A trip to bountiful

Remember when you had to schlep to New Orleans for great wine and cheese? Seems a distant memory now that we can gaze upon our behemoth Whole Foods on Jefferson. And, if you were a Martin Wine Cellar junkie – what luck! We now have one of those too.

If you haven’t been to the Baton Rouge “Martin’s” yet, get the image of the shop on Magazine Street out of your mind. There’s no café here and the cheese counter, while nice, is small. But who cares, right, because Whole Foods with its from-here-to-eternity fromagerie is within spitting distance. Where Martins really excels is with inventory and advice.

My mission was to nab three different Sauvignon Blancs for a weekend houseguest. I asked for help and was immediately led to several choices, two from California and one from New Zealand. All were within my price range and each had a varying flavor profile (citrus fruit, tropical fruit and herbaceous/grassy). Sure enough, they were all solid. Best of all, though, I didn’t have to endure that look often served by established wine merchants, the one that says, “Take that, you Ripple-swilling oaf.”

The store has domestics up front and imports in the rear, and while smaller than I’d thought, it’s crisp and well organized. The vast number of themed wine tastings offered at the New Orleans stores, which can transform philistines into oenophiles with a matter of whiffs, are unfortunately not offered in Baton Rouge, where there’s no liquor license. Maybe in time.

Baton Rouge

7597 Jefferson Highway (Jefferson at Old Hammond)

225-926-4053

1-866-229-9080

Tuesday through Saturday

10 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Closed Sunday and Monday