Westgate Wine Store

I have made many online purchases from Westgate over the past year and have found them to be completely delightful to work with. The wines are priced quite competitively and at times offer an astounding discount from other venues. If ever there is an error of any kind, they offer a prompt and courteous refund with no questions asked. I can recommend these folks most highly.

Little gem to buy great wines for cheaper than you can find them. Also, come in for free samples and tastings on the weekends.

Had a fantastic tasting here last Friday and stocked up on some hard to find gems that Chrish and I both agree are drinking like wines 2−3x their price.
Folks were knowledgeable, generous and very helpful in ordering some wines for us and helping select some value bottles for an upcoming party.
We’ll certainly be back — might bring some cheese and bread along for the next tasting too :-)

Westgate Wine carries great wines at very reasonable prices. Typically, their prices are lower than you can find anywhere else for the same wine. Chrish has been selling wine in the area for a very long time, and he certainly knows his wines and typically only stocks very good to great wines. The environment is very low key, and maybe this is not the place to go if you are looking for a high-​brow tasting, but it is a great place to go to find great wine, and this is one of the only stores in the area that will give you a generous taste before you buy as long as the wine is on the tasting bar. I have always been treated professionally and with respect, and the staff has always been courteous and efficient.

I calculated that I’ve spent $ 90 a month for the last five months at Westgate Wine store. Management there thinks that I’m a freeloader and that’s not enough.
I’ve been told to stay away unless I’m willing to pay a $ 15 tasting fee. The reason — because I’ve been spending money there but not enough. I’ve never been treated this way by any business I’ve patronized. Don’t go there unless you are willing to spend $ 100 or more at a time. I guess I’ll find alternatives. It looks like I’ll be going back to Total Wine for my purchases.
Here’s the email from the wine store. The person who never made purchases is my husband and I buy for both of us.
«Unfortunately, we’re a business. It costs us roughly $ 20 per person to do these tastings (and that’s just the wine cost, excluding labor and overhead). Given our low margins, that means we need purchases of about $ 100 per person just to break even. The average per person purchase on the weekends actually runs about $ 200 (it’s higher during the week). If the three of you buy $ 50 between you, and we make $ 10, this costs us about $ 50. If you buy nothing, like last weekend, we lose $ 60.
Now we’ve been very lenient, if not generous, with your group. One of you has done our free tasting at least a dozen times, and never purchased a single bottle. But surely you don’t expect us as a business — or those who buy enough for us to stay in business — to continue to subsidize your weekend drinking.»

This is a very different wine store as you don’t go to browse aisles and aisles of wine, but rather have a seat and taste some delicious wines from a well curated list. The staff are very friendly and knowledgeable. Chrish has an encyclopedic mind for wine and they do a great job of finding the best value for their customers. Stop by for a taste and a laugh.

Excellent store, best place to buy quality wine I’ve ever visited nationwide! Wonderful selection, great selection, my highest recommendation!

It is always a terrific experience visiting this wine store. They change up their inventory fairly regularly by bringing in wines of the highest quality that one does not find in the mass market. Their staff, especially Sallee, the VP of Customer Delight (yes– that really is her title), learn your tastes very quickly and remember you for the next time with recommendations that are right in your sweet spot. Definitely worth a visit for their tastings. A first class establishment.

I used to enjoy going to their wine tastings on the weekends, but went in yesterday with some friends and they allowed a patron to bring their pet dog with 2 young children who were allowed to crawl on the floor while other adults were trying to enjoy their wine. Some of the patrons can be allergic to dogs, so I don’t think pets should be allowed (unless they are seeing eye dogs, etc.). The dogs and young children were a distraction and the person who is supposed to be telling us about the wine, opted to go play with the dog and children rather than tell us about the wine we were drinking. If they want to be a serious wine store and discuss wine with their patrons who want to learn about wine and maybe even purchase some, they need to do a better job of focusing on their adult customers!

Westgate wine always has a great selection of wine that can fit into any budget! I also found their website to be extremely helpful as well as easy to navigate.

I went in this weekend for the first time ever and I love this place. First off its very close to home, and they have a huge selection at a low cost. I had asked the sales person to find me the sweetest Moscato and they sure did! Loved it and will be back this weekend !

Westgate Wine used to be Carolina Wine Company, who filed for bankruptcy protection and left lots of customers (including me) without wines that they had purchased as futures/​pre-​arrivals. The same person who started Carolina Wine Co started Westgate Wine and has no ethics. I had pre-​purchased a bunch of wines (Bordeaux futures as well as pre-​arrival Italian wines), and lost nearly a thousand dollars because of this company. What was especially unethical was that they kept saying «we’re getting your wines in any time now», and that kept going on for weeks, then months. After I realized that they were just stringing me along, I asked for refunds, but they would not give any. They simply held on to my (and other customer’s) money.
If you’re looking to buy wine that they physically have in their store, and they have a great price on it, by all means, go for it. However, if you are ever offered any wines to pre-​purchase or as pre-​arrivals or futures, I would highly recommend that you stay away from these people. They can not be trusted as I and hundreds of customers found out the hard way. The owner should be banned from the wine industry and never allowed to rip off customers ever again.