The Wine Club

I am way overdue on my review of The Wine Club probably because I just figure it’s common knowledge how awesome this place is. It’s not a club with like a secret password or anything. But perhaps I could go into a pretentious discourse about how the purveyors there found a rare vintage that I had been looking for since the Second World War when I was a member of the French resistance fighting the Nazis in the Alsace. Well, first of all, I’m not that old, you Taylor Swift sycophant, and thank you very much for believing that I knew Hitler personally in my youth.
Second, I couldn’t tell a rare vintage from what comes out of a box through a spigot. Tip it, tip it real good. But I do know classier people than me who throw dinner parties that actually can tell the difference. This is where I go at the last minute to find something special and pretend I actually know about wine and how it complements the palate when digesting the meal the host prepared (photo:
). The Wine Club allows me to be a procrastinator because first, it’s one of the few places in the city with a parking lot. Second, their staff is really helpful with a minimum of direction from me. Here’s a sample instruction…
«I need something red that looks pricey but costs less than twenty bucks. I think he’s making meat.» From that, I’ve been recommended some truly great product. I also come here for my spirits since their selection is just as diverse on this front (photo:
). For some reason, I have a stronger opinion on bourbons and vodkas than I do with wines. To develop my palate, I’ve been to their $ 5 Friday Evening Happy Hour wine tastings, and that’s a great opportunity to sample some new stock in a convivial way, but for the life of me, I can never remember what to get. Thank goodness the staff can. Now about that rare vintage…

Lovely folks, the wine tasting is a fun thing to do on a Friday night. They often have organic and local wines in the rotation which is a favorite of mine.

For customer service, this place is the worst. I recently ordered two bottles of wine for someone as a «get well soon» after coming home from the hospital. I paid extra to have the bottles shipped faster.
Not only did The Wine Club not ship my order on time (why pay $ 35 – 40 in shipping to have it sent off 11 days after order), they were completely unresponsive when I called for a status update. Despite twice being told that someone would call be back that morning, The Wine Club ignored my calls. I found this incredibly frustrating – I had tried to get a gift for a family member coming home from the hospital, and their delay meant that it wasn’t there when he got home.
Overall, I was severely disappointed in the service here. Selection aside, when a business doesn’t care enough for its customers to respond (when they are late in shipping), it is telling. I could not recommend The Wine Club to anyone, and would recommend K & L much more.

I love this place. I live right across the street and I make it a point to stop in here on weekends. There is an amazing amount of interesting wine, enough so that it’s somewhat overwhelming. But the folks that work here are super nice, and always have reasonable suggestions for whatever I’m looking for, usually under my price point (that’s a win!). The whiskey selection is pretty impressive, too, and their beer selection is really interesting.
It looks a little shady on the outside, but it’s a wonderland of wine.

For the absolute best in customer service… for a massive selection of every wine under the sun, sold from a no-​frills warehouse space so you know you’re not helping to pay a shop’s unnecessary overhead… for outstanding prices on truly great wines… and to discover wines you didn’t even know you’d love, that cost half the price of the wine you thought you’d want… you need to visit this shop. Ask for manager David Goodwin, and with his personalized touch and generous help, I promise you will not leave until you’re beyond delighted.

They have a HUGE selection of wine and alcohol. If they don’t have it I’m sure they can order it. The place isn’t stuck up or pretentious at all. It’s a «Warehouse» of wines I guess. They are knowledgeable and are easy to talk with no matter your experience level. I witnessed one man walk in and stated he didn’t know much about wines. The staff asked what he liked drinking and was able to give him a few options for trying something new. Now that’s what I like most about this place. Great selection without them having their noses so far up in the air they can’t teach you something new. Nice job guys! I go here anytime I have a difficult bottle of wine I know I can’t find anywhere else. Something I’ve always wanted to do but just hasn’t workout on timing was their wine tasting. Looks like everyone is having a great time.

While searching the city for a specific beverage on a quick break from work, I found this store listed as a vendor. I even brought a friend who is a total oenophile because I thought it would be a great place for her to know about. We walked in and there looked to be 4 or 5 employees on duty… but not ONE greeted us at all.
After a few moments waiting for the gentleman behind the counter to turn around, I asked for the beverage… to which one of the employees shouted from across the room that he would NEVER carry that brand and that he’d have «his head cut off» for it, while he scoffed the sheer possibility of carrying what I was looking to buy.
Well, gee, the website said that this place was a vendor, I came all the way here, and you want to shame me for looking for this specific drink? It was insulting and rude. Not exactly the way I would speak with a new client in my business and the behavior was such that I was flabbergasted.
No assistance, no alternate recommendation and no customer service whatsoever.
Won’t. Be. Back… Ever!

One of my favorite places to buy wine.
Love the fact that the staff are all winos and love to talk about what they like.

The Wine Club is an awesome wine store in SOMA with a huge selection of Wine and other various types of alcohol. The staff is always friendly and very knowledgable about wine. They are usually pretty spot on with their suggestions. They have a system to keep track of what you buy so they can remind you when you want to pick up the same wine but you forgot the name.
There is a small parking lot in front that always has space available for those that drive. The prices are reasonable as well.
Definitely worth the trip to pick up some delicious wines are reasonable prices.

Great shop. I’ve been coming for years, Chad in particular will spend copious time talking through spirits purchases and illuminating the backstory of bottles. I’m a fan.

I’m giving the Wine Club an extra star because it’s one of the better wine stores in the city and my earlier 3 star wasn’t fair. Very sincere, people know their wine, it’s helpful, they’re happy to order anything for you, self-​serve tasting room, great selection. They remember you if you’ve been there before. If you ask how something is, sometimes they’ll just open the bottle and pour it for you to try.
Fun fact. Although for the most part this is a serious wine store, they have a little display stand of single serve hard alcohol in little plastic bags, made for you to take into the sports stadium or rock concert in your pocket. They tell me this is by far the biggest sales per square foot in the entire store.

Great wine and liquor selection, friendly staff, very helpful recommendations. They carry tons of hard to find wines at great prices. I am always pleased when I head over there!

This is my favorite place in San Francisco to go wine tasting!
Friday nights they have $ 5 tastings, and Saturdays they have $ 10 tastings. Each include cheese and crackers, sometimes pruscuitto! Friday’s tastings are around 6 different wines to taste, and Saturdays have ~10 wines. The choices are always something different, so one can never get bored. Once my bf and I came on a Saturday, and they were pouring a variety of wines from Schafer! They also feature international wines too, from France, Italy, Spain, etc. They pour all types of wines too, including sparkling, roses, champagne, in addition to most reds and whites.
I like the service here. They are extremely helpful and friendly, and you can tell they care about their wines. I also like the atmosphere of their wine tasting area. It’s casual, you can mingle with others if you want, or just chat with friends. What’s not to love?

We love this place. Great owners and staff, wonderful selection, and always a fantastic recommendation for a good value or a fun splurge. We love spending time here and it’s our go-​to spot for every event — whether its a superbowl party or a fancy dinner soirée — they’ve always got the goods!

I’ve enjoyed the $ 10 wine tastings at the Wine Club both times I’ve been, but note that this may not be the best place for a large group. Our party of about 8 – 10 had trouble getting into the already-​full tasting area on a Saturday afternoon, so we ended up breaking up the group and trickling in a couple at a time. I think the staff was overwhelmed.
That being said, I appreciated the experience of an affordable tasting of about 8 – 10 wines. You can split a wine tasting if you truly want to just taste, too. A fun way to spend the afternoon!

The good:
— The tasting was great, the person running it was knowledgeable.
— I liked that the tasting was focused on Spanish wines.
— Free snacks are available.
The bad:
— We asked a salesperson where one of the tasting wines was located in the store and she made no attempt to help us at all.
— Store is a little dingy and disorganized. Price of wine on tasting list did not correspond to price listed on paper stuck the cardboard box.
— Wine did not taste like the tasting wine.
Would probably not go back. Our tasting was $ 10, not $ 5 as others have mentioned.

I like this location better than the one in Santa Clara because they tend to have a better selection of French and Italian wines. The staff are really friendly here, as well. Recently, however, it seems that the selection has decreased by a magnitude of 2!
:-(
Hopefully, it is only temporary! Parking is tough, so be prepared to park down the street! Anyway, check out the library wines! They often have a couple of real gems here. Still, despite my criticisms, this is one of my favorite places to shop!
Unilocal seems to think that this is a bar. Its just a liquor store!

I’m on the hunt for the best place to buy wines in the Bay Area. This is definitely one of the better ones, and located the heart of SOMA, it’s in a convenient location.
I like how the outside of the store is unassuming and you don’t get the feeling of pretentiousness when you walk inside. There are no fancy displays, just bottles and bottles of wines in their original boxes. The store is generously staffed and it seemed like each staff was an expert in a particular varietal or liquor. Prices are good if not the best, but their strength is their selection and service.

$ 5 tastings on Fridays only from 5−7pm. The tasting area is small and intimate but you get to ask lots of questions. Very knowledgeable staff. There was even a couple of pizzas there if you needed something in your belly while tasting!
Great wines at great prices. Huge selection of wines! Also, there is a small parking lot outside.
I will definitely be back!

I love this place! They have an amazing wine selection at really reasonable prices. The staff knows a ton about wines… Everyone you ask will really take the time to help you pick out the right bottles of wine and answer any wine questions.
Also, they have tastings saturdays from 2 – 5 for $ 10 a person and every saturday is something different but I really think its an awesome deal to try a fair amount of wines.
For buying wine, this is a place I would go out of my way for.