No ordinary gas station: This Cleveland shop has $10,000 bottles of wine | Phil Your Glass

Gas stations with convenience stores are seemingly everywhere, and they are all pretty much the same.

Unless, of course, you happen to be driving around the Edgewater neighborhood of Cleveland.

On the corner of W. 116th Street and Clifton Boulevard, about 3 miles west of the West Side Market, is where you will find a brick building with two gas pumps out front. Pretty ordinary-looking, if you ask me.

Google Maps lists this spot as an EZ Mart. A couple of months ago, it was branded as a Gulf Station, but now the sign out front simply reads "$2.89" and "Alcohol by Volume" in smaller letters underneath.

As expected, the first thing I spotted inside was a stack of windshield washer fluid jugs. However, as I looked left, I spotted a stack of Paolo Scalvino Rosso wine bottles from Italy.

Scalvino is one of the top Barolo producers in Italy’s Piedmont region. This is definitely not your typical gas station wine.

Then I passed a hand-crafted cigar humidor. No Swisher Sweets in there.

A few more steps, and my heart was pounding. I couldn't believe my eyes. I had walked into a wine lover's mecca.

The cabernet display at the room’s entrance features bottles of Ridge, Chateau Montelena, Heitz, Silver Oak and Grgich Hills. The sign above reads, “Tastes like a million bucks and costs a lot less."

That’s when owner Chris Forest came up and told me his parents bought the former Lyden Oil Co. truenorth store in 1995 when he was 17 years old.

They eventually sold wine. “It was mainly Yellowtail, Barefoot, Woodbridge and Sutter Home,” Forest said. Starting out, he admitted to sipping on $10 bottles of “el cheepo wines.”

He convinced his father to add on a small room in 2010 to make the outside more aesthetically pleasing and symmetrical.

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Fast-forward to 2024, and this space is now filled with the who’s who of wine labels.

“I’ve been very fortunate to get some of the most highly sought-after wines on the planet in here,” said Forest as he opened the door to a temperature-controlled wine refrigerator.

There were many rare bottles of Chateau Palmer from Bordeaux next to a $3,328 bottle of Krug Clos d'Ambonnay Blanc de Noirs Brut Champagne from France.

“I don’t think you will find this anywhere in the state,” he added. "Krug is one of his favorite Champagnes. I buy as much as I can humanly afford."

"Fill 'er up" takes on a whole new meaning in this room. There is an Italian section that features high-end bottles from all over the boot, including treasures from Barolo, Brunello, and Sicily’s Mt. Etna. There was also a separate section for wines from New Zealand, Washington state, Oregon, Argentina and even Austria.

“I’m a big riesling fan. If we had more space I’d have more. It’s the most versatile grape on the planet,” Forest said.

Wine lovers will also appreciate a display of carefully curated under-$20 value wines from all over the world. One of Forest’s favorites on the rack is a bottle of Luca cabernet from Argentina.

Just when I thought I'd seen it all in this small-but-mighty wine room, Forest unveiled the pièce de résistance. "I get the largest allocation of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti in the state," he said, referring to what is considered the Holy Grail of French Burgundy. "Here I am in a gas station selling candy and Ho Hos, and then I’ve got $10,000 bottles of wine going out the door.”

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After touring the wine-lover's Xanadu, Forest took me to the “other” side of the store. He was quick to add that he's "not running a full-fledged wine shop. This is a small part of our business.”

In addition to helping a customer find a special occasion wine, he'll also help them with the rare flat tire or oil check. The store does sell the usual cigarettes, candy and snacks, but this "other" side of the store is just as eclectic as the wine side.

Sure, there are the usual bags of Combos, beef jerky and granola bars. But there are also over 50 different bottles of sake.

“I do have people who come to Cleveland on business that stop here to buy sake,” Forest said.

One is a $90 bottle of Kanbara Ancient Treasure that Forest said looks like a cheap bottle of malt liquor.

There’s even a small section of craft beer, featuring lots of German and Belgian favorites, as well as a small selection of mead. Now I know why he named the place Alcohol by Volume.

Familiar grocery store wines are stacked on this side of the store, but even these bottles are an upgrade from what you might expect to find in your average gas station convenience aisle.

Don’t overlook the cooler − there are treasures everywhere. On the same shelf that holds bottles of Sutter Home and Yellow Tail, you can also find a $42 bottle of Blanc de Blancs sparkling wine from the iconic Schramsberg Winery in Napa, California.

Suddenly, my mind switched from wine columnist to wine enthusiast as I spotted a bottle for my own cellar. This is the only place I know of where you can find a trophy wine stacked next to a bottle of Barefoot moscato.

That's where I spotted a $42 Sicilian sparkling wine from Benanti. I have never had a wine made from grapes grown on the side of an active volcano, but I sure am excited to try.

Be sure to follow Alcohol By Volume on their Facebook and Instagram (alcohol_by_volume) pages to find out dates of the next wine tasting at the station − er, store.

You can reach Phil Masturzo at philyourglass@gmail.com and follow him on Instagram @pmasturzo_philyourglass

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Alcohol by Volume in Cleveland sells fine wine out of a gas station