Jackson's Wines & Spirits A Familiar Place For Beverage Buyers

If you want a $5 bottle of wine, it's there.

If you want a $4,000 bottle of vino, it's there.

So is a wide array of bourbon, vodka, scotch and cognac.

"If you want something, you can find it here or we'll go out and find it for you," said Phil Selby, the manager and wine buyer for Jackson's Wines & Spirits in Lafayette.

Jackson's is an institution in the Lamorinda area.

The store has been at the front of the Whole Foods shopping center on Mt. Diablo Boulevard since the late 1960s.

Kip Bruzzone and his family are the fourth owners of the shop. They took it over in the early 1980s and kept the name.

For the past three decades, Selby said Jackson's hasn't changed much and has kept the same philosophy.

The store has a wide selection of alcoholic beverages in its 2,000 square feet of space.

There are more than 1,500 different types of wines as well as 150 different single malt scotches and 100 varieties of champagne.

Among the regularly priced beer, tequila and brandy are things such as a $700 bottle of scotch and a $2,200 bottle of cognac.

There is also a temperature controlled cabinet that holds 600 bottles of wine from as far back as 1945.

There are plenty of accessories, too, such as a humidor full of dozens of types of cigars as well as a shelve of premium Spanish stuffed olives.

Selby added the store also hires people who have expertise in the field, so they can answer questions from customers about different types of beverages.

The employees will also search the Internet or call their connections to find a special bottle of liquor not normally found in stores.

"Our staff knowledge is great," said Selby.

Selby said a large percentage of their customers are professionals from the Lamorinda area who are particular about their wine and other beverages.

However, he added, there are customers from Martinez, Berkeley and Concord who simply like the variety inside the store.

Jackson's is one of three local liquor stores owned by the Bruzzone family. They also own Moraga Wine & Spirits as well as Monument Wine & Spirits in Concord.

The Moraga locale has a warehouse for the three stores' spirits. The Lafayette store warehouses the wine and the Concord facility warehouses the beer.

Each store also has a specialty buyer for the type of liquor it keeps in its back rooms.

Selby said it's one of the many ways the three stores differentiate themselves from other liquor shops.