How to recognize a good wine shop
A good wine shop is something you should cherish at all times. Have you found one? Then never let it go. Haven’t found one yet? We’ll help you and tell you what to look out for.
Temperature
Is it minus ten outside while the heating in the shop is turned up nice and high? Very cozy for you, somewhat less so for the wine. Heat and temperature fluctuations — the heating will probably be turned off again after closing time — can seriously affect the quality. A good wine shop absolutely doesn’t need to be a freezer, but too warm really isn’t good.
What do the bottles look like?
Are they bathing in light? Get out of there quickly, because light can affect the wine too. Is there a lot of dust on the bottles? That’s fine for more special bottles that stay on the shelves a little longer. But if the €5 house wine displayed prominently in the shop is hidden beneath a dull layer of dust, that may point to laxity and insufficient care for the bottles.
Description
If you simply want to browse the shelves, descriptions of every bottle are very nice to read. And also very useful to judge a shop by. The more personal, the better. You can often tell whether they were written by the shop staff or not. Homemade always takes preference over ready-made labels with notes and scores from well-known critics. Of course, those critics know everything there is to know, but it isn’t very personal. You might as well get the wine online, where the same description appears.
I should add that a wine description in itself is absolutely not a criterion for the quality of a wine shop. Many excellent shops don’t do them, but if they are present, use the points above as a guide. No wine descriptions at all? Then ask the staff lots of questions; if all is well, they’ll know everything there is to know.
Price
There’s nothing more annoying than walking into a shop looking for a suitable wine for your dinner and being handed a €20 stunner. “I was actually looking for something cheaper,” you say softly, and leave the premises with a €15 bottle under your arm. Still much more than you had in mind.
In a good shop, they know that wine doesn’t have to be expensive and have something delicious for every budget. They ask about your budget or come up with an affordable bottle on their own. If there are only four bottles under ten euros in the shop, I’m out of there very quickly.
Atmosphere
Ultimately, what matters most is whether you find the atmosphere pleasant. Do you click with the staff? Does that one employee have exactly the same taste in wine as you? Do they open bottles of wine to taste on Thursday afternoons or at the weekend? Then this is your favorite wine shop from now on.
These are our favorites
Okhuysen (Haarlem)
Ton Overmars (Amsterdam)
Henri Bloem (throughout the Netherlands)
Slijterij Besselling (Utrecht)
A little more expensive but worth it
Glandorf en Thijs (Amsterdam)
Vleck (specializing in natural wine, Utrecht and Amsterdam)
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