It was raining and cold before I left the house. I had second thoughts about going there after being stuck in traffic for half an hour. But I decided to get it over with and visited Leiser’s just as I promised its owner. Before my visit, I had called Leiser’s and spoke to a gentleman named Eric Leiser. He politely told me that it was okay for me to research and write about his store.  Out of all wine stores in New York City, I had the opportunity to visit Leiser’s Wines and Liquors over the weekend.

In 1947 Lloyd Leiser Sr. opened Leiser’s Wines & Liquors on 162nd street as a single unit storefront. It had since expanded to 3500 square feet and now carries over 4500 different items in their store. Leiser’s is a well-known wine store in Queens and they currently have a web page where you can literally place orders. Their location is not hard to find since it’s located on the corner of 162^nd and Sanford Avenue. The parking is very easy to find and their store sign is big enough for anyone to see. My first observation of the store’s facade was not very impressive at all. It was an older looking liquor store but bigger compared to the ones found in the city. Perhaps they want to give an impression to prospective customers that they sell alcohol beverages for less. I can’t quite understand why they wouldn’t modernize or update their store due to the fact that they have been in business for over 66 years. I just rationalized in my head that sometimes, it’s not what the store looks like outside but more of what it holds inside.

As soon as I walked into the store, I was amazed at how big the store really was inside. I then walked straight to the cashier and asked for Eric Leiser. They had told me Eric was not able to see me but left a message that it was okay for me to roam around the store taking notes and pictures. After I was allowed to, I proceeded with my investigative research in the store. As I started my walk through, I had found that their floor, walls and shelves are very old as well. On the other hand, the items they sold were neatly placed on the shelves and variety seemed to be there. The first section of wines I got to was all local wines from New York. There were hundreds of local wines displayed on their shelves. Since I was not so familiar with our local wines, I moved on to different sections of wines. The thing I didn’t like about their store is that there were no signs or flags indicating which region of the world wines were from. I had to read all the labels on the wines to know which section I was really in. Instantly I started pondering their reasoning behind not putting signs or flags for different sections. Is it because they wanted to be intimately helpful toward their customers? It can’t be, because the employees were busy stocking new items on the shelves or at the register. I even asked one employee where South African wines were and he just pointed at the section indicating where they were. Once I was by South African wine section, I found no more than 10 or 15 brands of wine imported from South Africa. I was disappointed because they didn’t have the M.A.N. family wine, pinotage 2011 I was looking for. For a large store as such as Leiser’s, I expected to find more selection of wines. I took a mental note not to ever come here for South African wines and moved on to my favorite French wine section.

They had hundreds of French wines on display and I was impressed. Three of the most expensive French wines in their collection were Chateau Carruades de Lafite 2010 appellation Pauillac priced at $360, Chateau Duhart Milon 2010 appellation Pauillac priced at $200 and Chateau Palmer 2006 appellation Margaux priced at $360. One thing I found was that they had great selection of great French wines under $20. Since I was on under $20 wine budget, I tried looking for most interesting wine for myself. Voila! I found one I was very tempted to drink at home for cold raining day such as today. The bottle I found was from Chateau Clos Hortense 2010 appellation Saint Emilion, Bordeaux and it was only $17. I thought it was a fair price to pay for a wine from Bordeaux.

Leiser’s also had large selection of wines from Italy, Chile, Australia and United States. I was not really impressed with their wine selection from Germany and South Africa only because they lacked variety. The wines they had to offer prices ranged from $6 to $600 and everything else in between. This is a great place to go to stock up wines for your average parties or just to enjoy with your love ones at home. The employees there didn’t seem very friendly or seem too eager to help. I would recommend that you know your wines before you go to Leiser’s. Over all experience at Leiser’s was boring because I didn’t see many of the top wines I learned in class but it was simply educational.

This is Leiser’s Liquors link: http://www.leisers.com/