No joke - this place should be the example on Yelp's rubric of what a five is. It is seriously "Whoo hoo!" inducing and is as good as it gets. Been a rough few days so I decided to get out of the house and shake it off with a spot of Indian food for lunch. I figured, since I was walking past it, that I would pop into this unassuming shop and ask my standard wine shop question and get the standard disappointing answer...
Me: Do you have orange wine?
Shop Owner/Worker: Huh?
Uh... not quite. I asked my question, looking like a person who has had a rough few days and probably grouchily and was met with an enthusiastic, "Yes!"
West's has orange wine. WEST'S HAS ORANGE WINE! No one has orange wine. My day was instantly made, and I clearly made Jason's who walked me through a few. I ended up walking out with two bottles - a Croatian orange and an Italian - but only after a LOT of good talk about wine. And a little time with Jess, the shop dog who is super friendly and must have sensed that I have two at home.
As a wine writer I'm always looking for places to expand my knowledge and be able to find new/interesting/good bottles. I'm super excited for these two and hope that I will bring myself to actually drink them and not hold them for the right occasion as I'm wont to do.
Needless to say, I will be a regular. read more