I've said in a couple of recent posts that I've been on the hunt for good wine deals lately, and that means stopping at some of the better wine stores in the Midwest. One of those happens to be Steve's Wine Market in Madison.
Actually, my stop at Steve's was two-fold - to look for wine, and to look for Leinenkugel beer to take to one of my dealers in Missouri. He's a big Green Bay Packers fan and he loves every thing to do with Wisconsin. And he certainly loves Leinie beer.
There are two locations for Steve's in the Madison area - the original Steve's Wine Market in Madison near the University of Wisconsin campus (see map); and Steve's Liquor and More in the suburb of Middleton (see map).
Steve's Wine Market is celebrating 50 years in the business this year. Steve Varese opened his store in what was the house that he and his wife lived in on University Ave. in Madison. He kept his main job working on the railroad while his wife ran the business 12 hours a day. After five years, Steve Varese quit the railroad full-time to work at the store.
In 1970, the Varese's opened up a second location in the town of Middleton on the west side of Madison. Because of the growth of population in the area, Steve's opened a new and larger location in Middleton in 1995 at its present day site.
In the mid-80's, his son, Joe Varese (left), returned to the business and now runs the day to day operations. What was Joe's boyhood home when he left was a fully converted liquor store when he came back. And in the early 90's, Joe built a bigger store on the property that houses the present day Steve's Wine Market.
Joe has two partners in the business - Randy Wautlet, who manages the store in Madison; and Kathy Eigenberger, who manages the store in Middleton. I like to go in and talk to Kathy and Jan at the Steve's in Middleton from time to time because they really do know their beers.
The beer selection is more extensive in Middleton than at the location in Madison. Kathy told me one time that even though both stores are under the same umbrella, the Middleton store has a tendency to be more of a "beer and liquor" store than a wine store, hence the "Steve's Liquor and More" name.
But both stores have an impressive wine selection. The wines at the Madison location are a little more eclectic and varied. I was told they have over 3000 different varieties of wines at the Madison store, with over 200 different types of burgundy wines.
The one thing about Steve's is they're not cheap. But they've got, by far, the best selection of wine in a town that has a number of good wine and liquor stores throughout the area. The sales help is knowledgeable and willing to help with the selection of wines. For that kind of service, I'm willing to pay a little extra to make sure I'm getting what I want.
In addition to the vast selection of wine, liquor and beer at the Steve's location in Madison, they also have a gourmet deli area that features cheeses from Wisconsin and Europe, eclectic meat selections, and high-end chocolates from Europe. It's quite new and it's something to see.
Steve's is one of those places that I can go into and just look around for an hour before I realize I've been in there that long. Like I say, I go to the store in Madison for wine and go to the store in Middleton for beer. Even though they're owned by the same people, they're two different identity's, that's for sure.
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