Great Washington State Wine Available in Atlanta



By Kori ~ November 2nd, 2009.

The World of Coca-Cola at Pemberton Place in downtown AtlantaFor years, I’ve had friends tell me that they can’t find the great Washington State wines that I tell them about where they live. So with the help of Wine-Searcher.com and a lot of legwork, I’ve set out on a mission to prove them wrong. And until today, I had.

This is the third in a series of posts to help you find great Washington State wines in the major cities and areas all around the country. The first post in the series featured New York City, and the second featured Chicago. Today, I’m searching for Washington State wine in the Atlanta area.

Here’s the format: To be selected, a store first has to have a Wine-Searcher.com rating of 4 or higher on a scale of 1 to 5 for customer service, reliability, etc. Next, it has to stock Washington State wines that we really like. Finally, they need to be an online retailer as well, so that if you don’t live close enough to the store to drop in, you can still purchase their wines.

If there is an abundance of great Washington State wine available in Atlanta, or even in the state of Georgia for that matter, I can’t find it. The best selection I found that almost fit our criteria was at the Smoke Rise Bottle Shoppe in Stone Mountain, Georgia. And even here, it was mostly value wines, not truly any great wines, and it was not that easy to even find these on their website.

In contrast to New York and Chicago, Atlanta doesn’t seem to have as vibrant a wine community. I wish it was different, because I really like Atlanta as a city, but I believe that we owe it to you, our readers, to tell it like it is. Stay tuned as we move on to Houston, Texas, next month in our quest for great Washington State wines around the USA.


Filed under: American Wine, Great Washington State Wine Available in (City), Washington State Wine

Reader's Comments

  1. Brian White | November 5th, 2009 at 5:56 pm

    Looking forward to the Houston report next month! Sadly my adopted hometown of Houston is just now slowly starting to find the great joy in WA State wine! Oh and the sad part is that I fear you will find the same to be true for Houston as it was true for Atlanta. The big retailer in town does not have a great web/online retailer side to their business…..maybe some day!

  2. G. R. | November 11th, 2009 at 2:40 am

    I love WA State wine and I have searched Atlanta for the best retailers. You are correct, most of the retailers in GA will not ship. The laws are slowly changing, but we can now buy a limited amount of wine direct from wineries. I buy most of my WA State wine direct from wineries or west coast retailers. However, there are a few retailers with good selections including Total Wine and Wine Gallery + Market. However, believe it or not, the best selection is the Kroger at Ansley Mall close to Piedmont Park. They have a fine wine selection larger than most wine shops. Their selection will always include the latest vintage from Quilceda Creek, Longshadows, Andrew Will, Mark Ryan and many others.

  3. Kori | November 11th, 2009 at 2:26 pm

    Brian,
    I’m looking forward to exploring Houston next month, too. You may not know, but I was born in Houston. Thanks for reading!

    G.R.,
    Thanks for sharing your experiences searching for WA wine in Atlanta. I appreciate your recommendations for retailers to try. That’s quite an impressive lineup of wineries for Kroger to carry.

    Cheers!