Sip... a wine store

An intimate boutique wine store. The owner April is incredibly knowledgeable and friendly. A great place for beginners and the more experienced.
April introduced herself and my husband and I told her our tastes in wine. She was quick to throw out many suggestions as well as let us taste some of the suggestions she made. We walked out with 4 bottles. At home when it was time for dinner, we tried each bottle and pretty much enjoyed all of her recommendations.
I love that this store has off-​the beaten path wines available. She rotates her stock pretty frequently from what she mentioned, so this is a great place for those of you that are feeling adventurous and want to try something a little bit more daring.

Actually, it’s a 4.5 stars. I love coming to the Sip wine classes! April is a great instructor and story teller. She really knows her stuff, and I like that she can teach it in layman terms for us newbie wannabe winos (with humor)… I love the concept of an environmentally friendly store, from the wines they choose to sell to the chalkboard door and the recycled furniture that shows the bottles of wines, etc.
I’ve brought my mom to a few of these classes and she also enjoys them (she can be a hard woman to please). They always provide several varieties of snacks to munch on from savory to sweet with breads and/​or crackers and cheeses. To be honest, most times there is enough food to fill you up — so don’t worry about eating a heavy meal before a class.
The only reason I give the 4.5 and not a 5 is because it appears they stock very small supplies of each wine. After a wine class, I wanted to buy a couple that we tasted and they maybe had 2 – 3 bottles left in stock at that time. I’ve come back for a wine that I purchased there after a class, loved it and have yet to find elsewhere. They didn’t have it in stock the last few times I went and have yet to buy it since. So, my suggestion to them is that if they know they’re featuring a wine during a tasting that they have enough bottles to sell after the class.

I love this little place! The wines are very reasonably priced for an independent eco-​friendly store. A new idea to me… they have 4 wines on tab (keg like) and reusable bottles that can be purchased for a one time fee of $ 3.50 to fill from the kegs.
Looking around I thought this is a great place to pick up a gift for any wine lover, a bachelorette party, or just hard to shop for people. The wines are great but they also have an nice selection of glasses and other cool gift ideas.
The staff is super friendly and you can tell they love their product and offer samples generously without high pressure sales.
I really enjoyed the wine tasting class and had my first white Pinot Noir, YUM! Great deal at $ 15 dollars; I don’t know that I learned oodles about wine but I thought it was a lot of fun and a great social event.
Without a doubt, I would definitely pop in when I am around that part of Cary.

Love love love this place!!!
I was out and about today, looking for a quick place to grab a couple of bottles of wine. I used my handy Unilocal app, and found the locale of Sip… a wine store.
First off, Sip is an eco-​friendly wine store that sells organic wine. Love!
Second, the place is small enough to not feel intimidated and overwhelmed by all of the choices. Love!
There was a decent selection at all price ranges according to your taste. Love!
The staff was SUPER friendly, and helpful, and gift wrapped the wine for me, at no charge! LOVE!
I read that they have tastings and various classes, so that is a nice option for anyone in the area looking for that sort of thing. I will definitely be back!

I love SIP. The owner, April, has opened the world of wine to me. I appreciate and love it even more now than ever. She has so many classes and wants folks to learn the wines she sells and appreciate them. She is full of knowledge & loves her job.
I love the tastings and all the neat things she does at her store. I’ve been to a movie night, Bingo night, Friday night tastings, and classes. I love it and really don’t want to go anywhere else for a glass of wine.

Such a warm and friendly neighborhood wine shop. April, the owner, really enjoys introducing you to green, sustainable wines from all over the world and will help you find wines within your budget for every occassion. When my daughter received her doctorate from UNC, April helped me choose a variety of wines for her graduation party. All of the wines were a hit and well within my budget. Same daughter is about to get married and I totally trust April to help me choose a variety of bubbly bottles to celebrate the occassion without breaking the bank. Attended a movie night at the store tonight and I must say it was so laid back and enjoyable that I almost hate to let others into the secret of what a fun, affordable evening you can have if you sign up to receive the Sip. a Wine Store newsletter. I am a huge fan and I have benefitted from reviews of places on Unilocal and would like to share so take my advice and check out Sip… a Wine Store, you will enjoy it. Love, Miss Mary in Cary

Good people, good wine, good times :)

I find this one a little hard to review. I’m not a wine person, so a huge number of the features are lost on me. I think I like the idea of this place more than my experience would entail, but there are some really cool features.
I went there for beer. They’re focused on locally sourced and organic beer. The selection is actually quite small. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 – 75 bottles, based on my guesstimate. Most of what they have is fairly easy to find around town, but I did come away with a couple gems.
They do recycling, mostly with local artists and craft folks — they take corks and bottle caps, which is really nice to have something better to do with them than throw them away.
There’e a little bar in the back where they serve wine, have quite a few wines, and a whole bunch of tables. I’m not sure what all that’s for, but it looks like they have a lot of cool features. Interesting place.

Love them, and not just because they sponsored a fundraising recital I sang in! We sampled incredible wines and just talked for hours one night. The most gracious hosts ;)

Sip. a wine store is a small, independently owned eco-​friendly wine shop located in the Preston area of Cary, near the Panera Bread and Ginza. You have heard of red wine and white wine of course, but green wine? Well the wine isn’t actually green silly, but the philosophy behind Sip… a wine store certainly is. This information on their website describes their philosophy better than I can.
. Needless to say Al Gore would be happier than a witch in a broom factory at this place.
I have visited Sip… a wine store several times to attend one of their wine educational classes they offer. These classes are small and in and in an intimate setting making them a great way to learn about various wines, while getting familiar with «technical» terms such as tannins, acidity and biodynamic. Don’t know about you but these aren’t terms that I throw around on a daily basis. In addition to the wine tasting and information taught by a qualified instructor, they serve food at the classes and it is pretty good wine tasting food too (Prosciutto, cheese and crackers, meatballs, nuts, and mushrooms).
I have purchased several bottles of wine after the wine tasting classes and have been quite pleased with my purchase each time. You are typically going to pay more here than wine at the grocery store or Total Wine (depending on the type of wine), but I think it is worth it, at least on occasion. I also really like the effort April, one of the owners puts into marketing her store with the website, an email newsletter, Twitter and Facebook. Being that they are a small independently owned wine shop, they really need to make the public aware of their events and through Social Media are doing a great job with this.
Wine classes + quality organic wine + savvy small locally owned business = a real winner to me!

Sip… a Wine Store is great. They have wonderful, eco-​friendly wines and wine tastings that are homey and fact-​filled at the same time! I’m still scratching my head at that combo! I always enjoy going there. I haven’t ever left empty-​handed, much to my wallet’s chagrin. If you can, buy a discount wine class voucher from the various web-​based coupon vendors. They are really a great bargain and you get generous pours paired with delicious cheeses, meats, and fruits. The only drawback is that the wines here are a bit more expensive, but truly are worth it. I don’t typically shell out $ 25 for a bottle, but have a few times here. For special occaisons this wine rocks my world! So glad to have a store like this nearby.

Too many people who like wine are stuck in the supermarket «wine ghetto», buying the same wines over and over, industrial «product» made by the millions of cases. There are so many wines available, so many grapes, so many styles, from so many places, that you could never try them all, and they are always changing.
Sip is the perfect place to find a buffet of wines you will never see anywhere else, carefully selected for you like a good librarian can recommend a book or a good DJ can pick out just the right song.
And as a bonus, they feature artwork and often live music, for a complete aesthetic experience. No, I don’t work there, I just love the place. In a world overrun with bland franchises, it is a truly unique store.

Eco Friendly Shop Featuring Organic, Biodynamic, Sustainable, and Carbon Neutral Wine and Beer
Visit: July 7
Last Saturday, Andy and I attended a wine class, Pairing Wine With Food, at SIP. This was our first visit to SIP; however, I had the opportunity to meet April, the owner of SIP, at a Snob Free Wine Meetup in-​home event in March 2011. At the Snob Free Wine event, April introduced us to 7 dessert wines. The participants brought different kinds of desserts and other finger foods that April recommended. She had us pair the wines with various desserts. April suggested we taste a Sauternes (Château Roumieu-​Lacoste 2007) from Bordeaux with a lemon tart as well as a savory food, cured rosemary ham and brie. Both food choices paired extremely well with the sweet wine. I was surprised that a lemony treat would go with the wine and I was even more astonished that a creamy and salty food complimented the dessert wine. Very interesting! I was impressed with April’s extensive knowledge of wine and the art and science of food pairing. I learned a lot from this tasting event and had a great time.
Over the last year, I’ve seen numerous wine classes at SIP that many of the Snob Free Wine meetup members have attended and highly rated the classes. So I decided I needed to check out a class. I was particularly interested in the Wine and Food Pairing class after partaking in the Dessert Wine Pairing social. Since my husband and I frequently get lost when visiting Cary even with a Garmin Nuvi, we left plenty of time to find SIP. We ended up arriving about 20 minutes early. Are we too early? NO! It was a good thing we showed up early because the line to register was practically out the door. It was a full class and almost everyone had arrived at least 15 minutes before the start of class. There was one couple that came late and April held the class for them. Well, it was kind to the tardy people but rude to every one else that made it on time or early. While waiting, I had a chance to peruse the small shop, which has a very homey and welcoming feeling. April mentioned that she wanted her work place to be an extension of her home and when she designed the shop over 2 years ago that the majority of the materials were purchased from Habitat for Humanity. Andy and I sat at the bar made from reclaimed wood. There are blackboards with the definitions of biodynamic and organic and a lot of information about the addition of sulfites. April organized her selection of wine by grape varietals. I went to check out my favorite section labeled Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petite Sirah. I was so excited to find my favorite Zin produced by Gamba. I’ve been a member of the Gamba wine club for over 5 years and their Zins are truly stellar: complex, incredibly jammy, spicy aromas, lots of black fruit notes on the nose and palate, smooth rich tannins with a long finish. Gamba utilizes labor intensive, traditional hand farming techniques that are also organic. April also offered T-​Vine Petite Sirah, which is also amazing and I snagged the last bottle on the shelf. I saw a few more labels I recognized and a few I’m unfamiliar with. I’m anxious to try the ones I don’t know based on the labels I do know.
April partnered with Mary Margaret from the Clever Vine to teach the Wine and Food Pairing class. Mary Margaret is a wine consultant and instructor at The Chef’s Academy. This class was phenomenal. I really liked the 7 wines we tasted and only 2 of the 7 were priced above $ 20 (but less than $ 30) while the other 5 wines were less than $ 20. Very affordable. April offered a discount for the wines we tasted. Nice! What really made this class special was the food pairings and the information April and Mary Margaret shared with us. I don’t want to give away too much of the class but one of the ideas they taught was to pair ‘like things’ such as «acidic with acidic». For example, goat cheese is acidic but also creamy. So a complimentary wine should also be acidic such as a sauvignon blanc which paired better with the goat cheese than the chardonnay.
So if you wish to learn more about wine, I would recommend one of the wine classes taught at SIP. I also recommend SIP for wine particularly if you are in search of some quality organic wines.

I purchased an Amazon Local deal for a wine class here, so my husband and I decided to go to the french wine class last night. Regularly $ 30 per person (or $ 20 if you are in the wine of the month club), it was $ 15 each for us.
This was my first time going to the shop and I have to say the space was really cool. It was smaller than I expected, but it was very cozy and comfortable with all of the personal touches such as the chalkboards with quotes posted all over the walls and lots of neat artwork displayed.
For our two-​hour wine class, we were seated at long family-​style tables at the back of the store. The class was completely booked up so there wasn’t an empty seat in the place. We started out with a bunch of appetizers to munch on like cheese and crackers and white bean dip and a sample pouring of one of their french white wines they were featuring.
As more people started to arrive, Kelly, a sales rep for the distributor, began to discuss the wine we were drinking. It was clear to everyone that Kelly was really nervous, so April, the shop’s owner, took over and it was obvious that she was very knowledgable about all of the wines they were featuring and the region these wines were from.
As the night progressed, we got to sample two more whites and four reds. We also had some really tasty food served that paired well with each of the wines presented: an asparagus and goat cheese salad, figs, a variety of local sausages and a goat cheese and mushroom with truffle oil spread. All of the food was very good and definitely fit with the french wines. I enjoyed many of the wines, but not all of the wines we sampled would be some that I would try again. However, I really enjoyed the variety presented and there was a 20% discount on all of the featured wines that night (which was much needed: two of the wines we sampled were regularly over $ 50 each).
Overall, I enjoyed the class, the only thing I may suggest for improvement was that there would be a little more information presented during the class. I definitely got my money’s worth with the food and the wine (we had the equivalent of about two full glasses of wine), however, I didn’t feel like I walked away with a much greater knowledge of the wine-​making process. However, at the beginning of the class, April said that the class would be presented at an intermediate level, so this may have just gone over my head, since I don’t have much knowledge on «good» wine to start with. I am not sure that I would pay the full $ 30 for another class, but I really enjoyed this one for what we did pay.
The store also has a great variety of some rare and hard to find beers. We browsed around the store and checked out the beers afterwards and saw that they had a Dogfish we had never seen before, not even at the brewery.
I would be glad to support this business if I was looking to buy a unique bottle of wine. Prices on wine are all very reasonable and it’s always nice to support local shops.

Sip is a very nice Wine store with a nice selection and a very knowledgeable staff. Have a question and get it answered. The prices are very reason. reasonable and I always leave with more than what I went for. I always enjoy my trip to Sip!

The owner is super friendly and is always there. The events sound fun and generous, but I’ve never had the opportunity to go.
I’ve done a tasting and walked away with a few bottles.
Don’t come here looking for a deal on a big-​name label. They specialize in vineyards that practice green and sustainable policies.
But, I come here for the beer!
They have Pisgah Brewing, the only store in RTP to offer this beer from the Asheville area.
They also have a nice selection of the harder to find DogfishHead bottles and some other funky stuff like the ‘goat beer from france.’ That’s not it’s name, but once you see the bottle, you’ll know what I’m talking about. I don’t come here often, but more when I want to treat myself.
The newsletter lets me know when the good stuff rolls in!
Make sure they’re open before you trek over, I’ve tried to go on a Monday once or twice only to have been stung. That’s on me though, not Sip.

… a wine store. This does not do justice to the little shop in Cary that not only has a large selection of all organic, sustainable, natural wines, but also follows this philosophy with their impressive beer selections.
Tastings at Sip are always a pleasant array of wines, even though the owners favorite is Pinot Noir, you’ll get a healthy pour of a variety of wines when tasting time comes around. One tasting that the hubby and I enjoyed was pre-Valentine’s day and the wines were perfectly paired with local artisan chocolates. We left that night with a bottle from the tasting, a bottle we have had many times and love, and a box of chocolates!
Sip is also featuring their selection of libations at some local beer and wine dinners. We were lucky enough to participate in the dinner at Martin’s Curry Rice. German wine paired with full flavored Indian cuisine has probably never been done before and will likely not be repeated in such tasty fashion!

I read about Sip in the Indy and thought it might be worth the trip to Cary just to check it out. Turns out I was right, a trip to Sip is definitely worth the drive from our home in Carrboro.
The owner, was super helpful, and the wines we tasted were all delicious. I had a specific request– wines with no added sulfites, and she pointed me to some wonderful options. I wish that more of the wines had tasting notes and descriptions, and I hope that little things like this will come in time for this new business.
But the thing about Sip that stands out the most to me is the way the entire store, everything from the product to the fixtures to the way they package your bottles, is mission-​driven. A lot of thought went in to everything about Sip, and as a consumer who puts a lot of into what I buy, I really appreciate that.

Really innovative idea that fills a niche in the local wine/​beer scene. Sip is locally owned by a super nice family and all the products are organic, biodynamic, or sustainable. Almost all the wines were on the low end of pricing ($ 8 – 20) and spanned a range of wine varieties. We even found a bottle of wine from a vineyard that we visited while in Greece, neato! The organic beer options were diverse as well with good finds, but not quite as large as the wine selection.
I really liked the back tasting table where you could try complimentary small pours of wines that are being featured. Even better, full pours were available for a pretty sweet deal too. Nothing like drinking wine while picking out more wine! When checking out with a couple bottles we picked out, the cashier threw in a free wine tote and the two glasses we had been tasting with. I think we get a discount if we bring both back the next time we return (the owner really takes recycling to heart).
Definitely stop by and enjoy some hard to find wine/​beer from a local crew.
FYI: I read a study the other day that said that organic wines consistently get better scores in blind taste tests than traditionally produced wine. I would have to agree.

A new wine shop in Cary just opened its doors the first of May, and it’s already won me over. I love the owner’s passion for all things sustainable, and her impressive wine knowledge (helped me pick out the perfect bottle of wine for a house warming, and gift wrapped it for free too).
This wine store describes itself as «an eco-​friendly store that sells Organic, Biodynamic, Sustainable, and Carbon Neutral wine, beer, and non-​alcoholics.» When you visit the store, you’ll find a spot to drop off your corks for recycling, furnishings that the owners have «repurposed» into tables and cabinetry that sets the store’s sustainable «vibe». It’s an infectious «vibe» that inspires you to do more to be «green». I walked away with a free tasting glass and wine tote on my first visit. The owner encourages you to bring your own tasting glass (cuts back on the disposible tasting cups they give you at some larger retail stores).
However, it is a wine shop after all, and there’s no shortage of a selection of either wines or beer (even a gluten free option), as well as non-​alcoholic fizzies to quench your thirst. The wine starts around the $ 8 – 9 mark and up, entry level to the more high-​end wines — a little something for all tastes and budgets.
There are free tastings — check the store’s website for tasting details as they are scheduled.
In short, a great new wine shop on the Cary scene, not to be missed!