August 2026: What's Up @ Wine Stop?

August marks more than two new arrivals. It marks the beginning of a new Wine Stop.

This morning, our first-ever wines from Chile arrived: a Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah Rosé and a 100% Carménère, both personally selected by Álvaro after visiting the winery in Colchagua.

They represent two firsts for us. They are the first Chilean wines to enter Álvaro’s Wine Stop collection—and the first bottles to arrive with our new 2D QR code.

Unlike a traditional barcode, the new code can carry both the product identification and a link to additional information. It is part of the global move toward 2D retail barcodes, with GS1 targeting broad point-of-sale readiness by the end of 2027. Our link can also move with us: if Wine Stop ever transitions to another website, the bottle does not have to lose its digital destination.

But for us, the more important change is what you find when you scan it.

Know What You’re Drinking.

We are introducing a new level of transparency with these wines. Along with origin, grape varieties, production information, and food pairings, we are publishing their laboratory results: alcohol, residual sugar, pH, SO₂, extract, and more.

In other words, we would rather show you measurements than ask you to trust adjectives.

13% means 13%.
Dry can be seen in the numbers.
You can see how much residual sugar is actually in the bottle.
You can see the sulfite levels.
You can see what the wine is—not simply what someone decided to call it.

Words such as clean and natural can suggest much more to a consumer than they actually establish. Even TTB’s use of “natural” for grape wine essentially concerns wine made without added alcohol or brandy; it is not a certification of the broader philosophy now commonly associated with “natural wine.”

That distinction is at the heart of where Wine Stop is going: less marketing language, more information—and then you decide what you think of the wine.

And there is much more coming.

We are eagerly awaiting our refrigerated container from France. International shipping has become difficult again, and we hope to have it in Los Angeles by the middle of October.

Inside will be the return of our organic Pont Neuf Rosé, Rouge and Blanc; a new organic Beaujolais producer with Beaujolais-Villages, Fleurie, Chiroubles and Morgon; two affordable classic French Chardonnays; our Bordeaux Blanc; seven wines from our Loire producer, including Muscadet, Cabernet Franc, Gamay and Pinot Noir Rosé; our two much-loved Ambel Pét-Nats; Beaumas Pinot Noir; and a few other bottles we are very happy to have back.

You may notice something else when visiting our newly redesigned website: for the moment, New Arrivals shows only these two Chilean wines.

That is intentional.

Rather than simply putting our existing inventory back online, we are rebuilding Wine Stop bottle by bottle. Wines will return to the site as their new product pages are completed—with clearer information about where they come from, how they were made, what drives them, what to eat with them, and even which glass we recommend.

It took us almost ten years to find the words for what Wine Stop has always been about.

Now the website finally lets us show it.

This is not simply a redesign. It is a new way to introduce you to Álvaro’s personal wine collection—why each bottle is here, what makes it worth discovering, and what you deserve to know before and after you open it.

Wine Stop turns 10 this October.

We hope you’ll celebrate with us.

Drink Better. Know What You’re Drinking.