Steve's Wine Market

CuriousMonk

Virginia

3.39/5  rDev -16.1%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 3 | $$$

I heard about this place during my visit in Madison and was a bit of a drive out away from the UW campus. I found it to be quite nice - it’s a quasi upscale wine and cheese shop, with quite a nice selection of beer - they had the usual wisconsin micros, regional micros that are sometimes hard to find in the state, interesting Belgian beers, Stillwater, New Glarus, a few 3F bombers that I was not able to find in the other places. The staff was a bit aloof, but fairly nice - prices were on the high side, but they give you 10% off after six bottles.

06-20-2011 21:05:00 | More by CuriousMonk

Ek0nomik

Wisconsin

3.55/5  rDev -12.1%
quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | $$

I stopped here when I first moved back to Madison after school. I was near Hilldale getting lunch, and I saw Steve's across the road so I decided to walk over.

The service wasn't anything out of the ordinary. The employees sat behind the counter while everyone picked out what they wanted. The selection was decent, but nothing spectacular. They had a variety of Wisconsin beer, DFH, Bear Republic and more. There are other places in Madison that have a better selection though.

Not a terrible beer store, but it didn't stand out in my mind so I don't plan on revisiting.

11-02-2009 05:58:21 | More by Ek0nomik

EvilKeith

Alabama

3.7/5  rDev -8.4%
quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

Steve’s Wine is a very nice upscale wine shop. The wine selection is impressive with bottles from across the globe, but this supposed to be about the beer.
The reach-in cooler has a pretty good selection of import singles and sixes. There is also a very good selection of quality micro and craft brews in sixes. I also found a respectable number of craft and micro singles for sale. The 12 packs and cases can be found in a large walk-in cooler.
It is nice to see that the wine world has noticed the craft brew movement and is becoming increasingly accommodating to our needs.
This place was staffed by two young college girls on this visit. I did not have any questions, so I can’t comment of their level of beer knowledge.
I was pleasantly surprised by this establishment.

10-16-2006 14:10:00 | More by EvilKeith

BoitSansSoif

France

3.7/5  rDev -8.4%
quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | $$

Steve's is a mix of specialty food shop and wine store, but there is a nice selection of foreign brews and micros. They frequently have samples out from their cheese shop that are always worth a try, and I often get my dry chorizo and cornichons here. The wine selection is respectable, and there are several varieties hard to find elsewhere, and the beer selection is also decent, although this is not the shop's primary focus. The prices vary widely, and it's good to go in with an idea of what they price competitively, and what to look for elsewhere. I found some liquors I buy there for much cheaper elsewhere, but the last few times I bought ale and beer it was priced competitively. The service is okay. I have never asked for help, and none has ever been offered. I'm sure they're knowledgeable, seeing all they offer, but I've yet to exchange any words with the employees except about their latest cheese sample.

03-30-2008 14:23:24 | More by BoitSansSoif

ethosx19

Wisconsin

3.85/5  rDev -4.7%
quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4

Good selection for a wine store. I bought singles of Dogfish, Young's, Rogue, Paulaner, Ommegang, and lots of regionals here. The service was okay, but I'm sure it would be better if the store hadn't been in a holiday frenzy. Oh, and 10% off 6 mixed singles. I noticed prices a little higher than Woodmans on a few items.

I think I'll make this place a regular stop when I don't want to go all the way to the West side of Madison.

12-22-2002 09:34:36 | More by ethosx19

Erdinger2003

Iowa

3.85/5  rDev -4.7%
quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | $$

Walked in and saw this little beer selection area that was about 1/4 the size of the whole place. It had a pretty good selection. Really the only thing that I noticed was I couldn't buy the smaller Chimay glasses without purchasing Chimay. That's cool for the locals. The lady did want to help and did, but nothing beer knowledge related, mostly this was a short little stop and I was ready to go the Essenhaus. They had a bigger selection of Lake Louie than any other place I had noticed. Overall I thought this might be a place to check out with a lot of time, just not my go to store.

01-15-2007 10:01:11 | More by Erdinger2003

BuckeyeNation

Iowa

3.85/5  rDev -4.7%
quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | $$

Steve's Wine Market was the fourth and final beer store that I visited on my recent whirlwind tour of Madison. It's located in an upscale shopping area just west of campus, a location that should be fairly handy for a wide number of locals. Since space in my car was growing short and since I had already dropped a bundle at the other three stores, I knew that I wouldn't be leaving with much of Steve's beer.

I entered the store and paused to eat a few samples of some outstanding cheese. I hadn't eaten in almost 8 hours and could have downed the whole tray without a problem. A left turn took me to the beer shelves (Belgians) and coolers (U.S. micros for the most part). Steve's Wine was my least favorite store of the day, although they still had a decent selection of quality stuff. It's tough to compete with the likes of Steve's Liquor, Woodman's and Riley's.

I don't remember seeing much here that I hadn't seen elsewhere with the exception of Houblon Chouffee IPA. I'd estimate that their selection is roughly half of what it is at Steve's Liquor, maybe a little higher. The singles cooler had more empty spaces that full ones, but I'm not sure if those beer were out of stock or if the selection is never very extensive. Prices seemed similar to the other stores in town.

The guy who checked me out pointed out that with one more beer, I'd get a 10% discount. One more beer is never a problem, so 10% it was. He also entertained me by telling me how he'd practically chugged a Bitter Woman From Hell after doing some strenuous yardwork the previous night and then wished that he'd had something a little less... challenging.

I'm glad that I stopped at Steve's Wine Market, but Riley's has it beat in all ways that matter (except for the free cheese) and is the clear choice for those who live anywhere close to downtown. For those who live out of town, this isn't really a destination store unless you have some time on your hands or are in the area.

05-29-2006 11:44:41 | More by BuckeyeNation

brdc

Wisconsin

3.85/5  rDev -4.7%
quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | $$

This place has a lot of wine and spirits, which make up for most of the store space, but along with that, good cheeses and a sizeable selection of good beers. There are even a few beer glasses, although the options are limited.
It has most of the local stuff, along with some others from throughout the country and some imports, although the belgian collection is somewhat disappointing.
A small but good selection of singles to make your six pack from a cooler round out a place that if not amazing, it is still a worthwhile stop if you are in the area.

04-28-2008 17:34:24 | More by brdc

bditty187

Nebraska

4/5  rDev -1%
quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3.5

Steve's Wine Market is clean and classy. Although the focus is on wine and liquor the beer selection is damn fine. A good array of singles (imports and domestics) and 6-packs (and up)… the prices aren’t too bad either. The staff was so nice when I visited (the lady thought it was the coolest thing EVER that I drove from Nebraska to buy beer in Wisconsin). Bottom line: I hope I make it back.

It is not as good as the other Steve’s but I’d recommend you visiting both.

03-25-2003 19:03:14 | More by bditty187

DaPeculierDane

Wisconsin

4/5  rDev -1%
quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

I feel like the two Steve’s take turns having better singles selections although most of the time the University store wins out by a slim margin. Service always seems better at the other location but it ain’t shabby here either. Prices are nearly identical.

Singles Selection:

Lots of Belgians, i.e., Rocheforte 6, 8, 10. St. Bernie Wit, 6, 8, 12. Tons of De Dolle (the biggest selection I’ve seen anywhere). Wit Pater, Caracole, Delerium, DuPont, etc…

American Craft Singles: One 6 ft by 4 ft cooler of American craft and few German/Brits. Plenty of local stuff, i.e., Lake Louie, Capitol, New Glarus, Central Waters, and also many fine brews from smaller regional and national craft brewers.

Very good 6 pack selection from nearly all Wisconsin brewers and tons of other great craft brewers such as Sierra Nevada, Bells, Great Lakes, New Holland, North Coast, etc…

Great wines and cheeses too.

Prices are higher than Woodmans but not bad. Singles are a touch cheaper than at Riley’s.

06-27-2006 18:24:07 | More by DaPeculierDane