There are so many places to buy wine these days, it’s hard to know where to start. You can go into a store, purchase it from a festival, grab a few bottles from the winery, or buy it online. You could even get a subscription so you don’t need to think about choosing.

When it comes to where I buy wine from, I’m really not picky. I tend to buy from anywhere depending on what’s on offer and what’s around at the time I need to buy wine, but really I don’t think there is a right or wrong. Each place you can buy wine from has its different merits in terms of price, availability and type of wines available. This also goes for buying wine in store, because there is such a wide range of stores around. This can make it hard to know where to go.

There are so many bottle shops around, and I tend to put them into two categories: boutique and chain. Boutique stores tend to only have a couple of stores, or only one, whereas chains have many stores and are usually owned by a bigger brand. Both types of bottle shops have different pros and cons of purchasing from them, but I wouldn’t rule either out. It just depends on your personal preference. So I thought I would weigh up the pros and cons for you so you can decide for yourself!

Price

This is probably the biggest one to weigh up, as it really depends on how much you are willing to pay for a bottle of wine. I find that both boutique and chain bottle stores usually have wines that are quite similar in price if you are after a bottle around the $20 mark. You won’t have any trouble finding this in both type of store. However, as a general rule the boutique stores tend to have more expensive wines.

There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, they have less deals on than the chain stores which are often running buy 2 for a cheaper price, or buy a dozen and get a discount deals. The boutique stores tend not to compete with this price cutting because chain stores have better margins due to their buying power, so are able to run more competitive deals.

However I think the main reason for the difference in price is that you’ll often find smaller batch wines from small producers in boutique bottle shops. Because of this the price tends to be a bit higher than those bottles produced by larger commercial wineries.

If you are after cheaper bottles, I would tend to recommend going to a chain store for your wine. You’ll likely get a better deal if you aren’t picky on what you want, and so you can usually get a decent bottle for under $20. However, if you are happy to spend a little bit more, you can easily find a great bottle at a boutique bottle store without breaking the bank.

Variety

Depending on which store you go to, you’ll find as much or as little variety as you want. Super chain stores like Dan Murphy’s and First Choice will tend to have a lot of choice because they are so large, but your smaller chain stores will stock a lot less. If I’m going to a chain store I will usually try to go to a larger one to get the variety, especially because they will often have an international wine section and a separate Australian wine section with plenty to choose from. I’ll usually only go to the smaller chain stores if I need something on the go because the wine selection is a lot smaller.

Although the volume at chain stores can be wider than boutique stores, I find you can get far more interesting wines at the boutique stores. They may have less wine on hand, but this lends itself to a far more curated selection of really interesting, unique wines to choose from. You’re more likely to find bottles of wine you’ve never seen before from smaller batch producers in these smaller stores. Personally I feel more comfortable picking something unknown from these stores because you don’t get overwhelmed by the choice

I also love just wandering around these stores having a look at what is on offer. Although you might have more choice in a larger chain store, I find the varieties of wine on offer in a boutique store far more interesting, and you’ll always find something different.

Service

Service is really dependent on where you go, and to be honest isn’t really affected by whether it is a boutique store or chain store. As a general rule I find that you’ll find friendlier, more helpful staff in a boutique bottle shop. They are usually more knowledgeable about the wines they have on hand, and not quite as busy so more than happy to offer a recommendation if you need it. Sometimes they’ll even have tastings or special events in store!

That being said, you can still get great service in the chain stores. I just find it is a bit more of an experience in a boutique bottle store, and the staff are generally more available and interested in talking wine.

Final verdict

Each of these bottle stores have their place, and there really isn’t one over the other that I would choose. You can get a great deal, and some great wines at the chain bottle stores. You can also find some really interesting wines for a decent price at the boutique bottle shops.

Whatever your taste, both offer their merits, so you can’t really go wrong!