K & L Wine Merchants

Great selection of wine at great prices! Just recently picked up half a dozen including Inglenook «Cask», Leviathan Red Blend, Goldeneye Pinot, Nickel & Nickel «CC Ranch» Rutherford, Chappellet «Signature» Cab (K&L’s Top Pick), as well as their own brand Kalinda’s Yountville Cab. The staff are knowledgeable and well-​versed, they really know their stuff well. I enjoy reading about the «Staff’s Picks», «Customers Top 10 Favs» and sometimes make my decisions/​purchase (s) based on their recommendations. The only downside that I could think of is I tend to overspend whenever I go to K&L. There are times when I only planned to buy one or two bottles, but ended up leaving with more bottles, how’d that happen?! All the bottles on the shelves just look way too tempting, oh my!!!
***One last tip, if you want to buy wine gift bags (only @ $ 1.99), make sure you grab some at K&L because the price is definitely cheaper but of high quality and cool designs, very happy I scored several from my last trip, cheers. :)

I am mostly a beer drinker and I order Pliny the Elder when it comes in but the catch is I have to order it online per their instructions. I placed my order only to get an email a couple hours later that they were canceling my order due to the fact there was an error on their side. Instead of taking care of the customer, they backed it out with a sorry and no, «We’ll fulfill the order when the next order comes in next week».

K & L wine store is a quaint shop in Menlo Park. Friendly staff and good selections. My husband and I tried their Italian wine tasting. It was nice. Server was very knowledgable. We were disappointed in K & L’s tasting room. There were wine boxes as you entered the room and a simple table structure to stand next to. They had wonderful framed pictures of wine regions, but they where on the floor instead of being on the wall. The wine spitting barrel in the center of the room was not appealing to hear nor look at! Needless to say, the décor did not add to the experience.

Was gifted wine as a wedding present and after a failed delivery attempt the company had the merchandise returned to them and requested I pay for reshipping. I had to initiate all the correspondence with them and after respectively sharing my perspective they didn’t offer so much as an apology for all the hoops I had to jump through. Will never use their online ordering for gifts

Great customer service.
I mail ordered some yamazaki 12 year whiskey from them to be held at their store. Then I got really busy for a long time, moved to LA, and forgot about it. A year later I remembered when I was visiting the Bay Area, and they still had it waiting in the back for me. didn’t even make fun of me for it. :)

Very cool wine/​spirits place. Wines from around the world at your reach. The staff is always helpful, and confident about their knowledge if you want/​need to try something new.
Every time I want to experience a new bottle, I check in here to get as much info for my stash at home.
It’s always a plus to visit K/​L!

Though small relative to the rest of the store, which is filled with wine, this place has a fantastic beer selection. I just wish it was closer to home!

While it’s not the cheapest, this is the liquor store to go to if you want to find quality wines and spirits which you might not find elsewhere.
The staff are extremely knowledgeable.

I wondered why we would drive so much out of our way to get to this store instead of trying to find the product we needed somewhere closer or possibly order online… Now I understand why people visit this store, it’s absolutely AMAZING! The employees are super friendly, professional and extremely knowledgeable about their products. Even though it took us 35 minutes to get here from our house, we able to make it in right before closing and it was well worth the drive. I am really excited to go back when we have more time and can make it there earlier than just 15 minutes before the store closes. They really have a great inventory of wines and spirits and are happy to answer any questions you may have as well as give you suggestions!

K&L is like the grown up, fancy version of BevMo. We came here because we wanted to pick up a bottle of whiskey that we couldn’t find anywhere else. We were surprised that they had a huge selection of anything and everything that you would like to drink. Not only having a huge selection of wine, they also have a huge selection of craft beers. We came only wanting to buy one bottle of whiskey but the selection made it hard to leave with just one thing so we left with 4 items.

when I was first introduced to this place I thought that it would be very overpriced and not for me. I usually pick up my wine at Costco and at Safeway on sale… so I was a little skeptical that I could get good wine at good prices here. I was surprised, their prices are very competitive. They also have a huge selection of scotch and bourbon, along with every other type of spirit and brews you could want. The biggest reason to go there is the people actually know what they are talking about. If you ask them about a wine, scotch, bourbon or they usually can tell you about it and they are usually right.
This is a great place, no BevMo or other place can match up to this place for variety an knowledge.

I had a friend who was leaving the country, so I requested to order a bottle of 30 year Balvenie. The first phone rep, Philip, put me on hold a several times telling me he’s checking with his supplier and promising to call back in an hour. I call an hour later, and I’m told he’s on the phone. I left a message and waited some more. Two hours go by and several more calls and nothing but forwards to voicemails. I finally get connected and ask for Philip and a different rep tells me he already left. Philip set a false expectation to call back and never did. Strike one.
I get a call the second day from Philip, and I was finally able to put in an order. I told Philip it was a time sensitive package and mentioned a friend of mine would come to pick it up (I was in another state), but I would be paying with my credit card. Everything goes through and Phillip tells me he’ll call when the package arrives on Tuesday. Tuesday 5pm rolls around and nothing. I call in and this new rep, Sal, picks up and proceeded to rudely tell me he has no clue and can’t help. What are all these corporate customer support reps doing if they can’t even do their job? Strike two.
I call back and request to speak with a manager regarding my experiences. I get forwarded to a manager. No answer (not a surprise at this point). I leave a message and the manager, Joel, calls back. The man apologizes with an insincere sorry (this guy is seriously the manager of customer relations? K&L needs a new CR manager), continues his arrogant tone of voice (sounds as if he already made millions and didn’t need my business), and proceeds to tell me more bad news. I need to be there in person to show my ID and credit card (this was several days after the payment was processed). I spoke with at least 5 different reps with K&L and NONE of them told me that I needed to be there in person. They even wrote down the name of my friend who was planning to pick up the bottle.
I was super pissed at this point but had no choice due to the time sensitivity of the gift. I asked my friend who was picking it up to pay first, and I’d reimburse him. Joel was super shady and said he needed my friend’s credit card information before he arrived at the store. We didn’t give it to him. Strike three.
Rude, arrogant, and incompetent employees/​upper management. False promises and terrible customer service.
I’ll be taking my future business to Beltramos or SF Wine Trading Co where they treat you with respect!

I live in NY and own a boutique wine shop. I needed a last minute fine bottle of wine for a birthday tonight in Foster City, too late to ship my own and was going to have my 85 year old mother who lives near K&L pick it up after I paid for it. When I first called this morning and spoke to a nice guy with an accent (Aussie?) he said no problem. Then after searching their site I found the bottle (that was in stock in that store) and called back. This time got a woman who told me that it would take 24 hours to handle it. I tried to get back to the guy but the only number K&L gives brings you back to that same woman who just kept droning on that they are too busy to take my $ 70 phone order and pull the bottle
In my shop I get regular calls from out of state people and we are grateful for the business… I’ll even run it over for free to the recipient if they live within 15 – 20 minutes of my shop. Since they are calling from out of state I’ll make an extra effort for them.
How damned busy are they that they can’t pull a bottle off the rack and take my credit card on the phone… nothing more?
Lousy attitude, no customer service… totally useless store! SHOP SMALL!!!

Great place, I was surprised to see it was a lot smaller than I thought it would be.
Most of their inventory is online, but at the store they have some great rare spirits, wines, and beers.
I was happy to see they had a bargain section for wine, with some great wines for around $ 15 or under.
I was able to get help from an associate there and pick out a really nice bottle of Mezcal for a B-​Day gift.
Will definitely be back to get some rare/​unique wines and spirits.

I love this place!
So much better than the other alcohol shops in the area — both small and corporate. I can’t believe I’ve lived in RWC so long and didn’t know about it.
Good:
–Better prices than even the corporate chains. I literally found out about this place by doing an internet search for best prices on a relatively rare bottle of spirits that I was sure I’d have to order online. To my surprise the very best price listed on the entire internet was this little olé shop a few blocks from my house. Awesome.
–Great integrated website that shows not only their current selection, but the number of bottles of a particular item at each location.
–Free shipping to the K&L closest to you if the item you’re looking for is in stock at another site.
–Great service. These people know booze. Fancy booze, hipster booze, but without the attitude or judgment.
–Great selection. Especially of wine, but I was pretty impressed with their spirits section as well. I actually managed to find a high quality bottle of absinthe here, and have a fun and educational conversation about absinthe and absinthe drink recipes with one of the employees.
This place is a hidden gem.

If you’re in Redwood city, then this is going to be the place where you buy your alcohol. They have wines from the four corners of the planet and they have a lot of it! I mean a lot!
Bought a bottle of French wine for a friend and I couldn’t be happier. They don’t have much in terms of the cheap stuff, but that’s OK. That’s what BevMo and Safeway are for.
The service here was impeccable. The guy with the big beard was very kind and patient after I asked him about Papy Van Winkle. Wasn’t laughed at or anything and he answered all our questions. This is a great place for all the alcoholic nuts. Wish it were a bit closer for me as I would come here much more often.

These guys go above and beyond to find great wine at many different levels for all consumers, as well as great spirits and beer too.
Their staff is knowledgable and the store is vast and clean.
Their website is something to behold as well, since it is updated in next-​to-​real-​time and you can set notifications to get emails whenever something comes in stock. This is great because they get one-​off bottles all the time. Love Silver Oak? Put it in your notification and any time they acquire a library that has a bottle, you will find out.
Prices are very competitive, but you do need to shop around. Sometimes they are $ 5 – 10 cheaper than the other games in town, sometimes more.
Great newsletters and plenty of info available as well.

Had to find a Château Lafite Rothschild a few weeks ago with only a few hours notice. After searching online at a few places locally in SD I couldn’t settle for an average vintage. This location had a 1990 on hand, one of the best vintages currently in peak maturity for under $ 1K.
Of course I was stoked so I flew in the next morning, drove a rental over from SFO and snagged it, and still made it to my Uncles house in time for 2 hrs of decanting before Super Bowl XLIX kickoff.
Since this wine is said to be at its best between 2014 and 2018, and critical acclaim had scores in the mid to high 90s, our expectations were high. The lady at the counter who bagged the bottle said they had just purchased a group of the vintage, from a private cellar, within the last few months. Whoever they bought em from must have laid these puppies down for a couple decades straight because the sips were firing on all cylinders. Tobacco… POW! Anise… BAM! Vanilla… SWOOSH! Not a flaw in one drop and the flavor, my God. It just got better and better with each passing hour.
I’d like to shake the hand of whoever stored that dilightful tank of amazingness because I’ve been disappointed with improperly kept bottles before, but this lil guy… was immaculate.
K&L came through in the clutch and I am very pleased that I could turn an unfortunate situation with my family into a night we will never forget. (Tear trickle)

This is the place. I could spend all day browsing the selection in here, and sure enough, every time we go, we buy way more than what we set out to buy. The staff is all so knowledgeable and friendly. Prices are on point. Would much rather shop here over Bevmo any day!

I love, love, love K&L. Not only is KL an amazing wine shop; it is also a great place for wine storage.
The wine buyers at KL are very hands on and knowledgeable. I’ve been to winery tasting rooms from Santa Barbara to Mendocino that have mentioned that a KL wine buyer had recently been in the tasting room. The various newsletters that KL publishes are extremely informative. I recently used the Santa Barbara county newsletter on a weekend trip south to help choose which tasting rooms that I would visit. Of course, the Insiders Advantage is a great way to find amazing wines at reasonable prices. I also set notifications on their website so that I am immediately notified via email when my favorite wines (Italian Amarone) are stocked. I could go on and on but you probably get the idea…
All of that said, my favorite thing about KL is my huge wine locker that is climate controlled in Redwood City. I have many wines that need to be aged for 5+ years before consumption. The locker at KL gives me peace of mind around storage conditions and also keeps the wines out of harms way when I am tempted to uncork a bottle just to see how the 2010 Cab’s are progressing.
I rarely buy wines from wineshops other than K&L.