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More Wine Shopping in the Pasadena Area

April 21, 2007
Maybe you thought those three bottles I bought at Chronicle would be enough for our 5 days in the Pasadena area? Clearly you don't read this blog enough! :)

Plus, my mother in-law had gone to this new wine shop in Montrose that she thought I would enjoy and we were headed to Rocky Cola Cafe in Montrose anyway....with Goudas and Vines just down the street I couldn't resist. Sorry, no websites for either place...for some odd reason they don't appear to have web presence, Goudas and Vines is not even listed in the Yahoo Yellow Pages.

Take what I told you about Chronicle Wine Cellar, do a 180 and you'll find what Goudas and Vines is. Polar opposites in the world of wine shops, yet I enjoyed my trips to both of them. Goudas, as the name implies, sells more than just wine. This is a full service shop, with wine, cheeses, food, olive oils, glassware, etc.

The shop is incredibly spacious and quite modern looking inside, including a tasting bar where you can buy pours of different sizes of various wines. The bar runs almost the entire length of the back of the store. Wines line both of the sides of the store, as well as several racks in the middle. You can eat the food you buy, plus drink your wine at small tables either inside or on the sidewalk. The wines are each laid out on their own bit of the rack and on the sides go from floor to ceiling.

I found the selection to be excellent, though it lacked the fun of moving one bottle out of the way to discover something else hiding behind it. And there would be no endless exploring in this kind of a store. Everything was well lit and labeled and easy to find. I recognized many of the wines (though I never see them in my stores), including a bottle of Verdehlo from Twisted Oak (mine was on its way from WineQ already though, and at a better price!). I also recognized the CT wine, Ballet of Angels from Sharpe Hill that Dr. Debs reviewed recently(Matt promptly declared the label "creepy"). Again I limited myself and only took home two bottles: a $21.95 2004 Four Vines Zinfandel from Amador County, another one I recognized from Dr.Debs (are you getting the feeling I read her blog a lot?) and a $9.95 2005 Rabbit Run Sauvignon Blanc from the Central Coast.

Overall, I was very pleased with my wine shopping experiences in the Pasadena area. I'll be certain to stop by both places again, as both offered a unique shopping experience. And better values than I can find here in VA shops (seriously folks, beef up those under $15 offerings!).

4 comments:

  1. winedeb said...

    I am making a trip up north at the beginning of May and you have me so excited about visiting wine shops. I even found 2 wine bloggers in the Cincinnati area and have contacted them for advice on what's new up there. I cannot wait to go shopping!
    I have had the Rabbit Run that you have and I enjoyed it, of course, it is a sauvignon blanc! Which after reading your blog yesterday, I just had to pop one in the frig for last evening. I posted about it today, Oyster Bay. It was wonderful for the price of $11 on sale!

    4/21/07, 1:51 PM  

  2. Leah said...

    Very nice! Sounds like a super trip :)

    4/22/07, 1:50 AM  

  3. Anonymous said...

    Hi Megan,

    Goudas and Vines sounds like my kind of place! We experimented with offering cheese to go with our wines as well, but it kept getting stuck in the queue slots and always ended up being quite a mess. On top of that, someone already bought CheeseQ.com, which loudly and proudly proclaims itself the "Netflix of Cheese."

    (Just Kidding!) :)

    I'm glad to hear that the Twisted Verdelho (affectionately referred to as "the ho" at Twisted Oak) was less expensive on WineQ. We are trying to craft a unique, personalized wine club experience, and great prices are certainly a part of that.

    I have been thoroughly enjoying your blog lately, so I went ahead and added you to our blog roll. I hope you enjoy your most recent WineQ shipment, and if you have any ideas or suggestions about how we can improve your wine club experience, please feel free to drop us a line.

    Warmest regards,
    Marshall Sontag, WineQ.com

    4/22/07, 5:40 AM  

  4. Sonadora said...

    winedeb, I figured you'd be all over the Sauvignon Blanc!

    thanks John!

    Leah, it was a great trip! So nice to get away from here for a bit.

    Marcus, Thank you for the kind words and I appreciate the link. I got around to entering my WineQ wines into cellar tracker today, and with the weather so nice, the whites are looking might tempting for this week's drinking!

    4/22/07, 3:19 PM  

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