Many of you have wondered why we are closed on Monday, others wonder how we choose the wines for our small shop.

The answer is basically the same — we are working choosing the wines we offer to you. In addition to the distributor’s representatives that stop by the shop Wednesday through Friday with anywhere from 5-10 sample bottles open, most Monday’s (especially in the fall and spring) distributors have large trade tastings – and we are there to swirl, sniff, sip and spit. It’s a hard job, but someone has to make sure you are getting the best quality and the best price.

Fall is always a crazy time for trade tastings, sometime three scheduled at the same time across the city – like today.

To give you an idea the first tasting of the day had 45 bottles open, the second, a whopping 235, the third, another 35. You really do have to SPIT!

But, there are some perks – there are some snacks to cleanse our palate.

Madrona Wine Merchants offers free wine tastings featuring 4-5 selections on a theme every Saturday from 2 until the bottles run out and on Sunday we offer a mini-tasting of two wines all day from 11-5.