Vin De Pays is a wine shop that any wine drinker in Southern California should be aware of, from novices to the more serious connisieur. The philosophy of Vin De Pays is to sell great and good wines for less than $15 a bottle. So, if your tastebuds have graduated from two buck Chuck but your wallet hasn't, this is the place for you. There are plenty of fine wines here, some as cheap as $3-5. If you are willing and able to spend more, the store always has an astonishing selection of wines for much less than you would pay somewhere else.
The wines available cover all regions of the world and the US, but there is a particular emphasis on wines from France. Because the store is relatively small, they are able to get great deals on odd lots of wine, and sometimes you will get, say, a premier cru Bordeaux for $15 dollars there that would cost $40 under normal circumstances. A distributor who has wants to get rid of the last couple of cases of a particular wine from his warehouse will sell them to Tom (who runs the store) at a steep discount, and because it is a small operation he can turn a profit on it, whereas it might not be worth the effort for a larger business.
Vin De Pays also sells a selection of artisinal cheeses and meats and holds tastings throughout the week. The tastings are fun and a pretty good value for $10 or so. You usually get eight or nine themed wines (wines of Oregon, Spain, etc) for that price.
more