Garnet Wines & Liquors
“This wine store is right around the corner from my school (right by the 6 train) on the UES.”
“I've been schooled on Gruner Veltliner, Riesling and Champagne and I'm enjoying these products more, now that I know how to pick them.”
“This is the only place in Manhattan (that I know of) that carries a certain bottle of wine that my boyfriend fell in love with last year.”
Garnet Wines & Liquors
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range Moderate
5 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
An online search revealed that this store had a specific bottle of Italian wine I was looking for (Bussola is the vintner, should you care). Only 2 other stores in the city carried it, so I was pleased to find it here, just a short bus ride away. I also like when a wine store has things that others don't, when there's a focus to the store. (The former is true here, but I didn't sense the latter…) The price was competitive to the other stores, which I was happy about. I took a glance around the store and it seemed that the prices are mostly fair for NYC. They had some interesting bottles too, and a salesperson also directed me quickly to a cheap bottle that I was planning to half-cook with, half-drink. Would happily go back sometime when I'm in the area.
This place has great old world wines and some of the best prices anywhere in the country.
The aptly named Garnet Wines is one of few wine shops in the city that stock the elusive but exquisite Sicilian red wine, Valle Dell'Acate Il Frappato, redolent of strawberries, and often termed the Italian equivalent to Beaujolais. However, it is almost not worth it to procure Il Frappato here even if you happen to be this far up on the east side because the incompetent employees cannot search for the wine in their computer, point you to it on a shelf, or ever ring it up properly. This wasn't an isolated instance: I had a friend who worked nearby stop in to try to get me a bottle, and the same rigamarole occurred at check out–nothing to scan on the bottle, and computer search failure on the part of check-out girl resulted a good doubling in the overall transaction time. (Is this wine filed it under "V" for "Valle," "I" for "Il," or "F" for Frappato–I don't know, and neither do the employees or manager who ought to have it figured out by now).
Only been here once but I found it, while clearly huge and stocked with a range of impressive wines, quite off-putting in terms of service.
I don't spend a lot of money on wine–10 and under on daily basis, will splurge for 15 on special occasions–and I'm sure if you have money to spend on great wine this is a perfectly reasonable place to go with staff you become friendly with who want to help you find your perfect wine.
(Actually, the amount I pay for wines by the glass in restaurants, I could consistently drink 15 dollar wine and 15 at Trader Joe's or Bevmo! buys you a very nice wine indeed. Or a combo of 10 and 20 wines rather than a mean of 7. )
Embassy Wines has a bargain basement where I bought the most truly disgusting 6.99 wine of my life–Tail Poppy–but I love the service there and should I spend 10 to 15 on a bottle, I'd rather go there.
67 Wine is my favorite uptown place. Great under 10 wins but you can spend 20, 40, 60 too.
With my budget, I see no need to return to Garnet, though I really liked the Old Vine 58 which I picked out by myself based on the label's claim that this was the "house pour at fine dining establishments for years" or something like that. 12.99 and very good.
They have wine from the Canary Islands! I've had trouble finding this type of wine in the NY/NJ area.
Perfectly acceptable service and selection.