Centennial Fine Wine and Spirits

Pretty great selection of wine at this Centennial location. Huge cabernet sauvignon selection, lots of international wines, and plenty of some of my favorites from Spain! They have tastings at different times of the month, and if you ask, sometimes they will allow you to try a wine that you are curious about. Also, a great selection of Scotch!

Last time I was in, I was offered a vodka shot by a promotion set up. I don’t mind if I do.

The Centennial in this area used to be on Northwest Highway proper, just before the Preston intersection.
A few years ago now, they moved to this bigger and newer location on Preston, a block or so south of Northwest Highway.
It took us a little while to find it, as we were accustomed to the other location. Then we had to go past all the restaurants, and were concerned we missed it.
The people who worked here were friendly enough (greeted us, asked if we needed help a few times (especially after we wandered around a bit)), and the store was very clean.
This store has WAY more wine than most Centennial stores I’ve been to. Not sure if it’s the area or what, but damn. Lots of wine.
We were there to get a bottle of tequila for a friend’s birthday party we were headed to down in Oak Cliff… but since you can’t buy liquor that far south, we stopped here.
We don’t drink (me rarely and boyfriend never), so I had to text my tequila-​drinking buddies about what a good middle of the road tequila would be. I’m sure I could’ve asked the guys working there, but I’d rather trust the tastebuds of my friends on this one. We were recommended Lunazul, which was about in the middle range of the price point scale. I got the smaller bottle for around $ 24. Less than half of the smallest size of Patron, but more than twice the cheapy rot gut stuff that even I can pick out of a liquor line-​up.
Then I went to get some hard cider. They had a fairly decent selection of a bunch of things (seriously, they had like 5 lambics in the case), but the Centennial in Addison has Woodchuck 802 (which is totally the best, btw). This one had the other varieties (Granny Smith, Amber, and Pear), and out of those, the Amber (original) wins.
Also, a really good concoction, if you feel like it… ½ bottle of hard cider (in this case, obviously we used the Woodchuck Amber, but I was told that Ace’s Pear cider (which I normally loathe) is also delicious as well) and ½ bottle of Stella Artois. It was pretty damn tasty, I have to admit.
Checkout was quick and friendly. Leaving the parking lot was a pain in the ass as we were right on Preston, but we managed.
Overall, if I’m in the area again, I’ll swing by if I need to. But I certainly won’t go from my home in Addison (home of Booze Row with Centennial, Seigel’s, Majestic, etc) to this location.

I was surprised this location in particular (Preston) was not listed on Unilocal as I believe this may be a flagship store in the Centennial chain here in Dallas (but don’t quote me on that). I do know that this is the store that Lance Storer seemed to be based at for a while but doing a quick check of their web site, it appears he has been promoted to their head wine buyer and moved to a corporate office. This is my loss and Centennials gain I am sure but he is a DFW wine authority. I once emailed him about authenticity questions about a 1976 Bordeaux I had purchased over the Internet and even though I did not buy it from him or his store, he happily shared his opinion. Anyhow…
This is a store I like because every once in a while, I find a GEM of a bottle at a steal of a price.
Collecting wine at my level requires patience and the kind of devout geekiness to know when to jump on the last bottle of 2005 Le Vieux Donjon that can not be easily found anywhere at the price they have for here (I bought the last bottle so sorry).
I like to bag a nice bottle and I get extra satisfaction knowing I am not paying the price most others are. These kinds of finds can be made here with a lot of patience and of course a little obsessiveness. That is why, every once in a while I will browse the aisles in this location during my lunch hour. The cellar is always interesting to peek into as well, for a cork dork anyways.
This store is on the north side of the University Park area of Dallas and there are a lot of nifty places nearby. The North Dallas crowd flocks here in massive quantum’s of humanity on weekends.
This store is part of the same chain that owns the Big Daddy’s stores. Another reason I like this particular location because a lot of wine brains seem to work here or pass through. I remember just missing Angelo Gaja at one point but if you are an official wine geek, you know who I am talking about and if Gaja visits this place, something must be a tad special about this store.
Too bad Lance has moved on to bigger and better things in the organization, but this chain still has a few folks with some serious fermented grap juice cred. This store in particular seems to get some bottles other stores in the chain don’t. If you are lucky, you can catch a nice little trophy bottle at release price rather than market price too!
Cheers!