Solano Cellars Wine Shop & Wine Bar

Nice neighborhood wine shop AND bar.
The shop is well stocked, and offers generally good quality wines, lthough prices can be a bit rich. I enjoy most to sit at the bar and sip a glass, bartenders are super friendly and the crowd is mellow. Also love their events in partnership with local businesses.
Really nice to have these guys in the neighborhood!

My new favorite go to spot!!!
The staff was very friendly and knowledgeable. I LIKE THE FACT THAT They OFFER wine flights and wine by the glass. Great wone selection as well. The also have small plate available. The cheese is wonderful. We had the five chees plate. You must stop by this place is small but low key so it doesn’t get too crowded. Its also seems to be a couple go to place.

Fun and welcoming! I love wine and this place has an excellent variety!

Service suck hairy balls — The guy «didn’t really catch his name» was pretty freaking rude! Tried the white flights 14 – 15.00. We informed him that we didn’t know much about wine just that I like drinking. :-) We went on a Tuesday… who goes drinking on a Tuesday right. There was no one there besides one couple I made friends with. Hey Karen! He basically disregarded any questions I had and felt like stocking and wiping down the bar was more important. Way to make a sell dude. The two stars was for the local bottles (Napa) we found and liked and cheers to making new friends.

Don’t bother ordering wine from these folks. Their inventory system is screwed up, but their communication and customer service is even worse.
Caveat emptor, unless you feel like listening to some poor excuses for customer service.

As good as it gets. Staff wears their erudition lightly on their sleeves. As informed and unpretentious a wine store/​wine bar as e’er you’ll find in the land. A large section of value wines fills the store’s left flank — your Tuesday night guzzle section — while they have a great, if highly curated selection of top-​flight wines immediately to the right of the entrance for when you’re feeling flush, or just eager to delight that frontal lobe friend of yours.
Phenomenal place to further an ongoing wine education.

Knowledgable staff, interesting wines, GREAT cheeses. These people know their stuff. We got our wines before our cheeses and all the ones I was on the fence about blossomed with the cheese pairings. It is in a great little part of town that I wish we could have spent more time in. The parking was free just around the corner. This is definitely getting added to the regular rotation! Come here, taste the wine and get the cheese platter. Do not be shy! and bring on the funk (y cheese)!

Just stopped by this place yesterday with my girlfriend after searching for a wine shop in the Albany area. We were pretty glad to run into this spot on Unilocal and give them a try. We were met and greeted by Keith who was really helpful and a great host. We got a couple different flights and pours, and a cheese plate and it all came out to about 56 dollars. I will have to be back to grab some bottles next time, and I definitely will have to be back on a Monday, when their glasses are half off! Now that’s a happy hour

Won’t be back and sad about it because I like the selection. Went here with a wine-​maker friend and we were planning to buy a bunch of wine for a special dinner just after Thanksgiving. Went up to the tasting area, let the tasting person know we wanted to try good pinots, expecting to pay for the pours. She knowingly poured 3 wines but then apologized that they were out of stock. Tasting cost $ 30. Should have waived the taste costs off stuff they couldn’t sell us. Wasted our time.

They offer a reasonable wine flight, 4 different wines for $ 15 red or white. I believe they change up the wines on a weekly basis if not at least monthly. I like that they offer a variety of beers as well. I had a great Japanese beer that was their featured beer of the week Hitachino Nest White Ale for $ 8.
Overall Thoughts
A good place to sit down and have a glass of wine or beer with a few friends while trying to escape the heat

I am always excited to find new wine shops, especially little boutique ones like this where they actually care and have a great variety.
So whilst I do applaud them on their variety, I was a little disappointed they didn’t have a greater selection of Spanish reds. I shall however be back to stock up on Italian reds with the hubby who knows a lot more about then I do — and can probably decipher my description of what I like better than anyone else.

Eclectic selection of nice wines. The wine bar is nicely laid out. The atmosphere is casual. Great place.

This review is for Solano Cellars Wine Shop (specifically their online store,
).
I was very disappointed in my interaction with Solano Cellars. I placed an order for a case of French white wine after I found out that they were its only importers on the west coast. I got an email confirmation for my order, and my credit card was charged a couple of days later. I chose UPS Ground shipping (because I was in no hurry) and I waited.
And waited.
I did not receive a confirmation that the order had been shipped, nor a tracking number for the shipment.
After waiting for almost two weeks I contacted Solano Cellars via email, including all my order details and asking for an update on the status of my order. I did not receive a reply.
One week later I called them directly to request an update on my order. The person who answered the phone indicated that they need some time to call a couple of people to check on the status of my order, and offered to get back at me via email. I did not get a response.
One day later I called them back again, and this time the same person was able to confirm that the order ‘fell through the cracks’ and had not been shipped. He offered to ship the case the following Tuesday (this happened on a Friday) but they wanted to confirm that I still wanted the wine. At this point my answer was no.
I wasn’t offered expedited shipping or any other apology than ‘sorry for the trouble’ for an order that was going to be shipped out 24 days after I placed it. I believe that their customer service is seriously lacking: my order and my attempts to get a status update from them all ‘fell through the cracks’. I am never buying from this vendor again.

If you want to bring a bottle or two of wine to a friend’s house for dinner, come here. Tell them what you’re eating and how much you want to spend and voila. Their prices range from $ 10– ?. No need to linger around BevMo for 20 minutes trying to find the right thing. You’re in and out in less than 5 minutes.
Warning — scheduled tasting events can get busy and the bar area is small.
That said, I love the bar area. It’s chill as are the people who work there.

I’ve been coming here for about 20 years and this is the first time I’ve reviewed Solano Cellars.
They have a great wine bar here with various weekends that highlight different wine regions. There are classes, friendly wine stewards, but most of all there is good wine to be had here!
If I’m not buying a case of wine (They often have monthly specials) I’m at the bar tasting a flight of red, or white, along with artisan cheese plate. Out of town friends are always grateful to come here and enjoy the knowledgeable staff, friendly service, and variety of vino.
I’m stoked to know these folks are still around!

We came, we tasted: oaky chardonnays, crisp sauvignon blancs. Unfortunately the taste that lingered the longest was the salesperson’s snarkiness. Asking to taste was like pulling teeth: «Do you offer tastings?» [Silence] «Yes.» «Are you offering one now?» [Eyeroll] «Yes.» «Okay, well, could we do a tasting?» [Silence] «Yes.»
The flight was fine, the pours were generous. The server at the bar was, at least, nicer than the guy on the floor and informative. I like the fact that they offer cheeses at the bar (Neal’s Yard, no less!). Wine-​wise and price-​wise, it’s solid, not spectacular. I’ll save my time, and my daily tolerance for wine snob, for their North Berkeley counterparts, where the tastings are free, the people are cheery and the wines are nicely priced.

I like to be surprised. I like going camping and realizing that the coin operated showers are nicer than my own back home. Surprise! I like shopping in Oregon and forgetting there is no sales tax. Surprise! I like running into Rob Lowe on the street for the third time in 2 years, and being surprised that I’m not surprised anymore. Surp… you get the idea.
Well, Solano Cellars surprised me in the best sort of way. After reading Lara W’s inspiring review I asked the Solano Ave diva herself to escort me there for my first visit; show me the ropes and such. I knew it was some sort of hybrid wine shop/​wine bar, and I wasn’t sure where the wow-​factor would come into play. I mean really, I’ve seen a lot of wine shops and bars in my day, so what’s the big deal?
First of all, Solano Ave is just a cool strip of local flavor. All the shops and restaurants here have that adorable neighborhoody feel, with that signature North Berkeley quirk. ‘Twas the night before Thanksgiving and Solano Cellars was one of the few establishments showing signs of life, so we sauntered in to lounge at the bar… some classy pre-​gaming before dinner at Fonda, down the street.
The bottom floor of the shop is all bottles — hand-​picked gems from near and far. A few steps up, you’ll find the bustling mini wine bar, where said bottles make an appearance for your tasting pleasure. With about 12 seats, and 5 or 6 hi-​top tables, it feels like you’ve stumbled upon something special… someplace only savvy locals know about. The «ambience» is nothing to write home about, but it’s impressive how separate the bar feels from the shop; how you’ll want to stay awhile. The Michael Jackson playlist definitely added to our comfort, as we swiveled in our stools to Thriller. Oh, surprises.
The wine flights were incredible. For $ 15, you get 4 hearty pours of whatever is deemed delicious that week. I did the White Flight — 2 Spanish, 1 French, 1 Cali — and was so utterly stunned, that I took home a few bottles. Merry Christmas to me.
They serve some cheese plates too, but it appears they don’t serve bread (only crackers), which is a bit of a downer because good wine just begs for a crusty baguette and a stinky rind. Maybe that’s something they’re working on, but for now it seems acceptable to BYO-​bread, if you must.
If you’re at all serious about good wine (no, I’m not talking to you in the Trader Joe’s wine aisle), ya need to know about this place. I bet you a bottle of Banyan you’ll be surprised.

There need to be more places this good for wine lovers. But I suppose the scarcity of such a business only makes Solano Cellars all the more outstanding and fully deserving of 5 star praise.
Intimate and comfortable wine bar, with a fail-​proof wine list and great bar snacks (cheese, nut, bread and jam plates).
I have bought so many unique and thrilling wines here, from fellow aficionados who know how to point you to the wines that fit your specifications. The staff are also down to earth people: I always feel glad after stopping in, whether I am at the bar or bringing a bottle home.

½ off happy hour on Monday, until the bottles are gone! That’s not all, the hours are genius too — HH goes 4−8pm!
The wine bar area is in the back of this cute little wine shop, and they offer daily cheese selections and sample plates for pairings, as well as some meat and fruit plates. The bar probably seats 10 at the counter itself and there’s a series of tables and stools for groups in the back area. They of course have a great selection of vino, and flights change daily and their wine gurus are always happy to answer any questions as they’re very knowledgeable.
It’s a hidden gem just as Cyndi S. mentioned in her review, as overused as it is and however desensitized to the term we might be. Great find!

This is a great neighborhood wine shop with a very knowledable staff. They got me hooked on a particular bottle of Vinho Verde that we’ve been drinking all summer.
There are a lot of unusual varietals that you’re not going to find elsewhere and it’s easy to walk in, tell the staff a brief description of what you’re looking for and they will make several suggestions.
To top it off, they are open late and have a wine tasting area with small bites.