Found Treasure: Grocery Outlet Wine Selection

September 16, 2022 – One of the cooler wine groups in California includes a dozen Monterey-area oenophiles in their 70s and 80s who have been meeting every month or so since…1975. 

That means they’ve been blind tasting each other on interesting vino since the Vietnam War was ending and Betamax was big.

They call their clique Grape Escape. It coalesced after a few of its members took a class at Monterey Peninsula College on winemaking and wine appreciation—MPC bring that back?!—and wanted to keep the knowledge flowing. 

The winemaker who taught the class, Roy Thomas of the late great Monterey Peninsula Winery, is one of the founding members, and one of many who made their own. 

Meeting structure proves simple and seductive. 

Rotating hosts curate a handful of wines that are bagged and numbered. After a “warm-up” wine, the group tastes through them, guessing at varietal and vintage—and at the theme they collectively reflect. 

Founding member Maurice Coury still has his notes from the very first tasting (and each since). He reports those themes have ranged from Tuscan wines he and his wife Claudia brought back from Italy to vertical tastings of Pisoni Pinot—and that the ongoing revelations reinforce the group’s staying power.

“We enjoy one another’s company,” he says, “and the fact we’re continuing to taste different wines.”

I attended a session at the Courys years back and had a blast. The number one takeaway was not that these golden palates know their grape juice (they do) or that Claudia Coury can dish powerhouse snacks worthy of the wines (she can). 

Instead the leading outcome for me was a surprising wine shopping strategy that felt rather far from Tuscany: For great wine deals, Maurice advised me to tempt fate at Grocery Outlet. 

He had more coaching from there. The predictable part: Pick out some promising bottles, as one would anywhere. (My standing m.o.: look for favored regions and varietals, and grapes grown from a specific valley or vineyard, rather than a region or state, at a friendly price point.) 

Then came Coury’s less predictable advice: Retreat to the parking lot and try them on site. 

Not all will be worthy, he added, but frequently you strike gold—and if you do, go back and buy as much as you are willing to stockpile because it probably won’t be there next time.

“You never know,” he says. 

What I do know: As I’ve applied his strategy, I’ve uncorked dozens of discoveries. 

Today I picked up a Russian River Chardonnay valued at $32 for $5.99, plus an $18 Catalan Merlot, a Pinot from Lodi, an Argentinian Cabernet and a Sonoma Reserve Cab labeled as $20ish normally, for around the same $6-$7 price. 

The next few days will be revealing. And I may be driving back tomorrow, fingers crossed, after testing the Chardonnay tonight. (None were screwtops, and I didn’t bring a wine opener. #Doh.)

I even supplied all the Pinot and sparkling at my sister’s wedding—on a journalist budget—after sipping and spitting with my mama at the tailgate of a station wagon in a Grocery Outlet parking lot. 

That gets at the broader beauty—and life lessons—G.O. imparts: Be opportunistic. Hunt for treasures. Spend finite resources for maximum flavor. Seek revelations…and you just might find them.

While I (very) rarely spotlight chains, this feels like an appropriate exception, partly because Grocery Outlets are owned and personalized by franchisees encouraged to live locally. 

Brian and Lori Conway were running my homecourt G.O. in Seaside when I started reporting this story. (Last month they sold to Bud and Treava Kottman of Marina, who trained under the Conways; within the Monterey Bay Area, Grocery Outlet also has outposts in Marina, Salinas, Prunedale, Hollister, Gilroy, Watsonville, Santa Cruz and Santa Teresa.) 

The Conways pride themselves on a number of things, including their presentation, which stars what they call “The Wow Wall” of featured deals when customers enter. Brian’s background running classic grocery stores for other chains across decades helped inform that. 

The Conways, and now the Kottmans, field calls from wholesalers and/or brands with surpluses, misprinted labels or capacity for volume—note fellow Found Treasure YouBlendIt and its Hideout vodkas—and try to handpick what will engage their audience. 

Another point of pride: the portfolio of natural, organic, specialty and healthy items, or in shopspeak, “NOSH.” That includes a strong roster of vegan products and gourmet cheeses, drawing shoppers from the other side of Carmel Hill. 

Another reason Grocery Outlet earns an exemption to my non-chain rule: As far as supermarkets, G.O. is the spiritual sister for this column. 

Lori remembers watching regulars scouring every aisle, like they were on a treasure hunt.

In other words, between this column, Grocery Outlet and The Grape Escape too, the shared DNA is discovery.

More at groceryoutlet.com.