Blues, Barbeque and…wine? The Fed Ex St. Jude Championship, TPC Southwind, August 7-10, 2025
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Just say Memphis and my mind drifts to a swarm of “B’s:” Beale Street, blues, barbeque and beer. Throw in bourbon if you want since the cocktail scene appears to be flourishing. But it’s not a place I associate much with wine. And while I haven’t been to Memphis in 20 years, I wasn’t terribly surprised when my search failed to uncover any wine excitement there. The two best lists I saw in 2023 are now as defunct as Monty Python’s Dead Parrot. Google isn’t a foolproof tool for this kind of research since many small establishments simply don’t post their lists. This is easily the most disappointing wine market I’ve ever written about. If I got it wrong, feel free to correct me. But if you want my advice, buy retail at Buster’s and beg for corkage.
Chez Philippe is the fine dining spot at the Peabody Hotel. Expensive Prix Fixe menu and a disappointing list of big brands at even bigger prices. Fails the over $1000 Opus test. This could be so much better with a little TLC. Grow a pair and set the standard why don’t you? Update: Wow, that’s a lot of venom. I doubt it had any impact but as of August 2025 the list is no longer visible online.
Southern Social has a lot of wine but it’s mostly big name soporific. A few high end California cabs might catch your eye, but there’s not a bottle of Burgundy or Bordeaux to be had. And any list with Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio on it starts in a deep hole. But you can get Opus here for $625 so do the math. Update: In August 2025 all that’s left online are a bunch of inordinately uninspired wine flights. Santa Margherita is in a flight called “creme de la creme.” Enough said. Speaking of flights, you can skip “Flight” too, owned by the same group.
No see-um’s: I wouldn’t get my hopes up but there are reports of possible wine curation at Hen House and Non-Vintage.
There’s only one retail store in the metro area that looks like a bona fide destination for wine, and guess what, it also starts with “B!” The unlikely sounding Buster’s Liquors & Wines has excellent representation up and down the line in California cabs, Bordeaux, and Piedmont for example. It may be a little weaker in some less exalted categories, but they have most everything covered and it’s nice to know there’s some Chateau Margaux or Bryant Family on hand if you happen to actually win the Fed Ex Cup.
Rootstock Wines is a very very distant second in the retail category with a collection of curated wines skewing small producer/natural, which in this market is a true rarity and deserves mention.
