Where to Buy Wine: Local Grocery Store

Living in the Midwest, it is fairly easy to find wines from the region. Besides the traditional wine and alcohol store or the winery itself, Midwestern wines can be found in drug stores, discount department stores, and of course, grocery stores. Our local grocery store, which is setup such that each department is in its own walled off section. Each section is designed and decorated according to its purpose. And no better section represents this better than the wine department. With its curved ceiling painted to appear like concrete and wooden shelves, it feels more like a wine cellar than a grocery store.

In the background, the more expensive wine bottles are stored properly on their sides to keep the cork moist. But the majority of the wines are still stored upright. This picture doesn't do the section justice, as it only displays about a third of the department. But here there are wines from all over the world including Australia, Chile, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, California, and of course, the Midwest. Most bottles are in a modes range of $7 to $15, with a few bottles costing $20 or more.

Here, you can see the entire Midwest wine section, which includes about 30 different bottles from about 10 different wineries. You'll notice that Oliver Winery has 9 different wines visible (to the right of the divider). This is why I write (link to Black Cherry) about (link to Soft Red) wine (link to Soft White) from Oliver Winery so much: their wines are easy to find in Indiana and there's several to choose from. The other wineries have a couple of their flagship wines: their most popular wines. There's nothing wrong with these selections, but it underscores that a grocery store is good for finding a table wine and can provide a decent selection, but not an excellent selection. For that, a trip to an actual wine shop is in order.