from the grocery store. 5. I envy those of you who live near the store and can pick up wine at will, but I buy enough to stay ahead of my use, and cellar the rest. 6. If you get an email that looks like a great deal, jump quick or it will be sold out. Garagiste isn't for everyone, but it is a great way to obtain excellent wines at a very good price. read more

I learned an expensive lesson, the hard way. Many wines are simply over-hyped, and not only do not deliver, but are not drinkable. Rimmerman is the email version of a wine telemarketer - hoping his chickens never come home to roost -- or that dissatisfied customers (far more than you are made to realize since you all think you are in a small club, but it is likely tens and tens of thousands) really think. With me, the chickens have roosted. I had hundreds of bottles I enjoyed, but the quality has markedly declined recently. Many recent bottles were very much over the hill and fell woefully short of the manically hyped email descriptions. I trust now trust my local longstanding wine merchant, and indeed, Total Wines, more than Josh. Sadly. Beware. read more

I have been buying from JR at Garagiste for many years now, and I have to say, the entire experience is slipping. It may be that they've grown too big, but the problems are palpable. For starters, the quality of the deals has declined substantially! I now routinely find better deals on offers with simple googling. In the past 3 months, JJB Private Client has had two deals that were *substantially* below Garagiste's pricing on identical bottles/vintages. I suspect that Garagiste's volume needs have caused this to some extent. Additionally, in my first several years with the service, I never had an issue with wines not arriving roughly when promised in the email missive. The one other time that happened, they offered a better bottle from the same producer at the same price. Now, they are routinely missing delivery estimates, and when pressed, they make excuses and do not offer recompense. It's particularly egregious given that they take payment at the time of the offer. Two stars because they still occasionally have excellent deals, but it doesn't make up for the negative feelings around the service lapses. All in all, I'm working to shift my buying elsewhere. read more

Thankfully, I figured out what a crock of bologna this company was after one order so I don't have the wealth of complaints that some others can share. But that won't stop me from explaining this... Garagiste was recommended on a website that I had stumbled upon when I was researching some wine. I thought the concept sounded good so I signed up & started receiving emails from Jon, at least several times a day. Each email is like wading through a flowery pond of potential scum. The descriptions are gargantuan in words used & promises given. What I really care about is a succinct, accurate description and the price. Five minutes later...I usually pressed delete & waited for the next missive. Finally, I trudged through one of those emails & it actually sounded like something I would like. Especially for Memorial Day Weekend - a nice Rose for one of our neighborhood get togethers. I order 6 bottles. Then I get to wait several days to find out if my order is actually accepted by the wine gods at Garagiste. Yay! I get the email saying my order is accepted & should arrive by the end of the month. Of course, my credit card is immediately charged for the purchase. June 1st, no wine. July 1st no wine. July 7th I finally email customer service to find out what is going on. I get an extremely long message that says in a nutshell, our provider is slow in shipping the wine, sorry. We'll be in touch when it arrives which should be in about 2 weeks. Three weeks go by and I haven't heard a word. So I log onto the website to see that yes, in fact, my wine has arrived in their warehouse. I email them to say I want the wine shipped because I don't live anywhere near Washington & I can't pick it up. Again, another nice enough, but absurdly long message apologizing that they hadn't notified me of the wine's arrival, and then discouraging me from having the wine shipped during potentially bad weather for wine but if I really insist, they will ship it at my peril & I will be responsible if the wine is no good. Fine, after nearly 4 months I'm ready to take that chance. 10 days later the wine arrives with a note cautioning I should let it 'rest' at least a couple weeks after that long treacherous journey to California. I waited 2 days, took it to a neighborhood party nicely chilled & it was fine, nothing special, but just fine. For the amount of hassle, it's simply not worth it. read more

My husband is the actual buyer of wine from from Garagiste, I just accompanied him to pick up the 3 1/2 cases he has purchased over the last year or so. We were referred by them initially from our friends in Oregon Wine Country, one owns a restaurant and the other is a national sales manager for a local vineyard. Based on theses friends giving such strong recommendations we were happy to buy wine off an email list. We picked up the wine at the physical location in an industrial park in Seattle. We had to make an appointment a couple days in advance. Our wine was ready to go. We picked up a couple more items from their small selection on site. The guy who helped us was awesome and took our wine out to our car after pulling each bottle out and checking it off the list of purchased wine. So far the six bottles we have had have been as promised. read more

It took close to a year to get my 6 bottles of wine. I received a gift card for my bday and thought I would try their service. But after problems with the supplier with the delivery, not being able to talk to anyone in regards to the delay, I have given up on them and they can keep the $200 I still have from my gift. Very disappointing and don't recommend. read more

His wine writing is beautiful and its worth receiving the emails just to read them. Pricing isn't always the best, but they don't claim to be a discount service, merely a curatorial one. I do have a service complaint, however, that customers should be aware of. If you are someone who orders wine from many different sources, I urge that if you use Garagiste to keep good diaried entries and reminders all over the place, because there is no guarantee that Garagiste will remember to send you your orders (a particularly dangerous problem when futures are involved, since who knows when they will be received). Recently, after placing an order, I reviewed my order history after being taken to the order history page (I'd never seen before) by a click I never saw before and scrolled down to see the things I've bought over the years (happily bought, I admit), and my eyes alighted upon two 2014 entries whose details did not read "Shipped" but instead read "Arrived." 'Arrived'?? I wrote to the support address and got a timely response that said nothing more than yes, your wines arrived, here, in our warehouse -- 5 years ago! But why weren't they shipped to me? No answer, not merely no good answer (my status is, as are most if not virtually all Garagiste customers, a "Delivery Customer"). And so of course I asked that they ship the wines to me ASAP. And then I politely asked for consideration on the shipping charges, i.e.,. would you guys kindly assume the shipping costs for the two orders you should have shipped but failed to ship to me (or even to provide any follow up notice, for that matter) 5 years ago?? And sadly the answer was simply no. I can't think of a retailer of anything, much one that sells a perishable commodity, that would not take responsibility for such a mistake. Sure, the ultimate responsibility is mine, but I am also the one who hired this company to provide a service that wasn't received, so my disappointment in their unwillingness to accept responsibility for their obvious mistakes is real. And given the 'personal' aspect of Garagiste's wine service, their hard-nosed "no" was all the more surprising. So, not saying anything but good about their curatorial choices. I'm simply providing a genuine note of caution on their delivery and customer services. read more

Updating my review: the last few parcels we've ordered have seemed to be needing to be drunk now, on the downward swing. The descriptions have become consistently overhyped. And, the same wines are available at Seattle area retailers for less. Finally, the descriptions of the wines themselves are plain wrong if not worse. The so-called "Mystery Wines" are wines past their prime that no one else wants. I've unsubscribed too, and have made my last purchase. We've found several good shops in Tacoma, and Pike and Western in Seattle is consistently excellent. read more

I have been ordering wine from these folks for eight years now and have been completely satisfied. I am surprised to hear about the complaints in some of the other reviews. The prices are great, the wine is always well-made (although they are sometimes not to my taste), and I end up trying wines that would otherwise never come up on my radar. There are two sources of exceptional values. One is the mystery offerings, where you purchase a wine for much cheaper than its market price without knowing its identity prior to purchase. The other is the situation where a winery is undergoing changes and wishes to unload inventory at fire-sale prices (latest example was Wind Gap). read more

I have finally had it with Garagiste. They charge you upfront for an order that sometimes takes months to be filled. I placed an order in June for a purchase that was represented to be arriving immediately. Now many months later, no explanation, no apology, no communication, no fulfillment of order. I have suggested they follow the example of many online retailers today--you are not charged until they are about to ship. No response. Not surprising. Beware when dealing with Garagiste. Their offerings are good but their communication and customer relations suck. After I complained again, they simply refunded my money. read more

Four years after my first experience with Garagiste, and I'm still thoroughly pleased. I've been getting about 10 cases, twice a year, of completely mixed wines. Sometimes I'll order 6 bottles of something, but usually it's 2-3. Very few of these wines are bottles I've had before, so most of these purchases are taking Jon's word for it, and guess what? Everything has been enjoyable. I can count on one hand, out of what must easily be more than a hundred different wines now, bottles I didn't enjoy. I buy almost all of my wine through Garagiste, and can't recommend it highly enough. read more

I buy wine and other items from Garagiste through the e-mail list, and I pick up directly at the warehouse because I'm local. This is definitely the way to go. Arranging pickup has always been really convenient for me. They have Saturday hours, which works best for me, and the staff will bring the wine out to your car for you. During pickup, there's a selection of wine and other items for you to peruse just in case you want some extras. I probably wouldn't buy from them if I wasn't local because the shipping costs and having to wait for their shipping periods wouldn't be worth it for the type of wine that I buy. Jon is known for his verbose, flowery descriptions of wine in the e-mail offerings, and his reputation is not exaggerated. I haven't liked everything I've bought, but I don't find him to be completely full of crap, either. Anyhow, I find it more interesting to read his e-mails than the short descriptions I'd get on the backs of bottles or on little cards in a wine shop. I've been introduced to a lot of wines, especially European wines, that I never would have tried otherwise. Prices are good. I've seen some of the wines I've bought through Garagiste at other places, and I'm always happy with the deal that I got. The non-wine goodies are a treat, too, and I've gotten a lot of nice olive oil through Garagiste. Other regular items include truffle salt, French mustard, and balsamic vinegar. As for the system itself, I have had a few issues. After one of my initial pickups, I realized when I went home that one of the wines on the list was not in my cases. They name and display each item you're picking up in the warehouse, but I didn't check them off on the list as we went. It was definitely my fault for not verifying, but they were awesome and gave me the bottles anyway. Now I make sure I've gotten everything before leaving the warehouse. I also caught a double billing error once on my credit card statement. They corrected it, but it probably would have gone unnoticed if I hadn't seen it. It's probably a good idea to check credit card charges against receipts just to be safe, but I don't think this sort of thing is the norm. We're definitely lucky to have this business in Seattle, offering a unique and compelling way to buy wine! read more

I liked the idea and it used to be better; however, the dates they put for when they will received something have NEVER been accurate. I get it they have to wait for full palates to be completed to get costs down. I started tracking and found that the dates they get things are usually late by at least 1 1/2 months (assuming when they summer it is late Sept 22nd, etc...) The worst I have seen is about 1 year after expected date. But now pricing is questionable as well and beware any low end wine as the shipping costs will far outweigh the few dollar savings. so Pros: 1. easy way to order 2. They hold the wine /food until safe to ship (*usually) 3. There are still SOME good deals, but they are on the higher priced items, Must do research before buying!!! Cons: 1. Expected date when they will get things is RARELY accurate, and many times misses the expected shipping window for wine causing ~6 month delay in getting items. They are currently at more than 144 days late on one item and don't expect it hitting their docks anytime soon!!! 2. Price savings isn't good and could be negative especially on lower priced wines 3. I have had times where they have shipped the wrong item (2 different times in 2 years.) 4. Twice they shipped when outside temp was freezing or too hot (in the same region...) 5. The wine descriptions aren't very accurate to my tastes and they are way over flowery. 6. Mystery wines are extremely hit or miss (avoid ALL low priced mystery wines!!!). In fact I would avoid all mystery wines!! as the pricing is very questionable as well!!! 7. Wines are becoming more standard vs. interesting wines that he used to sell from 5 years ago or more... read more

Surprised no recent reviews so thought I'd add one. Been buying from Jon for some years and always enjoy his daily entertaining emails. I'm not sure every wine turns out to be quite as wonderful as advertised, but it's rarely something that you're going to find easily, locally. Jon specializes in European wines which are fine, but I buy mostly red wines he recommends from Washington and Oregon. Most of them are very good to better, and very few of them are wines we see in California. So, here's a positive vote for Garagiste Jon, he has been around as long as he has because he sells good stuff and makes it fun, and I think I can say honestly that I've enjoyed (or given as a gift) every wine I've bought. read more

I've been buying wine from Garagiste for a couple of years. I love Jon's over-the-top descriptions. Some don't seem to make any sense, but still I love his passion. Many of the wines I've bought don't live up to the hype, but I've still learned a lot about wines and tried different varietals that I never heard of. A couple of wines from Spain have had rotten corks and tasted like pond scum which reminds me I need to ask for credit, some I just personally didn't like; but most have been good to very good. Unlike many other reviewers I don't mind waiting a few months for the wines I've bought, mostly because I've bought more wine than my wine cooler can hold. read more

I haven't been to the physical location to pick up wines I've ordered, but I have been a customer of Gargiste for a while. My husband even longer. I love the e-mails we get about what they have available. Highly entertaining. Haven't had any issues ordering and have had money quickly refunded when applicable. read more

I have placed several orders through their email list. Unfortunately, many of the offerings have shown up with carbonation in the wine. The first was a 2016 Maison L'Envoye Pinot Noir. I filed a complaint and had 1 bottle replaced free of charge. Unfortunately, all 6 bottles I purchased plus the replacement bottle were the same. Customer service for Garagiste told me that "fizzy wines are not spoiled". However the heavy yeast essence from the incomplete fermentation is very off-putting. After the first instance, I wrote it off as the wine maker having made a mistake and moved on in life. I subsequently placed another order for 6 bottles of "Mystery Oregon Pinot". What arrived was 6 bottles of 2019 Lorelle. Again every bottle has been carbonated (I have one left and am dreading opening it). The third time this happened was with another "mystery pinot" which arrived as 2018 Broadley Vineyards. Of the four bottles I have opened, two have been carbonated. Either I have the worst luck in the world with Pinot Noir from Garagiste or something is amiss in shipping or provenance. It is unclear at this time what has happened. In full transparency and fairness, all of the Cabernet and Syrah I have ordered have arrived perfectly. They have also been good-to-great value for the money. Given my experience, I would not recommend ordering any Pinot Noir and avoiding the "mystery" wines as well. read more

I have only ordered online, and have yet to try the wines ordered. I received my first case about 6 weeks ago. Got the second case today on the heels of a heat wave in NYC. Here's where Garagiste has improved over the past reviews. They are willing to take back the possibly cooked wine and replace it. I am very impressed with their responsiveness in a timely manner. I went from sad to glad in just a few hours. Now I think I will open one of the bottles I got 6 weeks ago. Thank you Lwan at Garagiste read more

Updating review since their customer service deserves kudos. Garangiste reached out and refunded 2 of the mystery Pinot from panther creek and that it wasn't their intention to have back-to-back of the same wine. It's also clear that one of the batch has some issue and it is likely it has gone bad. read more

I am unable to post a zero or negative review, but let me say, "Buyer Beware." I have purchased 10's of thousands of dollars of wine from this company over many, many years and finally severed ties this past year. Initially, I bought delicious Australian Shiraz well over a decade ago. The "owner", Jon Rimmerman, began to expand his horizons and offered esoteric wines from around the world. Some were superb, many were merely mediocre and more and more were just plain weird. So it goes. Palates change. His and mine were no longer calibrated. But then I came to realize just how sloppy their business was. Wines that I purchased and paid for weren't shipped within a few months as promised, but were shipped a year or two or even 4 years later - and come to find out that the wine was sitting in their own warehouse. I told you I bought a lot of wine and it's my own fault that I didn't click to the fact that they were sitting on my wine. I never thought that I' needed to oversee their procedures. I'm not actually sure that I ever received all that I purchased and paid for in the very early years but that is water over the dam now and as much my fault for not staying on top of my purchases in those early years. And that says as much about me as it does about them. There is now a good record of purchases ( I don't think one need worry about that, but delivery is often painfully slow. Add to that the increasing number of duds that Jon has been hyping "all in the name of the vinous experiment" to allow consumers to experience what was out there. I can appreciate that and I value that. I even came to appreciate that his palate and mine were very different. But I couldn't appreciate his hyping wines that were pretty straightforward to people who have been tasting wines for decades, like Grand Cru Chablis (nothing experimental about that) that turned out to be swill, and later saying that tasting something like that was an experiment in vinous appreciation at $50+ a bottle and not refunding the purchase price when said wine was substituted for a much better vintage that had been purchased, but couldn't be delivered by Garagiste some 2+ years later. Let me re-phrase; I bought $50/bottle Grand Cru Chablis from Garagiste in 2007. The owner (Jon Rimmermann) hyped the wine. It seemed like a pretty good deal. Not a "sure thing", but a good deal. I bought 3 bottles then. 2+ years later I received a wine shipper with 3 other bottles of wine than what I ordered with a note saying they couldn't secure the wine wine I bought and paid for over 2 years earlier and were substituting these 3 bottles instead. Same producer. Same vineyard. Different name due to legal issues and the wine was "The finest ever produced by them." No advance notice of the change, they just sent it along with notes that indicated I was better off with this wine. I accepted it. 2+ years later as I am getting around to cataloging my wine into a cellar, I read reviews of these wines that were substituted by Garagiste. The reviews are appalling. The wine is nothing at all like the hype that the owner of Garagiste heaped upon it when substituting it. Not that it's not as good; the wine is terrible! And the owner of Garagiste (Jon Rimmeramann) comped that reviewer for the bottles. Didn't just refund the bottles and ask for him to send them back, but comped him. When I just asked for the same consideration, I was rebuffed. I just wanted my money back and was willing to send the bottles in question back. They weren't willing. So, I'm letting potential other buyers know. Alan Rogers, MD Santa Fe, NM read more

Yes, Melissa did refund my money after I posted a review on Yelp, and I appreciate that. Also, my brother ordered the same case I did and it was drinkable. But I can't go higher than "Methinks no" when I had to try that hard to get an issue corrected. read more

I've ordered before from Garagiste. My last order did not ship and when I realized this, I called. They blamed it on a bad credit card number (even though that same creduit card was actively being used elsewhere) and despite having both my email address and cell phone in my profile, no one bothered to follow up with me. Customer service blamed me for not following up sooner. When it finally got straightened out and shipped, thus far 2 of the 6 bottles have been bad to the point of undrinkable. Great concept but they could really care less about the customer. Believe I spoke with the owner, ought to be ashamed of how he treated me. [Follow up] Received call from head of customer service, Peter (?) who acknowledged this is not how it should have been handled and then offered a resolution to the situation. read more

I was ordering quite a bit as first and bought 6 bottles (as did several friends) that they raved about. They said let it open up a bit....we did up to 24 hours since taste after taste was not good. My friend even tried his blender. Three of us (two very experienced wine people) all thought it was TERRIBLE. And when we called to complain, they said give it more time. This was not a new wine. Anyway, the soured me a bit and of the about 3 cases of wine I got only a few were really memorable. Some others we dumped including the 6 bottles mentioned above. I felt the descriptions were more about selling the wine then what the actual wine was. So, we canceled getting the emails. I would rather pay more and be sure I get what I like. read more

I had been recommended to garageise a while ago and then the NYT article jogged my memory. So far they have shipped wine to the wrong address, not delivered a case of champagne before the Holidays so i had to go out and buy more. Customer service is non-existent. STAY AWAY! read more

I made my first purchase from this website in October. I STILL haven't received the product I ordered. Multiple apologies and multiple promises of the order was going out soon. Three months have passed, and they tell me that their "warehouse is closed" Frankly, I think this business is a mail order scam. They sell products they don't own or don't even have in stock. THey must be making a killing cheating people. DO NOT SHOP HERE! read more

The extraordinary delays between when an order is placed, my card is charged and, finally, when the item is shipped lead me to believe there is some issue with this seller. I am out several hundreds of dollars for going on a year and have not received either a shipment or even the courtesy of an update. One would expect that a credit card would not be charged as much as 8 months before a shipment!! Frankly, the value added from such a blog is not anywhere near justifiable in the face of such treatment. I would look elsewhere for advice. His is severely inflated and costly. read more

An interesting, if dangerous source of wine. I have had 1 case delivered and have another case pending delivery, and so far my feelings are mixed. Others have mentioned Mr. Rimmerman's hyperbolic style, but if you know what you like and you do your research it shouldn't be a problem. I have had no complaint about the wines I have drunk so far, but I also knew some of the producers and did my research. My biggest complaint is their issues with delivery. I went in on their retail model knowing full well the deferred satisfaction that it came with. Yet for my case pending delivery, all of them were listed as arriving in late spring when I purchased them, yet as of July, half of them are still "pending delivery" and the other half have been updated to say August. Now I know they wouldn't ship anyway till the fall, but to have such a high error rate in judging when the wines are arriving in the Seattle warehouse is unacceptable. ONLY 1 of the wines listed as arriving in May had arrived in the warehouse as of this review (July). Others have mentioned Mr. Rimmerman's taste seems to be old world, favoring funk and acid, which for me is a-ok. I have worked as a Somm and love opportunities to try the new and different, and most of the wines are ones I cannot find locally, or even online. I also enjoy how easy it is to order the wines, and how consistently the prices are at least a bit below retail norms. Yet the company's inability to judge how long it will take for a wine to enter the country is infuriating. read more

OMG. I can't even begin to describe how bad my experience was with the Cook's Illustrated Wine Club through this company. My advice: STAY AWAY. I'm with the others who've said they essentially stole money from me. They do not communicate well at all, and they don't deliver what they say they will, when they say they will. Cook's Illustrated should be embarrassed to have their name associated on this. Look, Melissa (customer service rep) is nice. She seems to have good intentions. But first, they don't do the same thing the same way twice. Sometimes they require signature, sometimes they don't. (Though now I think that's the norm.) Sometimes they go through UPS, sometimes they don't. Okay, I get it. That's business. But their communcation is TERRIBLE. They go for months and months without dealing with issues. They don't check in, they don't respond to emails, they just take actions without consulting you. Unfortunately, if I'd known about those actions, I would just not have ordered because I knew I couldn't deal with it. Everytime I heard from Melissa, it was to tell me something else she'd done that I couldn't support (sent to wrong address, etc.) I was so sick of it that I gave up. They're keeping my money. Yuck. read more

I love the idea of seeking out hard to find choice wines in obscure places that might otherwise go undiscovered and unappreciated. But what i don't like is what is for me a customer relations problem which is especially hard to take when the extremely self confident owner blankets your inbox with lengthy somewhat pretentious purple prose about things like some obscure grape found in half acre biodynamic farm in Estonia and how the this one-legged blind wine maker creates a killer Sauterne style wine blended with a blush of Grenache infused with botrytis and how Jon (the owner) just happened upon this idyllic viticultural treasure while a chasing goat across a field that had stolen his wallet. You get the picture. The wines may be unusual and desirable for some, but the confusion about what has shipped, when it will ship and why it hasn't shipped is more than I have time for. On top of this we are told not to drink our wine for a couple of months after it arrival. I wonder if the business model here is pay now get wine in 6-12 months. You decide. read more

I find the descriptions annoying and over-hyped. They make a big deal about holding your wine under "proper conditions". This is tendentious-- ship the damn wine already. It's a clever ploy to float your payment-- the invoice comes right away, you bet. But the bottom line is that, having sampled two cases across a variety of types and locations, I find the wine no better than what's available at the local liquor store-- in some cases quite a bit worse. Maybe the pricey reds ($60-$100) will age well, but his hype is that you get great value. I doubt it. read more

I've ordered from these folks 4 times. The first time things went well I'll admit. After that, not so good. I ordered a Rose that was supposed to be delivered in May. I was notified that it had arrived and then got an "oops" email from them saying that the supplier's labeling machine broke. It's now August with no update from them. I guess that labeler is REALLY broken. I placed another order with them that was supposed to arrive in June. No word on that one. Again, it's August. A final order is supposed to arrive in "summer". Normally I wouldn't think much of that, but given the previous two I'm wondering if I should ask if they meant summer this year or next. Don't bother with these guys. I'll be asking for a refund. read more

Garagiste is not afraid to ride the wave and do their own thing. As a consumer in an ever-homogenized world - I appreciate that. If you want cheap, mechanized mass produced wine neatly arranged on an end cap and written up in the weekly flyer because some wholesaler ran a 'special' on it - go elsewhere. On the other hand, if you crave authenticity and the story behind why the winemaker does what he does and why the mustard producer toasts every seed by hand.... and if you want to be transported (if even for a moment) to a far off land while you read the offers... then Garagiste is for you. read more

Update 12/24/14 - I finally received my wine. Every experience with their customer service team after my post has been excellent. I think I just needed to be more patient. Even better - the wines I ordered have been excellent. I will use them again I'm very disappointed with my experience thus far. I ordered 2 wines in Jan (9 bottles between the 2). I was charged when I placed the order, understanding my order would ship when the wines came in. I checked back periodically and received responses to my first couple of emails regarding shipment. Then nothing when I inquired again a few weeks ago, even though when I check my order status both wines show as in stock. I don't understand the business model (however I do get the idea of good customer service - shipping when product is available to ship). I like the idea if this business, but not the execution I've seen so far read more

I don't understand the negative reviews I have had an outstanding experience with Garagiste. Their customer service is excellent and the system they use is thoroughly explained. All questions I have asked were answered quickly and thoroughly. I am sure I would be considered a small customer compared to what many of their customers spend but I have never been made to feel that way. The products I have received so far are excellent quality and you would probably not be able to source in the states. Garagiste is well worth your time to check out you won't be disappointed. read more

They went out of their way to make me happy, and I now have my great libations (giving me good vibrations). Still, if you are new, read the fine print. I'm back as a customer. read more

I began using Garagiste as a wine-education project but I didn't realize that they don't cache Jon's wine descriptions, the descriptions that prompted me to buy the wine and which I planned on re-reading when the day finally came that I opened a bottle of wine. Sadly, I spent years ordering wine but not drinking it before I discovered the problem. I simply can't believe that in this day of cheap computer storage and immediate access to information that they couldn't have file these notes so you can search them. D'OH!! They may have fixed this by now as I haven't ordered in years but for the wines I ordered this problem made the whole project pretty much worthless. I get wine from a much better (and cheaper) source now. read more

I am really surprised by the negative reviews, as we have only had positive experiences with the wines and the people at Garagiste. We have learned a great deal about wines, wine regions, and wineries that we knew little/nothing about. In spite of Jon's verbosity, there is lots of useful information. We first purchased from Garagiste in 2008 and have bought ~500 bottles/year, some for immediate consumption, some to lay down. In all these years, we have had two or three corked bottles, always graciously taken back and refunded. A couple of times we found the wines not to our taste/understanding and thought they were good learning experiences. We can't speak to shipping issues because we pick up locally. read more

I'm retired from 30 years in the wine business, as a buyer, wine store and wine bar manager. Anyone in this business who takes a stylistic position concerning wine and then goes public is going to get criticism. One only has to look back over the past quarter century in wine literature as written by Kermit Lynch and Robert Parker to experience very different wines and very different perspectives. Both have added a tremendous amount of followers and important diversity to wine appreciation. It still amazes me how emotional some folks get about wine, it is only matched in intensity and personal insults by conversation in the political and the religious arenas! Wine is about socializing, relating and enjoying the culture associated with wine. To those ends Jon succeeds in bringing everyone interesting wines, and introducing up and coming vintners many of which are unknown elsewhere. Over the past two years I've purchased close to 15 cases from them and only one bottle was a bit tired, an amazing track record for any business, and speaks much about their small dedicated staff. Their customer service has been quick and they treat their customers like family. Can't say I find anything like it from the other six wine shops I find myself shopping at less and less. For example last night I opened a 1995 Felsina Chianti Classico Reserva from Garagiste I purchased last year. The price was right, the bottle received in two days from Seattle in perfect condition. As part of a full case the shipping per bottle was a very low $2.32. Yes, I waited a little while to get this jewel, but the arrival date was as stated in the offer. I held the bottle in my cellar a couple of months to let it get over the shock of travel as suggested. The wine was perfect in all respects. Although there are a very large selection of wine stores from which to shop in the Bay Area it is difficult to find properly aged wine much less at fair prices. The wine business is in large part about the three tier system and quick turn over, the consumer, well, not so much. How refreshing to find business not as usual. Small artisan wines are also hard to locate especially in past vintages. Jon brings interesting things to even jaded palates like mine; if only the non-believers knew how lucky they are to have this resource. My suggestion? Read the reviews, pick some wines, be adventurous, life is good when you accept diversity. It's all about terroir and non-interventionalist wine making, on that we can agree. read more