Savvy Cellar Wine Bar & Wine Shop

I waffled between 3 – 4 stars here, because I think their wine could be a little more inventive, but since I keep coming back, I must be a fan. I wouldn’t say «drive out» for this if you’re in San Jose or something, but if you’re a local, I think this is a nice little place to spend an evening.
Lots of bottles for sale, my fiancé and I were here a ton over the holidays, very affordable wine. My best friend and I have also spent a couple of nights here, discussing boys and the other mysteries of the world, and I have never really been disappointed by the service/​atmosphere. I’m also impressed by their online presence/​events — they are doing a good job of being more than just a bar, or a wine store.
If you are a 4-​Square member (check out the app if you have a smartphone) you can get ½ off flights of wine, which makes it super affordable to come and get a couple of nice flights.
Since I’ve been several times, it would be cool if the flights changed more often, but I get that you need some consistency for the folks that like that sort of thing. On the whole, I think this place deserves 4 stars.

I highly recommend the classes here — you learn a lot (the time goes quickly), they are very interactive, and generally involve lots of tasting! I have been to a tasting champagne class (who knew popcorn was the perfect food pairing?), wines of France (WOW they like their wine stinky) and how to make wine (shout out to Amy @ Picchetti for teaching). It was a lot of fun — and they take their class feedback seriously! There was a class that didn’t start off up to snuff, and they ended up either refunding the cost or offering a «coupon» for another class. Talk about customer service!
We come fairly often for drinks in the evening and usually get the caprese salad (great chunks of mozzarella cheese and whole sweet cherry tomatoes covered in basil and smothered with vinegar/​olive oil — the only downside is sometimes they have HUGE chunks of salt in it) and a cheese plate (you choose 3 types from a list of about 9) that includes nuts and fruit. The flatbread is also tasty, but the portion size is smaller than expected.
The wine selection is great, and as their claim to fame states, everything is over 90 points and under $ 40, so you can really get some fantastic wine for fabulous prices. Wine club members have great discount options (2 for 1 classes, % off all purchases, etc).
The people working the bar are fun to interact with, either during classes or just for a drink after work. We have always had good service, though the bar staff tend to assume you want to wait for your entire party before asking if you want drinks, so if they know you are with a group, make sure they also know you want to order before everyone gets there! The atmosphere is really relaxed, so don’t expect them to be waiting on you hand and foot, but they will take the time to talk about the wines and give suggestions for pairing with food, ordering something close to what you like if you can’t choose, etc.
One warning to those that find wine there that they like — when it is sold out, it is forever gone. If you like something, buy it that day! Oh, Obsidian Cab… forever I will miss you.
If you do have a big group, you might want to call ahead — they have two booth areas in the back that seat about 6 comfortably, 3 tall tables in the center for 2 – 3 people each, bar stools, and then a front section of about 4 tables with couches/​chairs around them.
Happy hour includes half off specials, and I think they also have some really cheap deals for Sundays — check it out!

This place was really cute.
I had my Team Challenge Kick Off Party here last night so the place was closed from 6 to 9pm for our private event.
This place is like wine country brought to you in the Peninsula. On the quaint streets of Downtown Redwood City. There is parking on the street or in a lot.
We had some good wines and yummy cheese, fruit, and nuts.
Since this was a mixer it was hilarious when some women said. «oh sorry I have nuts in my mouth.» LOL really? really.
Okay this place has lots of wine so I am sure if I come next time for a tasting I will find something I like!

They know their wine, most definitely. Went for the South American tasting this last Sunday (they have tastings every Sunday). Was surprised a little by some of the selections, being not what you would think about when you consider «South American» wines (A Pinot Gris/​Chard was very interesting).
Apparently the concept is 90+ point rated wine under $ 40 (though where the ratings come from seem to be from every major publishment, some of which are better than others). In looking over their wines for sale, they seemed to have a decent amount of variety and styles, some of which you wouldn’t necessarly find quickly elsewhere.

What a great spot! Anytime I need to stop somewhere and pick up a bottle (or 3) of wine for a dinner party and can also pause, take a load off and enjoy a glass of sparkling wine, I’m all over that!!! Literally I was enroute to dinner at Tarboosh (also in RWC) and I had passed this place before and decided to drop by, see what they had, with the idea if I didn’t like the selection/​prices I could always hit Bev Mo or the wine aisle at Safeway…
This space is airy and colorful, a cute spot to sit and taste intermingled with the retail product. It was my first visit (won’t be my last) and the folks who worked there were so pleasant and knowledgeable, I already feel like a regular! Ditto for the other shoppers/tasters…was just a great energy!!!
Give this place a try (for a taste/​puchase or both… or just for something fun to do!) You won’t regret it!
Cheers!

We stopped by Savvy Cellar on our way to dinner with friends for a quick glass of champagne and had a very nice time. The décor is comfortable and cool and the owners are very, very nice people. And even though we had our glass and left rather quickly to make our reservations, we will def be back again.
I hear that their jazz nights are great!

Great Selection & Great Prices!
Found this wine bar after a work party featuring their wines and a wine educator.
Dying to take a class here for the next date night — I hear they are the best on the peninsula!

Beeeeoooooootchhhhhhhhhhhhhes!
…we will now return to the fine and very tasty 2001 Cab…
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!

Found this on Unilocal and went with my wife to the Saturday night «wine game» night. I have to say were were extremely impressed, entertained and thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere.
It also helped that, due to a recent wine tour, we knew the answers to a few questions and won! I would highly recommend making this a stop.

Just moved into the hood. We like to enjoy a good glass of wine, so we decided to check this place out during their Friday Happy Hour for the ½ off food. The person who served us was helpful but not overly knowledgeable about wines, cheeses etc. The cheese board was dropped off at our table by the server without any explanation of which cheeses were which. Oh well made it more fun for us to guess the cheeses.
Overall, thought it was a little over priced for what we actually got.

The «Savvy Cellar» rocks. The staff are knowledgeable and helpful. There is a good selection of wine that rotates regularly keeping things interesting. I like this because it helps expose me to a variety of wine styles from different regions.
The wine classes I participated in were great. Lots of fun and very thorough. The live Jazz is great and the Sunday tastings are my absolute favorite (only $ 8 if you’re a club member).
It is nice to have such a classy wine bar without the pretentious attitudes.

The first time I heard the name of the place I thought it was a marketing firm or some kind of sales training academy. (Think of the spelling «Savvy Sellers» and you’ll see what I mean). Once I saw the actual spelling of the name, its true nature was clear, and much more appealing. But still I thought: «In Redwood City? This place won’t last long.»
That was 4 years ago, and boy was I wrong! Savvy Cellars has been one of the more successful evening hot spots in Redwood City, and for good reason. The ever-​changing wine selection is unique and interesting, the staff is friendly and knowledgeable, and the setting is cozy and sophisticated. Live music on weekend evenings helps set a festive tone.
After a few visits here (mostly sponsored events), my only issue is that I now feel more «wine-​ignorant». I used to think I was fairly knowledgeable about wine, but after experiencing all the different countries, appellations and soil types there are to be tasted in different glasses, and after taking a blind wine tasting quiz (and failing miserably), I now feel like I know next to nothing. Apparently my powers consist of telling a Zin from a Cab, and that’s about it. I can’t blame SC for my previous self-​delusion. I feel like they have opened my eyes. I’m looking forward to furthering my education.

The resaon I give this wine bar 5 stars, is the wine selection. Heck, isn’t that what a wine bar is supposed to be about. It was clear to me that they did their homework when choosing the wines for the bar and shop. It was also nice to see that most of the wines they had to offer were small production… no Robert Mondavi or Beringer like the restaurant and wine bar right next to them.
I had a great Nero De Avola (that I forgot the name of) and my friend had the Gigantis from southern Rhone. Both were excellent. Winston also gave us a little taste of the Hartford Zinfandel. It’s pretty impressive they were pouring that by the glass since it is a highly allocated wine.

This is a nice little gem that I always pass up in my thoughts of what to do in Deadwood City for some reason.
When you are looking for a really mellow night head to the downtown area and eat across the street at Mandaloun then head over for a flight. The live jazz is a perfect touch of ambiance to the relaxing environment.

Looking for a place to tickle your nose with a little bit of some bubbly? Well, even though this isn’t a hot spot, they carry a fair selection on some good wine. I’m just happy that they serve champagne specials if I need to unwind from a long day or week of work. The staff may be quite an expert, but their service is lacking. Prices can be overpriced, but come in during their happy hour specials. You won’t miss much, but at least you get to sip on a few flights!
HAPPY HOUR INFO:
Fridays, 4pm-​7pm
Drinks: 2pm-​11pm
$ 7 Champagne special (while supply lasts)
Food Menu:
«Appy Hour» All food 50% off

Pretty darn good wine bar. Understated quiet place you can go to sip wine and even have a conversation at the same time. $ 28 for a tasting flight that included all 6 red wines which they served. I think it was $ 22 for 4 wines. These are maybe not full 150ml pours, but they are solid. They are much more than the tiny metered tasting that you get in Napa, leaving you wanting a little more if you are just going to sit back, relax and enjoy wine. These are large enough that you can get a charcuterie plate and test a few different ones with the various meats to decide which one you like best with each kind of meat, which goes best with the fig jelly and fresh warm bread, etc. It’s really pleasant. My wife and i shared a tasting flight between two people and these were adequate pours for two.
There are some complaints about prices on here, and I don’t think theirs are that bad at all, especially for good wine. Glasses were $ 8 for most red wines and ran up to $ 10 for the most expensive one. Bottles were sale price + $ 9 if you want to drink them in the store. Decide for yourself if that is expensive. Considering that all the wine they serve is Robert Parker 90+ points, I don’t think this is bad at all. Very reasonable actually.
Anyway, we went on a Saturday night, and they had Jazz playing. It was a piano, bass and a drum, and not at all overwhelming. You could carry on a conversation right through it, but it was certainly enjoyable. The charcuterie plate btw was yummy. The cheese plate, mozzarella, fresh made flat bread, and olives all sounded worth trying too, and that is just what I remember. That is probably half the menu though. Don’t come here for dinner, come as an appetizer, or after an early light meal perhaps (lobster shack?) and enjoy the foods with the wine as intended.
If I could make two wishes for improvement, I want more than 6 reds available for tasting at a time, and I want more complete wine descriptions on their menu. They have nice tasting notes posted at the store next to the wine, I just wish they would assemble them into a wine menu. The wine menu also only lists the six wines they are serving by the glass, and I would like to be able to flip through the full catalog of what is in the store, since I could buy a bottle and drink it there. And it is hard to see all the wines on the racks when the stores is full of wine sippers on a Saturday night. Even if only on the weekend there were more than six, that would be ok. Anyway, those are the only two things between Savvy and five stars for me. But that said, I look forward to going back to Savvy cellars and tasting again.
PS: they have some super cool sounding classes, and they even give you half the price off if you are a member of their very reasonable priced wine club. They also have ladies night and happy hour specials, and a themed tasting every Sunday with a different cool theme. Very very cool that they have so much passion for sharing good and affordable wine and so many different ways to reach out and share that passion with consumers!

Savvy is a really great wine shop/​bar. Do they have a Bevmo selection of wine? No, but that is ok, because what they have is GOOD. The staff is just amazing and very much know their stuff, including food and wine pairing.
I am originally from Pasadena and had a nice wine bar were I knew everyone and they knew me. After I moved up here I needed to find something that had that same «Cheers» type atmosphere. Well I found it at Savvy. Jennifer, Joel, Winston are really great. No pressure no snobs (unless I am there), just good folks. The classes are also REALLY good.

My favorite wine bar in the area. The variety is fantastic. We always get the red flight which they change every few weeks. We initially were trying to schedule a visit every 3 weeks to a month just to try the new set. ;-) They pour wines from all around the country and the world, so it helps us extend our wine knowledge past just Napa.
The best thing here – besides the mellow, comfortable feel – is the staff pouring the wine. We usually go on Wednesdays and the girl that works there is awesome. She’s a certified sommelier and knows so much – it’s so fun just listening to her describe the wines and share her knowledge.
They have a small set of wines for sale but you’re safe buying any of them because you know they are chosen by the staff. Because we trust them so much, we also signed up for their wine club were you get 2 wines a month for a reasonable price.
I wish they would have more snacks so we wouldn’t have to go eat somewhere else after, but they are growing their food department and it is all about the wine.

I have to give this place five stars no matter what pretty much just for existing in Redwood City. Of course, it mostly deserves it… they have awesome wine, a really friendly staff (mad props to our fave, Sharon!) who know a lot about the wine they are serving, the food is pretty good and they even have live music on Saturday nights.
My bf and I came here for the first time on our second date. I knew they were having live jazz and it was a Saturday night, and I was afraid it would be noisy and crowded and I wouldn’t enjoy it. How wrong I was! We’ve been there several times on a Saturday, and while it seems to be the busiest night of the week, there have always been a few tables and maybe even a few seats at the bar open. The jazz is nice and not too loud. The owner used to sing sometimes, but she was very pregnant and then seemed to just disappear one day. The people that sit right by the musicians usually look VERY SERIOUS as they watch and listen. I’d try and sit far away from them if I were you, as they’re likely to get annoyed if you talk and laugh too much.
The food is nothing fancy… it’s not like they have a kitchen or anything. I especially like the cheese plate, which has blue cheese drizzled with honey. It did take the magic out of it a bit when they were talking about running to Safeway to get more baguettes.
It’s really fun to get the red wine flight there, perhaps more than at another wine bar because they aren’t really snobby or pretentious here. It’s too bad you have to sit at the bar to get it, because if the bar is full you are just S.O.L.
One thing you shouldn’t overlook is that you can choose any of the wines that they sell and have them serve you THAT. Even if you only drink part of it, you can just take the rest home with you. This is especially nice since the menu changes all the time (every week I think?) and if a wine you liked isn’t on the menu any more, there is a good chance it will still be for sale by the bottle.
The one thing I don’t like about Savvy Cellar is their hours. They are closed on Mondays (I think they usually have classes those nights) open rather limited hours on Sunday (we were practically sitting around outside waiting for them to open one time after mistakenly eating brunch someplace that didn’t even serve mimosas) close at 9pm on Tues & Wed (why? Because it’s a school night? Why, why, why???) and ah… well, they are open until 11pm on Thursdays when they have their champagne flight special… I’m so going back for that… yiiippppeeeee!!!

I found the staff to be very knowledgeable and friendly. I allowed the bartender to pick my wine flight and she was right for most. I did not care for only one wine. Not to say anything was wrong with it, but it was not for me.
The bar is warm an inviting. There were a few privet booths where you could gather with a few friends and have a bit more privacy. You are not separated from the room, but still set back.
When I was here it was Jazz night and the music was quite good. This would be a great place for a couple glasses of wine after dinner. The crowd on a Saturday was a bit older, but still diverse.
This is a great place to go if you are looking to learn about wine and try some very reasonably priced wines.