Earlier this year, one of my dealers in downtown Chicago was telling me about this place that sold wine even cheaper than Sam's Wine (see my earlier blog post on Sam's here). He said that this place - Wine Discount Center - wasn't as big as Sam's, nor did it have the selection, but it did have some great prices on wine. He told me that I really did have to go there some time.
I recently went to visit a dealer who moved to a new location just northwest of downtown. As I was driving away from the store, I looked over and saw Wine Discount Center on N. Elston. I had to go in.
Founded in 1984, there are four locations of the Wine Discount Center in the Chicagoland area. At first, the size of the store is particularly underwhelming. Definitely not as big as Sam's, nor does it have the selection. But what they had for variety was very good. They had a bottle of the 2003 Duckhorn Merlot for $44.99 - its $49.99 at Sam's. Their featured wine under $10 this month was the Columbia Crest 2003 Cabernet that normally sells for $8.99 or $9.99 in some places in Iowa, but Wine Discount Center had it for $6.99.
Their selections of foreign wines were impressive not only in terms of what they had to offer, but their prices were very reasonable, as well. I'm trying to learn more about French wines since my visit to France this past spring and they had a good number of wines from the Rhone Valley at a very good price.
The wines from Australia, Chile and Spain were also represented well at Wine Discount Center - many of them I wasn't familiar with, but they had a helpful staff on hand to answer any questions. I didn't have the time to look too deep into what they had or to ask many questions. And I only had room in my car for a couple three bottles that I picked out and took home with me.
Wine Discount Center is a great alternative to the Sam's Wines and Binny's Beverage Depots (which are usually very high priced compared to both Sam's and Wine Discount Center) in the Chicago area. They're sort of out of the way, but worth seeking out if you would like to get a good deal on some good wines.
Comments