Best of Philly

Best Wine Store

2022 Best Wine Bar and Shop

9th Street Bottle Shop

Buying wine (or any alcohol, really) in Pennsylvania is generally a pain in the butt. The Di Bruno Bros. Bottle Shop in the center of the Italian Market sweetens the deal with a curated selection at a range of price points, all of which can be opened and glugged across the street in DBB’s sunny piazza. Bring takeout from any of the surrounding restaurants, or grab some chips and tinned fish from Di Bruno’s shelves. Read More »

920 South 9th Street, Philadelphia, PA Website

2022 Best Small-Batch Vermouth

Dumpster Juice Vermut

During the pandemic, Bloomsday Cafe’s Zach Morris and Tim Kweeder started selling their own small-batch fortified wine through the state’s since-repealed to-go cocktail laws. They flavored their vermouth with seasonally varied botanicals; sold it in bottles, pouches, cans, whatever; and dubbed it “Dumpster Juice,” the most Philly name anything has ever had. The resulting quaff makes a transcendent manhattan, is delightful served neat, and, as of batch No. 7, is now official with the PLCB. Read More »

414 South 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA Website

2021 Best Kept Secret That We're About to Ruin Forever

Richmond Bottle Shop Inside the IGA

In the past two years or so, we saw an influx of independently owned wine shops open all around Philly — many of them run by restaurant owners and bar managers who take their wine programs very seriously, sourcing and stocking only the natural, or the local, or the hard-to-find stuff. We also saw Acme and Whole Foods get into the wine game here in Pennsylvania — ­though their selections are, um, heavy on the Sutter Home. And then there’s the IGA, a pretty generic grocery store in a pretty blah strip mall on Aramingo Avenue, not particularly boutique-y or high-end. Just a plain ol’ grocery store. Unlike Acme and Whole Foods, though, its wine selection is vast and fairly priced and downright thoughtful. There are traditional bottles — the chianti classicos, the Châteauneuf-du-Papes — but there are orange wines from Georgia, too, and pecorinos from Abruzzo, and natural and biodynamic wines everywhere you look. You’ll leave and wonder a lot about this place: Who’s running this shop? How do they keep the prices so low? And how the hell is it still such a secret? Read More »

2497 Aramingo Avenue, Philadelphia, PA Website

2020 Best Coronavirus Silver Lining in Restaurants

We Found a Way to Work Around the PLCB

While COVID-19 decimated the city’s restaurant scene, it also helped push Philly’s antiquated liquor laws just a bit into the 21st century. Here’s how.

The Lawsuit | The PLCB always acted as the middleman between wine dealers who sold specialty bottles (you know, the natural, biodynamic wine made by small producers) and places where you’d normally buy those bottles (restaurants and bottle shops). So when COVID-19 shut down all Pennsylvania state stores back in March, dealers in Philly were no longer able to sell their product, and independent wine retailers couldn’t restock their shelves. Two dealers, MFW Wine Co. LLC and A6 Wine Co., said “Enough!” and sued the motherfriggin’ PLCB.

While the suit is still moving slowly through the system — the PLCB appealed the ruling of the Commonwealth Court — the implications of PLCB-free wine commerce in the Philly restaurant industry are huge. Because even right now, in 2020, wine delivery is still nonexistent for retailers and restaurants. Right now, there’s still essentially no wholesale discount. Right now, retailers are paying gratuitous fees (and passing the cost on to us). And a lawsuit like this — which, mind you, has a good chance of succeeding — might very well change all of that.

To-Go Cocktails | The problems inherent in working within the PLCB’s convoluted systems were only exacerbated when coronavirus came along and shut down our nightlife scene entirely. Something had to give.

On May 21st, Governor Tom Wolf signed into law a piece of legislation that allowed restaurants and bars that had lost at least 25 percent of their average monthly sales due to the pandemic to sell cocktails to-go. Which means that for the first time since Prohibition, you can walk up to a bar in Philadelphia and order some martinis for the road, and nobody — not even a PLCB officer — can stop you from living your life. The to-go-martini kind of life.

Wine Shops! Finally! | When the PLCB temporarily closed all its stores, these shops stayed open and kept us drinking and drunk during the apocalypse. And they deserve all the attention in the world.

Vernick Wine, 2029 Walnut Street, Rittenhouse

Tinys Bottle Shop, 3124 Richmond Street, Port Richmond

Di Bruno Bros., 9th Street Bottle Shop, 920 South 9th Street, Bella Vista

Fancy Wine Club at Bloomsday, 414 South 2nd Street, Society Hill

Le Caveau, 614 South 7th Street, Bella Vista

Fishtown Social, 1525 Frankford Avenue, Fishtown

Wine Dive, 1506 South Street, Grad Hospital

Jet Wine Bar, 1525 South Street, Grad Hospital

Read More »

2020 Best Wine Shop

Vernick Wine

When the PLCB temporarily closed all its stores, Philly wine shops stayed open and kept us drinking and drunk during the apocalypse. And they deserve all the attention in the world. Read More »

2029 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA | 267-951-2962 | Website

2020 Best Wine Shop

Tinys Bottle Shop

When the PLCB temporarily closed all its stores, Philly wine shops stayed open and kept us drinking and drunk during the apocalypse. And they deserve all the attention in the world. Read More »

3124 Richmond Street, Philadelphia, PA | 267-639-6842 | Website

2020 Best Wine Shop

Le Caveau

When the PLCB temporarily closed all its stores, Philly wine shops stayed open and kept us drinking and drunk during the apocalypse. And they deserve all the attention in the world. Read More »

614 South 7th Street, Philadelphia, PA | 215-625-3700 | Website

2020 Best Wine Shop

Fancy Wine Club at Bloomsday

When the PLCB temporarily closed all its stores, Philly wine shops stayed open and kept us drinking and drunk during the apocalypse. And they deserve all the attention in the world. Read More »

414 South 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA | 267-319-8018 | Website

2020 Best Wine Shop

Di Bruno Bros. 9th Street Bottle Shop

When the PLCB temporarily closed all its stores, Philly wine shops stayed open and kept us drinking and drunk during the apocalypse. And they deserve all the attention in the world. Read More »

920 South 9th Street, Philadelphia, PA | 267-355-9965 | Website

2019 Best Tiny Indulgence

Wine to Go From Vino Volo

For those who want nothing more than to sip on a healthy pour of pinot grigio while thumbing through Us Weekly at their gate, we’re happy to report that your wish has been granted. B/C Connector and D/E Connector. Read More »

| 215-365-8686 | Website