Riverdale Vintner

My wife and I enjoyed going here for years. However, we’re not sure if there has been a change in management but the service is non existent.
Positives
–decent wine selection.
Negatives
–poor service. No one greets you when you enter. There’s a guy who has his music earpiece in one ear and doesn’t do much more than ring up the register.
–if you’re going to pay premium price there should be knowledgable staff which many times is lacking.
We want to support our neighborhood businesses but it’s important that customers feel welcomed and are
greeted. Basic common courtesy goes a long way. It appears that many of the staff at Riverdale vintner are now just showing up to get a check and don’t care about anything or anyone else. Very sad state.

Well, maybe I’m spoiled (alright I know I am). Most of the time I buy my wine in a small Excellent shop located in, of all places, Dalton MA. However since I live in Riverdale, occasionally I need to buy a bottle in the neighborhood. I walked in on a Friday evening. Had to ask two people for help. Then when the young guy who described himself as the «person to ask for advice» worked with me he was of limited assistance.
I asked if they should anything from Peju (one of my favorite wineries) no dice and he had never heard of them. Then I asked if they sold anything by Cakebread (another favorite) he says do I mean Layer Cake (cheap crap). I assure him that I don’t. He finds the Cakebread which is above my budget for the night and I ask for something with a similar feel in the $ 20 – 25 range and he responds you want something that tastes like a $ 60 wine for $ 20 bucks? That is not possible. I shoot back it would help if you had heard of the wine I was using as a benchmark before making such a statement. He admitted that was true. I finally took something he HAD tasted which worked out fine.
However the whole experience left me with a sour taste in my mouth. It’s difficult to come off as both condescending and lacking knowledge. I have to say this guy managed to do so very effectively.

Maybe it’s me or the area. The guy seemed to judge me and my father, wasn’t helpful and didn’t want to help,

Stopped delivering early and put a big strain on our party, bummer. Usually delivers around an hour, unless bad weather.

Hard not to love a wine store that delivers… staff is extra helpful with picks over the phone. In fact, I feel like I get better service on my deliveries than when I go in the store. Haha, of course, I usually have headphones in when I’m in the store. I would love to see them expand their selection from NY-​based or other local wineries!

Prices are high, but if they’re playing old Metallica (…and Justice for All) in the store on a Thursday evening, they’re A-​OK in my book.

Best place for wine in the area. The people who work here are knowledgable — as long as you give them something to go off of — and the selection is large. Prices are comparable to what you’d find in the city for a similar selection.

Staff is accommodating and knowledgeable! They helped my husband and I pick a good aged scotch and answered all of my newbie questions. I would return to support their business.

New location they were across street. Staff knowledgeable very friend nice selection of wine.

Great wines. Knowledgeable and friendly staff. Well-​priced. I travel from Marble Hill to buy their wines. Worth the trip every time.

This place is a thrifty oenophile’s dream. The selection here is HUGE, with wine storage units so tall that even Paul Sturgess would have a hard time reaching the top without jumping. They organize the wines by region and by wine style, and the liquor selection (taking up the entire wall behind the register) is organized by type, with a slightly truncated yet terrific taste in selection. (Huge points for carrying a few Ardbegs.)
They deliver until 8 pm most days, and they have an AMAZING case discount if you use a debit card instead of a credit card. I concur with those saying the staff is knowledgable — I have had so much fun discussing wine with the owner and two other staff members. The fact that the owner knows about the lesser known wines like picpoul de pinet and rkatsiteli makes it super worthwhile to go for an extended browse with him by your side. The store might not have them, but the owner or staff certainly can point you to something that will be as interesting.
While some might find the wine selection a bit disorganized within the supposed region divisions (and I’d agree), this has the benefit of letting a browser discover wines they’d never look at otherwise. I found an amazing Washington wine sandwiched between the Portugal and Spain columns. Often I can’t figure out whether a column is supposed to be for France, Argentina, or Australia, but still find something extraordinary. (January 12^th is now Happy Tussock Jumper Discovery Day for me.)
My one beef with the place is that their wine coolers/​fridges are both small and low to the ground, making browsing really awkward. This is a minor gripe, but my knees still haven’t forgiven me for the last time I tried to choose a chilled wine there… and that was this past August, 6 months ago.

I didn’t know they deliver! The man on the phone couldn’t have been nicer or more helpful. I needed a dry white wine for cooking and a red zinfandel for drinking. Both were totally reasonable in price. Delivery on a Sunday afternoon was 45 minutes. Enough time to make a beautiful soup and have a happy belly.

Wonderful wine store with a great selection and fantastic, friendly staff. Their suggestions are excellent and they deliver in usually 20 – 30 minutes (often less).

This is the only place around to get a decent bottle of wine in Central Riverdale. Yes, there are a couple of other spots, but this place has a great selection and knowledgeable staff; the latter is hard to find, at least round’ these parts. Wines are well organized, regionally, and the staff is always willing to lend a hand choosing something. They refrain from getting heavy handed with that wine-​lingo (e.g., «chewy, with glimpses of fig, birch fungus and a whisper of fabric softener.») This goes a long way in my book.
Prices are fair. I typically choose California wine and, although it’s been almost a decade since I’ve lived there, I’m still not quite used to paying east coast prices (about twice as much– yeah, I know they have to ship it here). Having said that, this place doesn’t mark it up too much.
They also have a fine selection of scotch, port, and brandy as well as the other spirit standards.

If you are in Riverdale and in need of a good bottle of wine — THIS is your place!
Literally the only decent wine shop in the Riverdale area, Riverdale Vintner has a great selection of wines from all around the world. The shop is charming (reminiscent of one of those old time shops you would find in the center of a quaint New England village). The owner and his staff are friendly and helpful. The prices are very reasonable. The shop is set up very smartly — not only are the wines categorized by the different regions of the world they are from, they are also organized by price level, which makes it so much easier to find exactly what you are looking for within your price range.
They also hold wine tastings here on the weekends — at which I’ve discovered some really wonderful wines from around the world that I’d never tried before!
Although they are mostly known for their great selection of wines, Riverdale Vintner also carries an ample selection of liquor as well.