Shopper's Vineyard is a great liquor and wine store in Clifton, off the Allwood Road circle on Bloomfield Avenue, a little north of the Home Depot.
They built a big new store a few years ago and have quite a selection. They have a good website and wine tastings most Saturdays. you can get invitations and special deals by subscribing to their newsletter on their website at www.shoppersvineyard.com
I shopped at the this store a lot more often when my office was in Clifton. Since I moved to Livingston I had not been there in a while and it was nice to be back. While they don't have the style and sophistication of Amanti Vino or the marketing power of Gary's or Wine Library, they care a lot about the wines they offer and I have enjoyed many of their recommendations.
Some of the other benefits of this store is they have a great beer selection, a huge row of vodka and all kinds or cordials. When I am having a party and will be serving cocktails, Shoppers Vineyard is the place I go. They also have a fabulous Kosher selection, so if you need to buy for Passover or an other Jewish Holidays they have great Kosher wines.
I like their broad selection of Italians, from $6.00 up to $160.00. They cover almost every country well.
On this trip, I met one of their new store managers Greg Silverman, great upbeat guy, passionate about wine.
Greg made some suggestions that were very good. One I am drinking as I write called Six Prong.
It is a blend of cabernet sauvignon with malbec, grenache, cabernet franc, merlot and syrah it has the scent of violets and flavors of red berries and fresh currants. Nice tanin and very smooth.
From Washington State. There were only 1,000 cases produced and from what I can see Shopper's Vineyard is the only store in New Jersey that has it.
It is a very nice $15-$12 wine, the later being the result of their 20% mixed case discount that SV offers.
One of the other wines that Greg suggested was a Shiraz, which I generally don't like. They tend to be a bit to heavy. I did like this one, I took it to a dinner party with friends last night and everyone liked it. That and what was left of the Silvaner from the night before.
It is called 3 Rings and comes from the Barossa Valley in Australia. I bought it because I loved the 
label. It is a on the higher level of my price range at $19.00 but with a $4 discount it was ok.
As reported by The Wine Advocate,
"3 Rings is a joint venture between Dan Philips, David Hickinbotham and winemaker Chris Ringland, 100 percent Barossa from several old vine vineyards blended beautifully by Chris Ringland.
The aim of this project, a partnership between importer Dan Philips, renowned winemaker Chris Ringland, and famed grape grower David Hickinbotham, is to offer good value Shiraz from relatively old vine Barossa fruit from vineyards in the Kalimna, Gomersol, and Vinevale sectors. There are 9,000 cases of this voluptuous, supple-textured 2004. Its dense purple color is accompanied by a flamboyant, extroverted bouquet of blackberries, white flowers, earth, and background oak. The wine offers pure, supple, blackberry and cassis fruit intermixed with hints of graphite and camphor. Consume this excellent value over the next 3-4 years." Score: 91. —Robert Parker, October 30, 2005.
Unlike the Six Prongs it is available at several other stores around New Jersey.
I also bought some favorites Vietti Arneis, Firriato Chiaramonte Nero D' Avelo, Antenori Vermentino and Marchesi Barbera Maraia. The others I'll post after I taste them.
Things to do, places to see, with food and booze
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