Crystal City Wine Shop in Arlington, VA Closed now

Reviews about Crystal City Wine Shop

• ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

  July 06, 2019, by Christopher Gillespie
  Beer and wine selection is fine, but the service is very big box retail. Any time I enter they ignore me unless I seek them out. After my experience I drive into Gaithersburg if I want help with wine or go to the vineyards directly. The last time I purchased wine I asked for assistance with picking something new out. I used to buy from a wine distributor back home so I am knowledgeable enough to know what I like. The person helping me was nice enough, but I don't think he was listening. I told him I like sweet wines, preferably chilled. I began to tell him I liked a drinking wine that you can sit out and have while it's warm. In my mind that's a Riesling or Moscato: sweet, chilled, a summer wine. He handed me a Cabernet Sauvignon. I was confused and asked since it's red "do I chill it?" "Do whatever you want" he replied "people chill it all the time." Huh. That doesn't sound like what any knowledgeable person would say about a Cabernet, so I accepted it. Maybe he knew something I didn't. He didn't. It was a heavily tannined very dry Cabernet. Low quality at that. I immediately tried to take it back because a little off is acceptable, thus far off is just plain lying to make a sale. I asked for a refund and the manager told me that I didn't describe what I wanted properly or I didn't communicate properly. "How is a dry puckering wine the same as a sweet easy drinking wine?" I asked. The manager's reply "Sorry for the inconvenience, but we do not return open bottles of wine." I want to to know why she went through the trouble of treating me like an moron if she was just going to throw policy in my face. I said okay, walked outside and dumped the wine into the gutter with her watching. I hate cheap dry red wine. It had too much tannin to make a Sangria out of it anyway. I hope things get better, but you won't see me there again.