New wine tasting spot opens in the Sacramento area. Here’s where and what it costs

The Sacramento-area wine scene just made room for another tasting destination — and this one shouldn’t break the bank.

Wines in Tandem, which doubles as a retail shop and tasting room, had its soft opening last week in Davis. Founder 37-year-old Ryan Crosbie, who used to harvest fruit in between classes at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, launched his business in six months.

The average bottle of wine sold at Wines in Tandem is $29. Customers can choose from $20 to $40 bottles of red, white, orange and sparkling.

“The idea is that these are really great wines that cost less than they would expect,” Crosbie said during a phone interview with The Bee Tuesday.

The journey to opening Wines and Tandem was anything but linear.

Crosbie’s first job in the wine industry entailed picking fruit at 6 a.m., broken toes and tetanus shots — all while he was in college — and he fell “in love with the labor of grape growing and wine making.”

At 28, Crosbie traded that life for a tech startup. Then, he “returned to his roots” nearly a decade later to open his own retail shop and tasting room in the Sacramento Valley.

“This personal and rather gritty experience might explain the approach to our retail shop and tasting room,” Crosbie wrote on Wines in Tandem’s website “which feels a lot more like a winery tasting room than a restaurant or wine bar.”

Wines in Tandem, short for wines in tandem with the earth, offers a curated list of wines from sustainable family-owned wineries and vineyards in the U.S and Europe. The shop’s selection includes “unique, but affordable wines for everyday enjoyment.”

“The European style also allows us to kind keep a lot of interest and a lot of depth in where we are going,” Crosbie said, “but also can keep our total prices down when we are importing things as well.”

Wines in Tandem in Davis

Wines in Tandem is open with limited hours until February. Here are the details:

Address: 222 D St., Davis

Hours: Noon to 4 p.m. on Tuesday; noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday to Friday; noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday

Wines in Tandem’s tasting room

Wines in Tandem’s tasting room is located inside its retail shop in Davis within the walls of a historic bungalow.

Choose between a $10 tasting of light to rich flavorings of chardonnay to a $10 tasting of “fruit forward profile” of carignan.

Remember: Wines will be substituted depending on availability.

Wines in Tandem is hiring in its shop, tasting room and club.

This story was originally published January 31, 2023 at 12:11 PM.