Wine

There are too many great wines out there in the world to let the big-name guys dominate yet another modest wine cellar. While you will find some of these mingling about, the selection here is focused on those lesser known labels that offer great value within the bottle. There are over 400 labels to choose from including more than 30 wonderful values from Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah.

Step into our temperature controlled wine cellar and check out the wide selection of fine wines priced $9.00 and up. Organic, Sustainable, Biodynamic, Salmon Safe...you will find it all within at a cool, comfortable 58 degrees.

Check out the floor stacks on our main sales floor. Bring cash and rack up the savings. You will save 15%-25% when you take advantage of the 3-fer deals. The selections are always changing, so come on in and check it out.

Wildcat Canyon Liquors offers:
- 5% off regularly marked prices on all 3 bottle purchases
- 10% off regularly marked prices on all 6 bottle purchases
- 15% off regularly marked prices on all 12 bottle purchases
- If you are paying with cash, you can add a 5% discount to eligible purchases raising your savings to 10%, 15% and 20% respectively!
*discounts apply to 375ml, & select 750ml & 1.5L bottles.

Join the Wildcat Wine Club!

The Basics:

I have tasted just about every thing in the store without a glass handle on the jug or without the word "White" in front of Zinfandel - I know! Lucky me! I have made notes on every everything I have tasted, and I (eventually) post the price tags with my personal tasting notes and suggested food pairings. Some food pairings are rather generic...burgers, pizza, steak, poultry...and others spark my palate memory from a recent meal...pecan crusted halibut, wild mushroom stuffed pork chops, veggie lasagna...and some go all the way back to spark my childhood memories...Mom's Lemon Chicken, Mom's Oriental Chicken, Mom's Veal & Peas. Take it for what it is, my opinion, my assessment, my memory, and if you need the recipe, call my Mommy.

What I can guarantee you is that I have tasted that $120 bottle, and I know why they can charge that amount. Then realize that I am a wage slave, and those bottles are often out of my financial reach too, so I have searched far and wide for that inexpensive bottle that reminds me enough of that $120 bottle that I am still gleeful to spoil my palate at the discounted rate. Yes, I have those pricy selections too, but I also have many more $15-$30 bottles that make me JUST AS HAPPY! My cellar is FULL of value! I have the bottles for the label-hound and I also have the bottles that make you look like a miracle worker on your budget. Ask me anytime, I am happy to help.

Ever get a bottle of wine that just doesn't taste right?

Did you know that up to 10% of wines with a cork can be tainted? Tainted can range from a taste that is "off" the description, to a wine that smells and tastes like "cork," to a wine that is full-blown vinegar. If you drink the same wine all the time, you will notice that not every bottle tastes the same. Most are similar, some are magnificent, some are good, some are different but still good, a few might taste "weird," and then you might run across and "awful." Please return the WEIRD & AWFUL! We will replace your bottle.

Wines on the Main Sales Floor are there because we sell them frequently, or they are "jug" wines or have "White" in front of Zinfandel. While the "cellaring" conditions are not ideal, the frequent rotation should assure that the storage conditions are not the major factor in a "bad" bottle.

Our Wine Cellar is kept between 58-60 degrees year-round. Finer wines have back-ups stored in the temperature controlled wine cabinet to assure safe-keeping. I cannot account for the storage conditions of the wines before they reach my cellar, but I will guarantee every bottle in my cellar has been stored properly while I have had it in my possession.

Food Pairing

Pairing a wine with the meal can make or break the mood. One little spice additive can bust the "classic pairing" model and leave you drinking water until the dish is done, or just plain thinking the wine, or heaven forbid, the food, is not up to snuff. So let me know what your plan is tonight. Are you sipping wine on the porch swing on a warm summer night or by the fire on a cold winter night? Do you have a multi-course meal planned? Do you want to spice up burger night? If you give me enough descriptors of the meal plan, my paring rate is near 100%. A good pairing can make you taste like chef of the year, while a bad one leaves you reaching for that water. I can help and I love hearing about the wonderful meals you have planned with your loves ones.

My Wino History

I grew up in a loving home, with loving parents, who were learning to love wine. I remember grapes growing over the back porch of my first home, stomping grapes in the sink of the next, and stomping grapes in giant vats at various wine festivals up and down the Ohio River Valley...and a random turtle race too. While the memories from my vineyard youth are spotty...falling into a stone-laced pond, pulling my sister with me as I fell into an eddy on the Ohio River, that turtle race (or was it snails?) Walking through vineyard after vineyard and cellar after cellar has left its mark on me. I have learned to love wine and have a talent for finding the values out there.

Working in a liquor store had its learning curve for me. I have been drinking wine since I stopped using a Sippy cup, but it was the wine reviewers that threw me for a loop. I would taste wines and have my Mom's wonderful recipes pop into my head. Picking out "flavors" was new for me, so I totally get where you are coming from.

I have learned, over the years, to name many of the flavors in a glass of wine, and that's good. It still blows me away that descriptors like "bubble gum" and "diesel" and "cat piss" can pop up in these conversations. My strength, however, is food pairing. Though I have neither the time nor the talent to replicate my Mother's wonderful cooking, the memories of those meals have never left my taste buds. When I taste a Sauvignon Blanc with grassy notes, citrus, and a nice acid balance, I still remember Mom's "Chicken Leg Juice" and that pairing is never wrong...though I refer to it as "Mom's Lemon Chicken" on the tasting tags.

Wine & Your Health

If your doctor told you that a glass of wine will do you good, he only gave you half the health tip. Truth be known, one of the benefits of wine are the enzymes that help you digest your meal and thus prevents the rapid build up of the "bad things" the doc was warning you about. Red wines contain enzymes that encourage the breakdown of "heavier" proteins found in red meats. White wines have the enzymes that help us breakdown vegetable, poultry and fish proteins. If you shouldn't be drinking, white grape juices or red grape juices have similar properties...makes sense since wine is made from grapes...and while I would LOVE to have your business, do the smart thing!

What about Pinot Noir? Ahhh! The red-skinned grape with white insides! This is your best of both worlds. Don't know what is for dinner? A Pinot Noir will rarely disappoint the palate or the digestive system!