Varsity Wine Merchant

If you can get the owner to help you choose some wine, you won’t be disappointed. The only reason I didn’t give the place 5 stars is because the owner isn’t always there (duh). The suggestions from the other staff are fairly good, but the occasional misses have been bad. We like the prices, the friendliness, and the accessibility. Cold beer is an asset too.

Great variety, well chosen wines. I get much of my wine now from this wine store. By far best quality wines sold in the surrounding area and NW. The owner has never ever failed me on a recommendation and i’m quite a fussy bugger! Love their Pinot Noir selection! Easy parking.

The Owner of the shop and his staff are very knowledgeable & helpful !
If you’re looking for run-​of-​the-​mill regular wines, you’ve come to the wrong place. I’ve been shopping here for years and they always have neat wines that you likely won’t find in many other shops. Most of my friends are always happy with the selections that I have stored in my wine room as much of the great bottles in there came from Varsity.
ALSO — If you check out «Theonewhodrinksfinewine» on Vivino, you’ll see great detailed reviews on many of the wide selection of wines found in the store!

I was in need of a nice white wine for a evening with friends, so I thought I would try Varsity Wine. The guy at the til greeted me and asked if I needed help with anything to let him know. The store is very dim and disorganized with boxes everywhere. They have rack after rack of wine, which is supposedly organized by country. All the price ranges are mixed together, $ 14 with $ 35. They have a display case in the back full of $ 100 and even $ 300 wines! As I searched the rows, all I saw was red wine, one out of 20 was white! So I decided on a rose. Then spotted a red at the back that seemed appealing. I noticed that they do tastings, so I asked the guy when I went to pay. He said that they do and he actually had a red open right now, if I was interested. I never pass up free samples of wine! It turned out to be an amazing selection too, one I had never heard of, which I think I will try next time. They also have a basic stock of beer and liquors at standard prices.
So I bought the rose, at $ 15 and the red at $ 20. The rose turned out to be horrible, so I feel that was a waste of money. I have had $ 10 bottles of wine that were better than that. The red turned out to be perfect. So I will definitely ask for advice when it comes to shopping here for wine again.
I will return to Varsity Wine if I am in need of a pricier wine, but there are better places to buy a good cheap bottle of wine from.