Bested by BevMo & Total Wine, We Place Third

It was a long shot at best, but we gave it our best shot in the KCRA A*List, a people’s choice competition to name the Sacramento region’s best wine shop (and more than 150 other categories). Though we managed to climb into second place for a time, Carpe Vino eventually came in third behind Total Wine & More and BevMo, both corporate box liquor stores.

We’d like to thank everyone who took the time to vote for Carpe Vino, especially those of you who viewed our “Wineston Churchill” endorsement. We thought we might be able to pull this off because of Carpe Vino’s huge following, but at the end of the day the national brands proved to be too much.

Altogether, there were 41 entries in the category, including a few wineries and some broader businesses (such as Corti Brothers, a specialty food shop with a highly regarded wine inventory). It’s unlikely we’ll participate in the future unless the organizers level the playing field by limiting the category to pure wine shops.

Other businesses in Old Town that distinguished themselves in the competition were Old Town Pizza, first place pizza; Awful Annie’s, first place breakfast; and the Auburn Alehouse, second place brewery. Naggiar Vineyard, a friend of Carpe Vino in Grass Valley, won best winery for the third year in a row.