Local boutique stocks hard-to-find wines

We were fortunate enough to be featured in today’s San Francisco Chronicle! Read the full article here…

Golden Gate Wine Cellars is a locally owned boutique wine store that carries hundreds of hard-to-find wines from California vineyards. The shop has close to a thousand labels in stock at any given time that are also available for shipping anywhere in the world.

“I’m of the firm belief that some of the best wine in the world comes from our backyard,” says owner Frank Melis.

“I have clientele in most of the 50 states and around the world. Where some of them live, they could buy French wine for less than California wine, but still they keep ordering from me.”

Melis believes that drinking wine should be an experience people appreciate, so he has developed extensive tasting notes on his website that accompany each type of wine available. He also hosts tasting nights every other month that typically consist of about 30 different wines for guests to try. The next event is slated for August 11. Tickets are available on the store’s website, but they frequently sell out in the first few days of a date being announced.

Melis also hosts tastings for private parties, such as birthdays or corporate events. “My next private tasting is for a couple’s anniversary. They met in the Napa Valley and fell in love over Sauvignon Blanc. So we’ll start the evening with that and move on from there.”

The variety of wines available at Golden Gate Wine Cellars ranges from $15 to $70 and on up to four figures. “I have something I call ‘Frank’s Palatable Price Point,'” Melis explains. “Ninety-five percent of my inventory is priced between $15 and $70, but of course we carry a few select high-end wines. Colgin, for example, is $500 per bottle.”

Melis carries a wine called Screaming Eagle that retails for $1,400 per bottle, but only a dozen are available each year.

Bring in this page to the store and receive a 10 percent discount on a $200.00 minimum purchase.