Cabernet & Company

This is the best wine shop around. They always have the best recommendations for wine pairings and for gifts. I highly recommend this as a regular stop for your weekly purchases.

This is, hands down, the best little wine store around. Alixe, the owner, is so nice and unpretentious, she’ll make you feel comfortable even if you don’t know a merlot from a Montepulciano.
The shop is small, as one would expect, but the selections are fantastic. I mean, you literally cannot go wrong with anything you purchase here. Also, Alixe usually has a couple of bottles of something open and she’ll most likely offer to let you taste whatever it is. But perhaps the best thing about this place, aside from Alixe, are its selections of wines under $ 20/​bottle. They do such a great job of keeping stuff in stock that’s really tasty yet doesn’t seem to require a special occasion for popping the cork.
Finally, if you buy a case (or more) they will give you a 10% discount off your entire purchase — better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, I’d say.
I love this place and I try to frequent it as much as possible. If you live in the area, you should too.

I love this little wine shop.
Located in downtown Glen Ellyn, it is often a stop when I am wandering around downtown. Alixe is super friendly and helpful with any wine selections or questions that I may have and I have recently joined the wine of the month club. Which I love getting my wine surprise every month!

You will feel so cool for «discovering» this place. They’ve been in Glen Ellyn for what seems like forever, and it honestly feels very old-​timey… like you’re in the stacks of a library in a retired professor’s mansion except the library houses wine instead of books. Seriously, it’s just like that. And there are cats! But seriously, folks, the owner is outstanding and obviously very knowledgeable… you can tell that this place has been her life since the store’s inception (what, 15 years ago?) and that she loves it. And you don’t even need to be a wine snob… this place has it all, but without pretension. Even if a bottle costs 78 cents less at Binny’s… I mean, come on. The experience is so worth it. And did I mention there are cats???

Cabernet & Company is a locally owned and operated specialty wine store which excels in customer service and inventories hundreds of unique varieties. This store has been in business located in downtown Glen Ellyn for almost 20 years and remains the owner’s passion — not hobby. One can be an aspiring sommelier or complete novice and the staff will find a wine selection to satisfy your taste and price point. As already written in other reviews the main attraction is the bi-​annual «Wine Thing» event. Usually scheduled in March and November, just bring $ 5 and yourself for an opportunity to taste 100+ selections. All wines at the event are available for purchase at an escalating discount (the more you buy the more savings). Several more intimate events are also scheduled year-​round which are communicated via newsletters. For an experience with a personal touch this is your wine merchant.
Don’t forget about the beer in the back of the store… a nice selection of imports and micros from around the globe!
PS: make sure to pet Ernest & Julio on your way out :)

We love this little wine store in Glen Ellyn. They always have an excellent selection of wines that changes over time with new bottles coming in every so often. The staff/​owners are always incredibly friendly and helpful with making purchase decisions and we’ve discovered a couple of brands there that have become serious favorites of ours.
Perhaps our favorite part of this store is the two cats (I think their names are Ernest & Julio) who are always laying around the store and greeting you as you enter and leave. They are both very friendly cats who don’t mind you petting them while you’re checking out at the register. It just makes buying wine more personable and fun.

The rating hasn’t changed, but I must report on their annual Wine Thing event, which was this past Sunday.
It’s a fantastic event, and pretty popular. It works like this: They have about 100 wines set up to taste in a semi-​circle around the store. A woman at the door checked our IDs, took our $ 5, and gave us a list of wines at each station. Everything being tasted was on sale for the day — a minimum of 5% off with bigger discounts for larger quantities, up to 24% off. And then we were handed our «Wine Thing» wine glass (not to keep, alas) and a small bag of pretzels and headed in.
This is not a huge store, so it was pretty crowded. But the people pouring the wines were as friendly and helpful as they could be, given the circumstances. And everyone was nice enough about letting people by, lubed up with good wine.
Still, we had to emerge from the crowd every so often to get a little fresh air.
But besides simply having more space for this event — or maybe doing timed tickets or something? — it’s a GREAT way to taste a ton of wines from knowledgeable people and find a new favorite or two. :)

I have been on the mailing list of this place for nearly four years without ever actually setting foot in the store. What took me so long?!! Finally made it to a tasting with 2 girlfriends. The owners Alixe & Jim are super friendly and personally select every bottle of wine featured in their store – which means there are ALOT of great choices. There are wines from all different regions and of many varietals and prices. And (side note) they also have the friendliest store cats Ernest and Gallo! The tasting tonight was free (some of their tastings are a small fee-​depends on the event and if a winery rep is doing the tasting) and featured 5 wines from 4 different labels. It’s a bit of a drive from the city but I would recommend joining their email list, putting aside any preconceived ideas about Glen Ellyn, and penning in the next tasting. Support small business and look this place up next time you need special occasion wines or a wine gift basket for that hard-​to-​shop-​for person. They even have a wine of the month club if you’re into that.