Professor Rapp has previously mentioned K&L in class, and I wanted to write a bit more about it because it's a store I went to a few times in San Francisco and was consistently impressed by its quality.
First, I was surprised by their selection of older-vintage wines at affordable prices, particularly for Bordeaux and certain Napa cabs. I previously thought drinking older wine was only for fancy people -- those who purchased wine at auction, or stored vintages themselves for a long time. If you're interested in trying out older wine, K&L seems like a good place to start.
Second, I was impressed by the selection and quality of champagnes K&L offered. I previously thought that drinking "nice" champagne meant paying a lot for a brand like Dom Perignon or Crystal, but K&L seems to offer many interesting vintage champagnes for a lot cheaper than those brands.
Third, I felt that there was a strong commitment to wine education at the store. Rather than being consistently upsold on product, salespeople I've interacted with consistently steered me to wines both slightly below and slightly above my initial price point, and helped me discover interesting new regions and varietals. They also offer wine storage on-site, for folks who may not have enough space, or the right conditions, to store wine in the Bay Area.
Fourth, although K&L only has physical stores in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, they offer a pretty well-designed website and affordable shipping rates to customers in other areas. I'd be curious what their split of wine sales is between online and in-store.
Two other interesting tidbits about wine shipping: first, the USPS will not ship alcohol under any circumstances, so K&L only uses FedEx and UPS. Second, it is a little more expensive to ship champagne with K&L than other types of wine (about $0.50/bottle or $6/case). I'm not sure whether this has to do with the size/shape of champagne bottles, or the conditions needed to properly ship champagne -- this may be the topic of the next blog post!
Very helpful - thanks for sharing with us, Robert! I just spent the past hour checking out K&L's website and will definitely make a visit to its physical store as well. You should charge K&L a fee for a great customer testimonial :-)
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