Ohio wine prices

As I post my wine purchases on cellartracker, I continue to be amazed by the amount I pay for wine as compared with the community average. Does anyone out there have any advice -- online wine stores, traveling to other states, etc?

I do know that many Ohio residents come to the Buffalo area to shop for wine.

IIRC, Ohio has a minimum mark up law for each step in the distribution process. I think you are pretty much stuck with that unless there is a major shift in the legislature or some surprising court ruling. On the plus side, I believe inter state shipment of wine is now legal so you can order from out of state pretty much unfettered at this point. Also, I'm not sure where you reside in Ohio, but a number of my wine buds, shop in Northern Kentucky (Cincinnati's South-side ) for many of their purchases.
Bill

Do you know any of the names of those KY wine stores?

Do you know any of the names of those KY wine stores?

I beleive Party Source is still pretty good although I've heard rumors they may have slipped a bit. Another place is called Liquor Barn in Bellvue, KY...I'm told it looks like a non-desript liquor store, but has some limited/ hard to find offerings. Also, I believe Liquor Barn is a chain, so their other locations may not be as wine friendly.
Bill

Bill, the Liquor Barn is a local Lexington chain that bought out the Party Source stores in Louisville. The store in Bellvue is the last Party Source left and It has NOT slipped at all IMO. I shop there several time per year and over the Liquor Barn I save up to $25 per bottle. that reference was for the 1999 Bois de Boursan Cuvee Felix CndP. $59.99 in Lexington, and 34.99 at the Party source. I usually buy 2-4 cases when I head north and I more than save the cost of travel by the savings.

Nick, Ohio law does mandate a minimum market up for each level of the three tiered system, and it is not a small markup either. So come across the bridge into Ky and save a few bucks. The Party Source in Bellvue is a great store, as is the Cork and barrel in Covington. others are there but I do not know them

Bill, the Liquor Barn is a local Lexington chain that bought out the Party Source stores in Louisville. The store in Bellvue is the last Party Source left and It has NOT slipped at all IMO. I shop there several time per year and over the Liquor Barn I save up to $25 per bottle. that reference was for the 1999 Bois de Boursan Cuvee Felix CndP. $59.99 in Lexington, and 34.99 at the Party source. I usually buy 2-4 cases when I head north and I more than save the cost of travel by the savings.

Bob, Thanks for pointing out my error about the ownership of The Party Source. I'm glad that you find it a great store and it is certainly a good store in comparison to what is generally available north of the Ohio River, BTAIM, my sources feel the store HAS slipped a bit especially in regards to German wines (David S. departed a few years ago as I understand it) and their Northern Rhone selections may not be as deep as they were once. Of course, if you feel otherwise that is wonderful, and serves to demonstrate that one size never fits all. That was an excellent price on the Cuvee Felix btw.
The other place I tried to recall was not the Liquor Barn but rather a place called Liquor Direct in Covington...all those river towns look alike anyways.

Bill,
I agree with you that in regards to German wines the Party Source (PS) has slipped a bit since David was there.but if one talks to management they got left with a lot of hard to sell wines, or at least that is what I was told. The PS is also weak on Austrian wines, and doesn't have a lot of Loire whites either. Even admitting that, it is way way better in selection of those than is my local BAWS which is the Liquor Barn. I can't afford the better northern Rhone reds, or whites, so don't tempt myself very often by checking them out, but they do have a better than decent selection of Rhone wines overall. Something I like about the PS is that if one shops there very much at all, they remember you and are friendly, with people on the floor who really can help. I have never found time to shop at the Liquor Direct store, but I really need to. I am guessing that it must be just around the corner from the Cork and Barrel in Covington. Maybe someday we will find ourselves up that way at the same time.

[Robin Garr]

Do you know any of the names of those KY wine stores?

Nick, it's not as convenient to Ohio, but if you ever decide to make the hour-and-a-half trip down I-71 to Louisville, I'll be glad to point you to about a half-dozen smaller, specialty wine-geek stores that I generally prefer to our big-box wine shops.

I do think Bob got lucky and ran into a Cuvee Felix mismarked at the regular Bois de Boursan price, or stock that was being dumped for some reason. Party Source generally has good pricing, but not <i>that</i> good, and the Felix (a Parkerized special selection) is almost invariably a $50-plus wine around the U.S.

No Robin, the $34.99 was thePS regular price for the 1999 Felix, and the 2000 vintage went up a few dollars but only 3-4 dollars. The 2000 which Liquor Barn is charging $75. I got 4 of the 2000 vintage also, but don't remember exactly what I paid for those, it has to be around $40 though. The regular of the 1999 Boursan sold at the PS for about $22.99. Of course CndP has risen in price since the 2001 vintage spiking in 2003 and is back down a bit, but not a lot in 2004. I will be going up to the PS soon and I will make some notes on prices.

[Robin Garr]

No Robin, the $34.99 was thePS regular price for the 1999 Felix, and the 2000 vintage went up a few dollars but only 3-4 dollars. The 2000 which Liquor Barn is charging $75. I got 4 of the 2000 vintage also, but don't remember exactly what I paid for those, it has to be around $40 though. The regular of the 1999 Boursan sold at the PS for about $22.99. Of course CndP has risen in price since the 2001 vintage spiking in 2003 and is back down a bit, but not a lot in 2004. I will be going up to the PS soon and I will make some notes on prices.

Bob, as I said, it might have been mismarked, or it might be that they're dumping stock they can't sell. I agree that it's a good buy (if you like the "Parkerized" Boursan - its wine maker doesn't like it himself, but he makes about six barriques of it every year to collect points and make him some bucks).

Point is, though, I'm not saying you're mistaken on this price, I'm just pointing out that you're citing an unusual example. We don't want to get Nick over to Party Source expecting him to find every wine in the store selling at 50 percent below national prices, because that's not going to happen.

Nick, If you live in the central Ohio area, I have found good prices on discounted wines (this is allowed in Ohio but requires some red tape on the retailers part) at the Andersons Store at Sawmill, not the store at Brice which has a much poorer selection. I recently bought some NV Vilmart Grand Cellier for $33 with a mixed case, for example. Carfagno's Deli on Rt. 161 near I71 also has many discounted wines that may come near the national average and a huge selection of Italian wines, many Barolos and Barberescos in the $45-75 range. I buy most of my non-D.C. wine from the Wine Exchange in Orange County Ca. which ships to Ohio and I've never had a problem. Check out their website, winex.com. Thier inventory is huge and prices are so good that $3.50 per bottle tacked on for shipping and styrofoam shipper is still well worth it.

Yes, Ohio has minimum markups and the 3-tier system. The retailer pays 50% more than the distributor's cost. The consumer pays 50% more than the retailer's cost. Retailers may offer case discounts. Retailers can sell below the minimum markup to close out old inventory; I'm not sure what the legal requirements are in that arena. I believe distributors can also cut prices to move old inventory.

Prices at Party Source are better than Ohio but I also believe they know a lot of customers come from Ohio so they don't cut prices to the bare bones. Also, their case discount is only 5%. Their selection of wines has no rival in southwest Ohio of which I am aware except maybe Jungle Jim's. Unlike Ohio retailers, PS can put items on sale at their own discretion for whatever reason!

I have not been to Liquor Direct but I have heard good things about it.

Added bonus of buying in KY - no taxes.

[Robin Garr]

Added bonus of buying in KY - no taxes.

Not quite ... no <i>visible</i> taxes, but the vendor of alcoholic beverages pays Kentucky's 7 percent sales tax, so it ends up in the price whether you see it or not.