I abstain from drinking these days, and even when I was drinking way back when, I was never a "wine…read moreconnoisseur" (although I enjoyed the wine "high," as well as the taste, the hangover was brutal), or any kind of "connoisseur." I wanted to ask my old friend from high school, who works as a psychiatric social worker and IS a wine connoisseur (I should mention that he loves the wine store in Princeton and always buys a few bottles when we periodically get together in that city), what he thinks of this particular store (if, indeed, he's ever patronized it), but I wasn't able to get him on the phone (he lives in Teaneck but his family is in Bernardsville) in time for this review. Oh well...
It gets 5-stars from me because I do still buy wine as gifts for people I know. It's conveniently located near where I live, its prices don't seem prohibitively expensive to me (I like to buy whatever "good wine" is recommended to me, and I never have the expectation that it's going to be cheap), and the staff I've encountered here is friendly and helpful.
When my father was alive, I'd buy him a bottle of Knob Hill Whiskey. No wine for Dad! He was always delighted.
In January, it was my birth mother's birthday. She likes rose' wine. I asked the young man at the counter if he could recommend a good bottle of rose'; he did, and my birth mother later expressed satisfaction with it.
A week ago, it was the birthday of an old friend. She's Jamaican, and back in the day, she would throw an enormous summer party in her backyard with every kind of Jamaican food you can imagine (it was at these parties that I acquired a taste for home-made Sorrel liquor). She's had some health issues in recent years, and has recovered heroically, but the enormous summer parties are a remnant of the past. This was to be a small birthday party with family and close friends, and I was honored to be invited.
I'm not a wine connoisseur, as mentioned, but I wanted a high-quality wine to bring with me. The same young man at the counter, friendly and engaging, recommended several, and I ultimately bought the bottle that he said was a personal favorite, one that he buys for himself when he has wine.
Other alcoholic drinks and beverages are available for purchase here, although wine is obviously the focus (after all, it's not called "Select Vintage Spirits and... oh yeah...wine too..."). If I were still drinking, and a regular patron, I suppose the prices might be more problematic for me. But, for my limited alcohol needs, Select Vintage rates 5 stars.
(Funny story...well, to me anyway...about my friend's birthday party. I was the only non-Jamaican in attendance, and one of the few not drinking wine or other assorted alcoholic drinks. One of the guests, walking toward the kitchen, inquired, "Any more ice for the drinks?" One of my friend's family members raised his head, looked around rapidly as if panic-stricken, and said loudly, "ICE? Did I hear someone say ICE? Where? Where?!?" Well, it made me laugh. Maybe you had to be there...)
