Pete's Wines
Categories: Grocery, Beer, Wine & Spirits, Convenience Stores [Edit]
Neighborhood: Eastlake58 E Lynn St
Seattle, WA 98102 (206) 322-2660
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street, Private Lot
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
20 Reviews for Pete's Wines
Wine! Wine! Wine! Excellent wine in Eastlake. Oh, I meant to say "Yes! Yes! Yes!"
If you live in the area you already know about Pete's, so any review probably won't do much. But kudos to whomever decided to put so much excellent wine in a grocery store - just about every purchase, from a roll of duct tape to some lettuce to some cheese - pretty much has to be accompanied with a bottle or two of wine. That's my rule, but it's a good one.
The deli's a good treat when you just feel like something tasty and you're feeling a little too lazy to pick up the individual ingredients from Pete's to put together a sandwich at home.
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How To Buy Wine at Pete's When You Know Nothing About Wine:
1. Walk in.
2. Feel overwhelmed by all the choices.
3. Find an employee.
4. Tell them what you're looking for- price range, occasion, color.
5. Watch carefully as they confidently walk over and pull a bottle off the shelf of millions and hand it to you.
6. Purchase.
7. Enjoy.
8. Try to remember where the bottle came from for the next time you're stuck in this predicament.
Seriously. I walked in and said, "It's 6pm, I'm meeting three friends and going out on a boat and swimming on Lake Washington. I need a rose and some kind of white wine, and I don't want to spend more than $15/bottle." The dude helping me walked right over, grabbed several bottles, and said, "These should work", and sent me on my way. His choices were excellent and I've never been able to find them again.
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My landlord told us about this place while we were signing our lease. Little did we know exactly how cool this place is. It's small,l but packed with top notch ingestables (did I just invent a word?). We'd been in our new apt. in Eastlake about three weeks when we decided to check this place out. The week before was my birthday and I didn't enjoy myself as much as I'd hoped to. So, the following week When Sasha got a new job we had another reason to celebrate and I wasn't feeling sorry for myself so I could use my energy towards having a good time.
We walked for maybe 5 minutes and were there before I knew it. I knew when I walked in the door I was going to like this place. Sasha had already picked up two bottles of red the day before on an employee's recommendation. I found some really good cheese to go with our wine, some "very old gouda", rosemary goat cheese, and something else I can't remember. Anyway, they were all excellent, especially the gouda. So, we mulled about for maybe 20 minutes or so, give an "ooohh" here and an "aahhh" there. Also, I discovered they sell Bore's Head meat and will pick up my lunch meat from there regularly now. To make the night an occasion I decided that we should get a good bottle of champagne. I have somewhat of an affinity for Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label, and Sasha is well aware of this. Since it was really a celebration for Sasha, I told her to pick out the bottle and she picked out Veuve Clicquot Rose. God, I love her! That champagne was freakin awesome! And then we ate all the cheese and drank all the wine we had (there was a bottle of pinot gris in the fridge I'd been using to cook with, lol). It was an awesome evening, thanks to Pete's.
PS - We didn't have any champagne flutes and I was able to get a decent crystal pair for under $40.
I will admit that one of the dudes who works here is REALLY snarky. I just try to ignore him.
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
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02/01/2007
Yes, this store is too small to keep the wines organized and easy to find. I do like the selection… Read more »
$3 bottle of wine - yep. Feeling spendy...$200 bottle of wine - yep!
Need a smoke? Got those...Want to read a dirty magazine while drinking your PBR? They can hook you up! Ran out of saline solution for your contacts and the closest drug store is in the U-District...no worries - Pete's carries several different brands of saline solution. Candles,cookies,condoms, cold and flu pills, frozen food, fresh made sandwiches, "now serving fish", the sunday paper, toilet paper, mops, baking dishes, dog food, cat food, food that comes in handy when you just don't want to cook. Ice cream sandwiches.
Other shoppers include college students, businessmen, construction workers, people who make the drive just for the wine selection, the uppity bitchy woman (not me!), the schizophrenic who is concerned about the demons living in Eastlake, the houseboatters, guys who wear "boat shoes", hippies, hipsters, the nuclear family, and I think a prostitute...
Pete's has everything....
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Pete's doesn't look like much from the outside, but appearances are deceiving, aren't they? Inside you'll find a seriously impressive selection of wine at very reasonable prices.
Not sure exactly what you want, or interested in trying something new? No worries, they staff are very knowledgeable and their recommendations are always top notch.
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Nice little neighborhood market with great wine selection and deli. The 'sandwich of love' is great!
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Pete's gets 5 stars because I can buy a case of my favorite wine there at a decent price (or a gajillion other wines you wouldn't find in your typical dumb grocery store). The deli ain't bad either.
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When I die I want to go to Pete's. It is heaven. They have every wine you can think of. And the prices are low. There's always good sales. You can tell them your price cap and they'll throw five to ten selections at you. And they really know their stock.
I went in there the other day and I was like, "Uh, I was at a party last night and I had this great wine. Um, I drank a lot of it and now I can't remember what it's called. Something about a car. It's a blend. Um, yeah, it was good." The Pete's wine angel-dude was like, "Oh, you must mean Ferrari-Carano Sienna; it's right here..." I was like, "Uh, yeah, how did you do that???" He smiled. So did I.
Love the place. It's worth the trip to stock up and check out the houseboats nearby. Don't go when they're busy - like right when everyone gets off work - and expect them to spend a lot of time with you. If they are busy, hang out for a bit. It's worth the wait to get their recommendations.
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I really love the convenience of this little market. Half the store is food half is wine, it's spectacular!
The food is pretty competitively priced but a little on the high side, but that's what I usually expect from a neighborhood market. The wines are all across the board from affordable (I got a bottle of Woop Woop for $9! New favorite) to very pricey champagne. Poor man to rich tastes, everything is covered.
The people who work there are funny and helpful. The staff knows a ton about wine. There's a deli in the back too!
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Yeah, wine. Lots of it, good selection, good prices. Blah blah blah.
Oh, man, their deli. *drool*. I use to live 2 blocks away and was a full on addict. I still go out of my way to get a sammie from them. Fax it in, if you want to save yourself some time during the lunch rush.
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Go for the wine. Go for the great selection of Washington wine. Go for the great prices. Between Pete's and Esquin (dare I mention them here?!) most of my Washington wine needs are covered. Pete's has a great selection worth the trip and wonderful prices. Prices I dare say beat the competition. If you ask, you'll get a knowledgeable wine steward to help out and come away with some wonderful bottles. I even scored a Leonetti Merlot just by asking (it wasn't on the shelf) so don't be shy and ask for what's special in back.
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I love Pete's. I live a few blocks from here and frequent it a lot. The wine selection is amazing. Almost anybody who works in the store is incredibly knowledgeable about what you want. They have great sales on wines - I recommend trying new wines when on sale because they're usually quite good deals. The deli also has a good selection. Like always their "grocery store" type items can be a bit more pricey then if you went to a real store but that's not why you'd go to Pete's (unless you lived in the neighborhood and needed something quick). They do, however, have a good selection of random items should you find yourself in need of something when you come to buy wine or beer here.
Tip: in the beer aisle about halfway down the shelf with the beers they have a "single beer box." In the little area you'll find bottled beers that were separated from their packs usually for $1.09 or $1.19 each. It's the best way to get beer some days - it's like a make your own variety pack.
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Pete's has Boar's Head pepperoni, and good, cheap wines, and an excellent price for Alaskan Oatmeal Stout. Across the street is a little park where the ducks congregate, when they aren't for some inscrutable duckbrained reason deciding to drift along the pavement in droves. Across the other street is a garish yellow house inhabited by some manner of lunatic who posts signs reading DEMONIC on the lawn. It almost makes it worthwhile, working the swing shift at an office run by duckbrained managers, if at "lunch" at 8:30 p.m. I can go to Pete's and stock up on things to drink. Especially since it's the sort of place where one customer can start talking with the cashier about the sad demotion of Pluto, and three customers down the line the conversation will still be going on.
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I would probably never come here if I didn't live in Eastlake, but I do... so I frequent Pete's a lot. They have a pretty impressive wine selection though don't come with a specific bottle in mind because they will probably have it, but good luck trying to find it. The employees will ask you if you need help (who doesn't in this place) but they are never able to offer much help. Come to think of it, they act pretty snotty for working in a run-down grocery store in Eastlake. Regardless, think of Pete's as a wine lottery. It's more fun that way.
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I apologize but we have to "second" motherloads opinion. We have lived in the floating community for three years and have finally had enough. The evening checker is not only rude,rude,rude but is a little creepy to boot. Poor Pete's.
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Wednesday is my favorite day to read the Seattle Times because on Wednesday they dedicate a entire section to food and wine. Two of my favorite things in the whole world. First I check out the weekly recipes for any thing interesting, I have found a number of fantastic recipes which have made there way into my rotation of dinner staples. Then I read what the wine critic has to say. Finally, I check out the wine adds, because I love a good bargain nearly as much as a good wine.
In their sale ad this week Pete's listed a wine from my favorite Washington winery, Willow Crest (Their wines are fabulous. unfortunately, with the exception of their Pinot Gris,they are hard to find. But if you are ever driving through the Yakima Valley, stop at their tasting room in Prosser. You Will not be disappointed). This necessitated a visit.
Pete's Wine is basically a small neighborhood grocery with a large wine selection. They have a very nice variety of wines, especially sparklers. If you want a nice bottle of bubbly for a special occasion you this would be a good place to come. Sadly, they don't have enough space. The wine aisles are over stocked and poorly organized with no signs for varietal or regional designations. If you can find the wine guy free he will point you in the right direction and make a recommendation or two but don't expect him to spend a lot of time with you. I have had better service from the wine stewards at QFC. There were quite a few bargains, all listed in their ad, but other than that the prices were comparable to other groceries.
So if you live in the Eastlake neighborhood and you need a couple eggs and a bottle of wine, Pete's is a little gem. For those of us who do not there are more convenient better staffed and organized wine shops. I probably will not return except for the occasional bargain.
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How about a company sponsored workshop on personal hygiene for the evening checkers/management? I actually felt filthy upon leaving this store. This area must be deprived if this is their idea of a quality wine provider. Unfortunately the "grocery retail wine business" of seattle is controlled by columbia & this place has average written all over it. Try safeway for the exact same selections. LOL...
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Damn good sandwiches. They've got it down to an artform too. Tip number one: there are two (2) sides to the sandwich form. One side has the pre-fab sandwiches that permit no substitutions or major changes. The other side is the a-la-carte construct your own sandwich.
Boar's Head meats, fresh cheeses and nice cuts of bread make these sandwiches worth the wait.
There's a good wine and beer selection, and other grocery items if you want them, but the main reason to come here is for the sandwiches. It's a pretty part of town too; you can look at houseboats and pretend you can afford one.
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I come here to buy booz. This is a little grocery store in Eastlake. They have more wine/booz selection than they have groceries. You can find SIX different kind of sake here.
If you shop here, make sure you go across the street by the water and check out the gorgeous scenery -- feed the ducks and geese..., wave at my teammates when you see a bunch of boats rowing by.
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