Viti Wine and Lager

My mom and I wandered in here on our way from brunch to Granville Island.
I was looking to pick up a unique craft beer to bring home to my suds loving BF and my mom wanted to find a great wine.
The gentleman in this shop was very personable/​knowledgeable about both the alcohol selection and the local area. He recommended a few local places to check out that we ended up trying and loving during our stay.
I picked up a Fat Tug IPA for bae (which he absolutely LOVED) and my mom found a great red wine for my step dad. Great little shop to check out in VanCity!

A great place to find local specialty products. Really appreciated the knowledgeable staff!

Convenient location, clean, friendly staff. Visiting Vancouver BC had a craving for good red wine. Asked the staff for a local winery that worth to try but not to break the bank.
They have recommended couple and I have chosen local winery product;
JT Select Cabernet Sauvignon & SUMAC Ridge Merlot. Both costed around $ 17.00−18.00 and tasted like a box wine for a $ 17 – 18 bottle. Not a fan.
Not a wine expert but do know whats good and whats not.
Taste of the wine is not reflected on the store review. Store: simple, clean, friendly, conveniently located establishment. Would go back.

The usual BC rape prices you’ll get in a privately owned liquor store, but obviously a convenience fee for not having to walk all the way to BC liquor… Plus they have a decent selection of wines you can’t find elsewhere…
The staff is fairly knowledgeable and can usually help you find something reasonable to ease the pain…

I love this place. Great selection if craft beers from North America and Europe. Plus the staff inside are very clued up if you’re in the mood for something in specific.
Their batches change weekly and they always list new arrivals outside on the board.
It’s not that cheap though, but we’ll blame the BC government for that!

Love this liquor store, they carry a huge variety of beer and wine and their staff is friendly and knowledgable. They let me bring my dogs inside as well while i chose some beer for a dinner with some friends. The guy behind the register was very helpful with finding a good belgian beer to go with some steamed mussels and at the end they gave my dogs some treats. Will be shopping here for beer when i am in town.

Meh.
The Sapporo ”freshness” always been On-​Off…
Sometimes it’s fresh as it should be and sometimes not at all.
But I have to say the staffs always being super helpful and friendly.
I went there for years but I recently discover that the Steamworks restaurant close to the waterfront sky-​train station had a Liquor store!
They got my Japanese booze Saporro and also they always have in the fridge their bad ass Steamworks beer .
Well maybe I will see you later Viti Wine and Lager…
Only if I am too lazy for taking a walk to the Steamworks Liquor store!

friendly kind and knowledgable staff, a great place to purchase libations !

One of the cool aspects of this place is the very unique selection of beer. They’ve got a penchant for stocking beer that is not available in other places. Especially Belgian beers as well as beers that are typically not available in mainstream liquor stores. So if you are a beer connoisseur, which may be a bit of a oxymoron, this is the place for you.
The main negative is that some of the staff are a bit cranky… like they are hung over or something. Once I asked for a recommendation on some wine and got a big lecture instead. Great. thanks for making me feel like a moron… on Pinot Noir of all things.

This is a small hole in the wall beer & wine store on Seymour,
just south of Smithe. It’s a part of the Moda Hotel I believe.
The isles are rather cramped, it’s hard to navigate your way around if there are more then a few people inside.
Staff are hit and miss. Besides the older guy who is normally always there
(owner perhaps ??) they aren’t overly friendly or helpful.
The older guy is a bit more personable, but I still don’t ever see him crack a smile,
I don’t drink beer, so I cannot comment about that. However, for the size of the store, they do have a fair amount of wine to chose from.
Other then that, Not the best selection of cider or coolers. Just a few in the refrigerators. Some Smirnoff Ice, Palm Bay ect. Prices seem not too outrageous. For hard alcohol they have only 3 choices for vodka. But hey — its a «beer & wine» store.
All in all it’s not bad for that last min beverage stop.
Cant ever have too many cold beer & wine stores!

I just paid $ 35 for gin. Does that sound about reasonable? I’ve never purchased gin before so I really have no idea.
What I do know, though, is that I work two minutes from here, live 5 minutes from here, was able to grab lime from across the street and am already tipsy.
I didn’t get attacked to prove my age, and the woman was more than willing to explain the difference between the two gins that were a dollar apart in price.
4 solid stars.

Small shop with a great selection of wines you don’t really find at bigger stores. I’ve been going around town looking for a wine that can replace one that isn’t available outside California. The guys that work here are totally know-​it-​alls when it comes to wine, but in the funny way they’re very helpful. I’m happy with my purchase, which they suggested, and will surely come back to try other wines they recommend.

nice, solid place for the ppl who work/​live in DT, pretty convenient esp. for those who walk, b/​c limited parking on Seymour St.
smaller store but helpful staff, almost overkill; on a sat nite, 3 ppl here.
Located beside the boutique Moda Hotel so it’s nice and safe ;)

Want a good wine & beer selection but too busy (or intimidated) to go to your neighbourhood BC Liquor Store? Check out Viti! It’s not your run of the mill beer & wine store.
Yes, I am a Yaletowner and yes, the convenience of having Viti down the street is a major plus — but more than that, they have a great selection of wines and beers that are hard to find. Best of all, they sell these beers per piece so you if you want to try & buy you aren’t stuck with 6 bottles if you don’t like it.
I am a Kriek, Lambic, and Radler lover… regular liquor stores only carry one or two but Viti carries several labels and flavours.
Their wine selection is great as well, and they often have tasting stations set up on the weekends. While they carry a selection of spirits and hard liquor as well, they don’t have too many small/​micky sized bottles. Then again, they ARE a WINE and LAGER store so that’s no biggie.
As others have mentioned — their service is great. Very knowledgeable and friendly staff, and always looking to make a recommendation or suggestion an alternative if your request is not there.
Check it out if you’re in the area! But don’t blink because you might miss it… it’s a pretty small place, but packs a big punch.

They’ve certainly got an eclectic collection of beers & wines – surprisingly more than you’d think looking thru the window (it’s such a small space); and the staff is quite knowledgeable. But you’re gunna pay for it.
I mostly come here for the small-​store feel and to support a small business, occasionally picking up a bottle of wine from their «bargain» section (near the front window) for somewhere around 7 – 8 $ to use in Sangria.
Of the ones I’ve got, they were okay for the price: a bit less flavour or a bit on the vinegar side but still decent. If I’m going to be drinking the wine by the glass, I’ll get a higher-​end one from elsewhere (I just can’t stomach paying sometimes 10 $ more for the same thing).
One of the times I came, there was a lady giving out samples of wine. I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was disgusting (it had some dumb name like «pink» or «flowers»).

Best beer store in the city — great microbrew selection. Not cheap though.
Also, it says this is a wine bar, but it’s not — the wine bar is next door (Uva).

Viti has a great wine selection and decent prices, but their staff are really their biggest strength.
Viti was a block away from our old spot so we found ourselves in there more than I would like to admit. The staff are knowledgeable on both wines and craft beers, they keep more than enough of their bottles chilled and the prices aren’t too bad either. As with any ‘Cold Beer & Wine’ like stores you have to expect a bit of a price increase versus the regulated BCLC’s but it’s made up for in location and hours — Viti is open 7 days a week untill 11PM!

2012 review (update):
I’ve gone back to Viti’s a few times since «the incident» and it seems as if that guy isn’t working there anymore. The staff have been very helpful and have made some awesome suggestions, they definitely know their product.
Plus, they carry Little Creatures bright ale and Coopers sparkling, so they’re alright by me.
2011 review:
I’ve been buying alcohol from Viti for 2 years. Today, my partner was paying at the counter and was asked for ID. I didn’t have ID on me and the guy turned both of us away.
This same guy saw both of our IDs at 10pm last night, saw our passports and licenses, saw that we are both almost 30 years old.
This place is overpriced and they only stock a couple of beer brands in 12 packs. They don’t carry cases of beer. We *used to* go here for convenience. We’ll walk the extra 5 minutes to Jimmy’s Cold Beer and Wine from now on.

I needed to find a certain beer I had at a friend’s house. I don’t drink beer. How unlike me… But this isn’t beer… it’s nectar. Sweet, wonderful nectar. Anyhoo, I searched and I found out they have it.
On the back wall, I see the other flavours of what I want. It’s the Lindeman’s Framboise that I’m after. I asked the lady working for help. She is wonderful. Not only does she steer me away from the overstock shelf (whoops) to where it is on display, she also lets me know that there are cold ones in the cooler and the other brands I could try. Yay! But they are going in my car and they’ll just get warm anyhow. She lets out a noise like I’ve punched her in the mouth and she tells me, «Don’t tell me that!» She seems passionate about the beer.

The thing that most stood out to me on my trip to Vancouver was how dad-​blasted nice everyone was. It didn’t matter what I was buying or where I was going – people were always incredibly friendly, helpful and immediately started chatting with me. Viti was no exception. One of the staff members helped me and my friends pick out a few bottles of microbrewed beer, and she was incredibly knowledgeable, helpful and funny. After helping to narrow down my choices, I ended up selecting a bottle of Unibroue Quatre Centieme to bring home as a souvenir. My boyfriend and I split it and we were not disappointed. It was tasty, unique and just the kind of thing I couldn’t get back home that I was looking to give him.
The only bummer is the insane BC liquor taxes, but that’s not anything they can help. (I think my Vancouver friends would lose their minds in a liquor superstore like my hometown Spec’s.) If I lived in Vancouver, though, Viti would be my local haunt for my wine, beer and spirits thanks to their warm, welcoming staff and surprisingly good selection for their small storefront.