The Wine Guy

Clean, spacious store. They have many options and I had a pleasant experience shopping here.

At first I had liked this place. My 50^th birthday is coming up and I needed buy a decent amount of liquor and wine. I decided to drive out a good 40 minutes because I had liked the prices and sales that they had. My first trip went well with me buying around 12 cases or more of liquor and wine which cost $ 1874 but it was reasonable. My second trip however is when everything went wrong. I had picked up a few more bottles of liquor for my 50^th birthday but when I went to pay, they said that I could not purchase it. The person at the register and the assistant manager were not very helpful in explaining why I could not purchase these items. when the assistant manager went to call the manager, the manager had stated that we were doing something illegal and to not sell them anything under any circumstances. The manager went as far as to tell the assistant manager to take photographs of my license plate and license and to report me to the police or some organization which I can’t recall. luckily the assistant manager had some brains and decide that that wouldn’t be smart. What made me mad is the fact that I was wrongfully accused of doing illegal activities in front of everybody which I’m not. I even pulled out my birthday invitation and showed the assistant manager. Also, the manager didn’t even talk to us personally and left us wondering what was going on. this leaves the questions of why did they sell me the stuff in the first place? Also it was completely unprofessional for the manager to leave the assistant manager struggling to explain things to me. Finally the people at wineguys are generally nice but extremely ignorant. I believe that I should at least get an apology for being wrongfully accused of doing something illegal. Sure, go to this place if you want a bottle. if you want to get more than one, you’ll probably get accused of doing illegal things and not allowed to shop there anymore without a proper reason and without the managers help.

DO NOT SHOP HERE !!! Store is currently shut down by the New York State Liquor Authority for illegal Practices. They claim they are on Vacation!!! The Owner had 3 locations (illegal in NY) and was warned regarding this and ignored them. Well they came down hard on him. They permanently shut down his other 2 locations Carry All in Mt Sinai and Bottle Blowout in E Setauket and fined The Wine Guy $ 50,000 and suspended his license.
Watch the Hearing live

This place is like Disney Land for drinkers. Knowledgeable staff, enormous selection of everything from craft whiskey to absinthe. Love it!!!

Simply the absolute best Prices on Wine and Liquor in Suffolk, and probably Nassau. The person that chooses their wine selection has been upping his game (I think it is the young bearded guy that always says hello to me) over the past two years or so, and I can’t get out of this store without spending a couple hundred.
Not good for the wallet, but the wine selection here, at ANY PRICE POINT is unbeatable.
I also really enjoy the fact that they list the wine points/​ratings from various different publications directly below the display bottle.
You can go absolutely NUTS in this store and just MELT YOUR CREDIT CARD, but having an awesome experience both buying and drinking the wine is what this is all about.
LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO DRINK CHEAP WINE!

Spent thousands of dollars here over the last couple of years. I buy 4 – 5 bottles of wine a week plus the occasional bottle of liquor. Found out the owner could care less. Won’t find me spending a dollar here anymore.

Experienced very unfriendly customer service. Prices are much higher online than in store as well as in the paper. Example:the ad in the NYPOST today December 12,2014.When asked to speak with the manager, Tom, a person I finally spoke with I was told prices are different, they do not take phone orders and they he hung up on me. VERY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE!

This wine store has a great selection of wine & spirits. The prices are really good and the staff is quite knowledgeable and very helpful! Parking has never been an issue and I have been here on several occasions. This place will continue to be my go to spot!

Wow. Solid selection of wines for what must be criminal prices. They’re always $ 3-​$ 4 cheaper per bottle on wine. They also have great deals like 3 for $ 10. Liquor selection is great too. Sign up for email, each week they’ve got great specials!

If I didn’t live so close to the LI Wine Merchant, this would probably be my go to spot for wine and liquor. This place looks decievingly small from the outside front, but upon walking in one would blown away at the size and inventory The Wine Guy has.
Some of the reviewers point out that they find the disbursement of the wines confusing or not aligned by «regions». Sort of the everything thrown together. This actually done on purpose as explained to me by one of the employees as I too found it a little odd. Apparently, according to store’s philosphy, this encourages interaction and dialogue between their knowledgable staff and it’s customers. Weather or not this is a working strategy… who knows?
Wine selections and varieties are pretty good. Their hard liquor and mixer section is even better. Prices are about as competetive as «Bottle Bargains» and the like. One reason I will drive an extra mile to come here is for their own Bordeaux-​style blended wine, «The Wine Guy». Priced at $ 5.99 this drinks like $ 20.00 botlle of wine. seriously smooth finish!
Frequent wine and liquor tasting, so get on their mailing list and join their «Super Saver Club». Highly recommend!

I know a guy?! More like you better know a guy who knows how to navigate around this place. its a mess.
Its more of a big cluster muck, placed on shelves by someone who only sees a bottle of red so put all the reds to one side of the store.
The type of wine purchaser I am is, I’ll buy one regional bottle of something I know is good and one bottle of something that was suggested. They don’t have that «someone» here, its more like look at the displays and hope there suggestion is a good one. They also have a few «value» bins in the front that I thought was a good deal. To the far right of the store are bottles of common Rums/​Tequlas/​Gins/​Mud Slide mixes, etc.
I did sign up for the Supersaver card, something I recommend before the holidays.
The TV commercial brought me to this store, its hit or miss with me. Big selection, big parking lot, just be ready to search for good wines.

Quick tips: Join their «Super Saver» club (free) because they’ll occasionally email you info about pretty decent sales and tasting events. Also, ASK one of the helpful employees for help finding stuff in this place; it’s a big store, and (as others have mentioned) can be a bit confusing as to where stuff may be.
While my tastes run more towards the hoppy-​end of the alcohol spectrum, I do find myself in need of some grapey goodness from time to time. I’m an admitted dilettante concerning wine, but I do know I like Cabernet Franc (I know, it’s not as complex as them thar other grapes — but I’m a simple man) and have a hard time finding it at most of the small stores around my area. Wine Guy was able to provide me with it from Raphael, as well as give me the names of a few from out in Cali that I should check out.
Now to just find a spot that sells decent ice-​wine…

Everyone raves about prices and they are NOT that great. Selection is ok, but I’ve seen much much better. Parking is total nightmare! I’d shop somewhere else, not worth the hype

A decent choice for wine and liquor on the North Shore. This certainly isn’t an upscale boutique or wine connoisseurs dream but it will certainly do the job. With an OK variety, decent prices and convenient location The Wine Guy is a good choice to stop and stock up.
Sure, they could use a lesson in organization and things aren’t in their perfect place, but it’s still semi-​organized and you can find what you’re looking for with relative ease. The wines are somewhat organized by country on the outer fringes of the store with an assortment of «values and sales» in the middle of the store. The liquor is located on one side of the store everything from Popov to Johnnie Walker Blue Label.
If you’re in the area it’s a pretty good place to stop, but it’s certainly not worth traveling out of your way for.

Since moving to Smithtown, I quickly discovered The Wine Guy. Since then it has soon become the only liquor store I frequent. They have great low prices and offer many tastings. I cannot speak on the wine selection, though it is quite vast, I am not very knowledgeable in that field. They have a pretty good selection of liquor and the prices are the lowest I have seen in a store. The floor staff are pretty knowledgeable and friendly, quickly offering advice and answering questions. The store is clean and well kept and that is a mark that management takes pride in their work. It only loses one star for lack of selection in the liquor department. They could offer more there. A few more vodkas and rums.

Wine.
I have to admit, I had high hopes for this place. The Wine Guy is well known in the area and I have heard from more than one person that this is the go-​to place for all things wine related. My answer to that is: Not so much.
I can be a wine snob when required, but in fact I know quite a bit about wines. I also know what I am looking for and this place just did not seem to be able to deliver. There is practically zero organization to the wines… You wander around and although there are plenty of shelves, they *seem* to run in country of origin groupings; but then you find unexpected bottles and varieties in the mix.
The people working there seemingly know where things are though, which is fine if you are just looking for the basic trifecta of wines: Cab, Merlot and Pinot Grigio, but anything deeper than that is like an Easter egg hunt.
I was specifically looking for some Portuguese wines, and although I know that they are hard to find outside of Mineola, NY, I did expect more than two bottles from that region– and would it kill them to at least put the two that they had maybe close to the few Spanish reds? Huh? Why would you mix them in with the California stuff?
Speaking of the California stuff, that seems to be the predominate offering there. Shelf after shelf of Cali wines, great. Some Aussie stuff, the Italians and French were represented and that was about all I could find. I guess I could be thankful that the Long Island crap wasn’t all over the place, but still the French & Italian sections were a joke.
The other reviewers on here who claim that this is the best place for wine, simply have never been to a proper wine store. If you are looking for the basics, no problem — anything deeper, good luck.
Aside from the offerings, the staff is helpful (at least in telling you what they do not carry) and the place is large and well lit. I bought a bottle just out of curiosity and headed on out. Mineola here I come!
Parking in the rear.

Great variety of wine, easy access, very large store. A lot of staff to help you out, not sure how knowledgeable they are but there are lots of them. Great prices and discount program if you get the store card.

This place is a joke. All seconds or closeouts that the rest of the wine shops and restaurants don’t buy because they gone bad don’t be a sucker no vintages or variety of them. All wines. And staff has no idea about wines

The FTR from PJ pretty much says it all, but I will add a little:
Inventory-​wise, this place is massive and carries a big selection. For the size, they are a little thin on LI regional wines, but they local stuff they do carry is at a fantastic price point. They really only carry the latest vintages from their global supply, so if you’re looking for an ’05 or an ’07 but the latest vintage is ’09, you’ll be stuck with the ’09!
They have so many great values here that I don’t think I’ve ever left this store with anything less than 4 bottles of wine. If they can find a way to wriggle in a vintner’s catalog of some premium select vintages, they will get that extra star from me.

This is the BEST place to buy wine and any type of liquors. Prices cannot be beat anywhere, they are the cheapest around. None of the local liquors stores come close to their inventory and prices. Plus the staff is so accommodating. Very helpful and makes good suggestions. No wonder there is always a line at the counter!