Customers Enthused As Tennessee Grocery Stores Start Wine Sales

Customers arrived before 8 a.m. Friday to be among the first to pick up a bottle of their favorite wine.

In all, nearly 460 Tennessee grocery stores were selling wine on the first day of sales after years of debate and delay.

There was plenty of hype, as reporters fanned out across Middle Tennessee to capture customers plucking those first bottles of Bay Bridge and Charles Shaw — known to its fans as “Two-Buck Chuck” — off grocery store shelves.

But amid the media frenzy were some genuinely excited wine lovers.

One was Richard Swor, a 25-year-old audio engineer and law student. Wearing a T-shirt that read “Rosé All Day” — one of his favorite wines, but also the name of his cat — he was first in line at the Kroger in Green Hills.

“I just thought it would be a really fun keepsake to have a receipt from July 1 at 8 o’clock, to say I was the first person in Nashville to buy a bottle of wine, when we finally got it in grocery stores after all these years,” he said.

Swor selected a 2013 Merlot from California.

Others decided to check out the wine section after coming to the store for different reasons.

Trey Rochford was shopping for food for the company cookout. There wouldn’t be any alcohol at that event, which would take place during work hours, but Rochford said he might swing by later to pick up a pinot grigio to enjoy on the porch over the weekend.

“Honestly, I’ll say, I’m a little bit surprised. There’s much more of a broad selection than I would have expected.”

Grocery stores hope the wine racks will draw in casual wine buyers, like Rochford.

Liquor stores, meanwhile, hope their expertise will convince Tennesseans to keep coming to them.