Astor Wines and Spirits

This place is fantastic. I particularly love their selection of vodkas and sakes! They also carry a decently wide range of quality absinthes, which is difficult to find if you’re looking for anything aside from Lucid, or bright green mouthwash with no wormwood content.
Basically a liquor museum that you can actually buy things from at reasonable prices. Excellent.

Amazing shop! I was looking for a very specific Bordeaux and low and behold, Astor had it! Not only is their selection amazingly diverse and deep, but their sales people are very knowledgeable, pleasant, and helpful.
This is a wine shop that I will continue to frequent as their buyers obviously know what they are doing.
Also, today when I went, they were having a big sale on all their wines. I was able to find my 1982 Bordeaux and after spending some time with their staff, I left with two other beautiful bottles That I can’t wait to add to my collection, to drink, age, and enjoy!

This is an excellent store. The selection and quality of both the wines and spirits is top notch and the prices are reasonable. I have yet to be disappointed with anything purchased here; I tend to focus on the European wines.
The employee reviews on the displays are helpful. They have decent (although not amazing) sales on a rotating selection of items.

I discovered this store during an online search of my favorite brand of Japanese plum wine. Prices are competitively low and they offer free pick-​your-​own-​date delivery from their location in Manhattan to my apartment in Queens when I spend over $ 150. They also keep me updated on their frequent sales through their e-​mail newsletter! (For those of you who order your favorites by the case, they often have 10−25% off specials.) Perfect for when I want to shop a huge selection of discount wine/​sake/​liquor, but can’t drive into the city due to my busy schedule.

This place never disappoints. The selection is so broad and the staff so helpful, that every time I come I feel like I want to buy twice as much as intended.
Came here to stock-​up before an Argentine themes party, and the staff took the time to walk us through their South American wine section without being pushy on price. It felt more like a friend who knew a lot about wine was just explaining her cellar to you, rather than a sales guys.
Will be going back for all future wine/​liquor needs :)

I love Astor Wines!
They have such a wide selection of wines, all organized by region. They have a wide variety of price points (some bottles as low as $ 5), and there are always bottles to try on sale!
Best yet, the staff is incredibly friendly and helpful. I asked for advice on wine to bring to a dinner party, and they directed me to a great value wine that has lots of great flavor but didn’t break the bank.
Astor is worth the trip if you are looking for variety and value!

Excellent selection of champagne and really good prices for the Krug NV half bottles, service was good, store huge, lines moved qucik.

This place is, no joking, one of the best things ever happened in Manhattan.
I am impressed by its huge collection of different kinds of wines and some extra knowledge (aka background) of certain winery.
Location: Astor Wines and Spirits is, of course, close to Astor Pi subway. By passing starbucks and going straight, you can find this place for sure. It is not that obvious because the store is located in Basement but with the clear sign — ASTOR WINES AND SPIRITS, you cannot miss it.
I was there on a chilly windy night (as always in NYC), right before watching CAROL, the movie. The decoration of the store was still left with holiday sense — bright light, lovely cute sign of wine, I felt like in a moment, I was still expecting Christmas. No, don’t be silly, Tina.
Wines: They have all kinds of wines, red wines, sparkling, white wines, and champagne. All wines are categorized based on their kinds but some are based on countries. I was astonished by the time I got in there. With all those crazy wines, I kinda forgot what I would want.
Indeed, I did forget the wine I wanted to buy at the first place. I ended up picking all the wines that were labeled as «STAFF PICK». And thats to their little notes right in front of the wines, I surprisedly gained some understandings of how to balance out your food with certain kinds of wines.
Service: They did have tasting bar but it was not open on the day I was there. Quite disappointed. And in the back, they seemed to collect wines in a more secured room (I bet those wines are under temperature controls)
Price: They have cheap but good quality wines but they also have some high end wines. I mean, it’s wine, do you gonna really pick a difference between a 30 dollar wine vs. 20 dollars wine? Probably no.
Overall: superb selection of wine, i love here. 5 stars
(they have online shop too!)

One of the most comprehensive liquor stores that I have been in. I remember it when it was actually on Astor Place. This store is huge and the staff is knowledgeable. We were searching for a very specific sherry and couldn’t find a store on Long Island that had even one type. Astor had at least 5 to choose from of this very specific Pedro Ximinez grape sherry. Decent prices as well. They will ship free to anywhere in NY for a minimum of 150 dollars.

Good recommandation from their staff
Once I had a bad bottle I returned it, it was quick and efficient really appreciated

A pretty disappointing wine store.
Over the past few months I have purchased several bottles of wine from this location. Unfortunately, one of the more pricey bottles (over $ 45) was corked. Buying a corked bottle isn’t a problem. I know these things happen and wine stores often have little control or knowledge as to which bottles may be bad. However, how a store and their employees handle a corked bottle can really separate serious wine stores from your corner bodega that also sells a few bottles of white zin. Astor falls squarely into the latter category.
I arrived at the store and took the full bottle of corked wine to the counter telling them it was corked. Before I could get another word out, I was told a refund would only be provided if I had the receipt. I wasn’t looking for a refund. I was hoping to exchange the corked bottle for a new bottle of the same wine and same vintage. I told the clerk that I no longer had the receipt but just wanted to exchange the bottle for a good bottle of the exact same wine. There was much hand wringing and blank stares culminating in another clerk coming over to help. The new clerk again told me I couldn’t receive a refund, despite never requesting anything of the sort. I repeated my request for a replacement bottle and I was told I would need to talk to the Manager. The Manager showed up and for the third time I heard the story about a receipt required for a refund. Again I explained my intention to exchange the bottle for an identical non-​corked version.
The Manager wasn’t a big fan of this idea, complaining about NY State excise taxes and how it was going to create a problem for him (apparently this business exists to minimize problems for the Manager? Interesting take on customer service). He lectured me about the need to keep my receipts while he took the bottle to his station and scanned it… confirming that it was wine they sell. I guess they deal with a lot of derelicts returning bottles they don’t carry from all over the city? They no longer had that specific wine in stock. That prompted more hand wringing and complaints about excise taxes. Eventually he allowed me to exchange it for a bottle that was cheaper than the sale price of the old bottle. It didn’t matter that I bought the bottle for full price, guess I should have kept my receipt? I was able to leave with a cheaper bottle but not without a final lecture about the importance of keeping a receipt and NY State excise taxes. Suffice to say I will not be returning.
The proper response in this situation is to not treat your customers like they are trying to return used underwear at K-​Mart.

Why do I give a wine and spirits place 5 stars? Cause their customer service is impeccable and THEY. HAVE. KOREAN. LIQUOR. SOJU. SOJU. SOJU. SOJU. SOJU. (hopefully i said soju enough for this post to come up if you type soju into the search bar haha). Every korean (or whoever drinks korean alcohol) knows it is not an easy task to find affordable soju in NYC that can be bought and carried out of an establishment. This place is around NYU and has a huge selection of wine as well. Soju was 5 dollars, bekseju for 6 dollars, and makgeolli for 4 dollars. Amazing. Also I want to say I got wine last time from here for a thanksgiving dinner, and being 21 and only drinking beer, I had no idea what to get. The guys here were very patient with me and guided me through finding the best wine for my price range and hooked it up. Can not go wrong here.

Excellent selection, price, and staffing. I particularly like the section of «great wines under $ 12» which seems to be updated regularly. It is also great that they have little descriptions for each wine and several rotating sales and «staff picks.»

Astor Wines and Spirits? I’m like a kid in a candy store here. Whenever I want to get a specific type of wine, I know I can find it here, and it’s going to be reasonably priced. It’s so much cleaner and nicer than nearby Warehouse Wine & Spirits, and the staff is friendlier too. They also have a refrigerated room with rare wines, and they keep their webpage updated. Highly recommend.

They don’t allow you to return glassware. Beware. They don’t tell you this while you’re checking out. Also, their glassware is kinda pricy. $ 6.99 for a martini glass.
This store provides a nice clean, open space– but they’re NOT the cheapest. They’re the only ones I’ve been able to find Señor Curaçao ($ 27.99 for 750mL) and Marie Brizard Chocolate Liquer ($ 19.99 for 750mL) at, but I can usually find other liquors for a dollar or two cheaper at Warehouse Wines around the corner. This location is convenient for me to purchase items for work events, but after purchasing a 750mL bottle of Veuve Clique Brut from them for $ 49.97, I saw the same at Trader Joe’s Wines for $ 42.99. Also, they stock the Bitter Truth bitters here ($ 18.99 for a 200ml bottle) and I saw Fee Brothers bitters for less ($ 8.99 for a 118ml bottles) at Union Square Wines and Spirits.
I usually still come here if I’m having a hard time finding something or for suggestions, as their staff is usually knowledgeable and for the most part they stock quality alcohol, so you can’t really go wrong even with their cheaper choices. I was in a rush one day and told the sales associate I needed three bottles of a spicy red for under $ 30. They recommended a tasty Cotes du Rhone that they had on sale for $ 7.96 a (750ml) bottle.

Gotham has a lot of liquor stores… but there aren’t many that are the size or have the range of booze that you’ll find at Astor Wines. Whatever your taste — wine, gin, vodka, whiskey, rum, or something else — you’ll find a range of brands and styles to please your palate and prices that won’t (necessarily) break the bank. Though, their ‘rare’ bottles may strain that rule a bit.
Astor frequently hosts wine (and other liquor) tastings, which is a great way to find something new for your elbow-​bending exercises. And their fast and friendly cashiers will make sure you get to those exercises in no time at all.

This place is great! We love it! You can pretty much find any kinds of alcohol in this place. The selection is huge! The prices are also pretty good. You can also find those old rare hard to find alcohol here.
We were looking for different type of Lillet & most places that we went, their Lillet selection is small or they don’t even carry it at all. They carry almost all of the Lillet products here. We found what we were looking for here. They also have free tastings here.
The staff are also pretty friendly & polite.
Highly recommended! If you need to shop for alcohol, definitely stop by this place.
We’ll definitely go back!

Updating and adding another star.
You can see my previous review for a general rundown of the store, but I wanted to update as we have been attending events here.
The most recent was Rose day. It was spectacular. So well done. $ 40, and we tasted about 50 wines, met some really knowledgeable people, and even some winemakers. Learned a lot, discovered new wines, and walked out with a case at a great discount.
The event was easily worth twice what we paid.
I also heard that Dylan York is with Astor now. Run, don’t walk to the classes he hosts. Trust me.

I recently had a REALLY nice experience at an Astor event («Martinis, Manhattans, and more») with my wife. We got an Astor card as a wedding gift, and we finally decided to put it to use…
This was the mixology course, and we’d been excited to do it for a while. Since my wife and I are big into cocktails, we favored this one over the other wine pairings and Scotch offerings (although, they sounded good too!). Astor Center itself is very nice — a good location, easy to get to from where we are via train and subway, and nice décor in the place.
The event was in a really nice room that was set up perfectly for the course — each person had their own mini mixing station with tools. Nice. The class itself was also REALLY interesting. It went into the histories of spirits and the cocktails that we made (about five total). For a drink geek like myself, I loved that kind of stuff. The class was run smoothly by the instructor, as she spoke well and loud, answered all questions from the crowd about cocktails, and showed us her techniques when mixing.
There’s also a store on the lower floor of Astor (like many have mentioned previously), but it’s obviously pricey. However, their selection of wines, spirits, and bar tools was definitely cool. The layout of the store is really nice as well, but be prepared to drop some clams on your purchases!
If you’re debating doing one of their classes, I would HIGHLY recommend it. It’s definitely worth the money for a nice night out with someone learning about wines, spirits, or drinks!

My favorite wine store for over a decade now. Super-​well organized subterranean wine market with excellent selection (including an impressive array of upstate, Hudson, and LI wines), clear labels and wine notes, and enthusiastic staff of young oenophiles on hand if you have any questions.
They have tone of free tastings and some very good bottles under $ 10, including the $ 100 box that’s quick, easy, and great for parties.
If you prefer liquor, they’ve also got plenty of that, and they’re always bringing in interesting new producers and distributors.

Happened to stumble upon this store with my friends after grabbing lunch. What I really liked about this place is the décor and how organized everything was. When I am in NYC I get ready to walk into small cramped spaces, but this place is the opposite and quite huge. This place is like a mall for wines and liquor. You can have a field day in there. Not really, but it’s nice because there are several stations where you can have liquor and wine tastings. The staff was super nice and ready to answer any and all questions you have and even give you a little wine lesson.
Astor Wines is not your typical store where you go to pick up one wine. People in there have shopping carts filling their cart with bottles upon bottles. I’m sure you can go and get one if you’d like but people typically go here to stock up.

Passed by this place a bunch of times, but not even sure how or why I never ventured into this store until only recently. Consider me a fan. Astor Wines and Spirits is just incredible in terms of the selection for all types of wines and spirits. I also appreciate the cleanliness and care paid to organization throughout the store. This should be your staple shop for liquors and wines, and the pricing seems reasonable for the city.
Came in to look for a specific spirit as a birthday present, Ransom Old Tom Gin. It is a bit of an uncommon, lesser known Gin, but Astor Wines is probably one of the few stores that carry this special spirit. Though while debating between that and Japanese whiskey, I had to inquire staff on their knowledge of the Japanese whiskey available, which was a pretty good amount. One of their staff members was extremely helpful and knowledgeable in providing input on the different whiskies. They also allow you to sample any spirit that you are curious about. I was able to try a sip or two of the Yamazaki 12 Yr. I ended up buying both Ransom and the Yamazaki. Huge plus in my opinion if you want to try before you buy. They also have gift cards available if unsure.
Astor Wines should be your staple liquor shop in the city. The selection cannot be surpassed when looking for specific labels. The wine selection is really great especially. You can order from online/​have your spirits delivered as well. Overall, this might now be my top liquor store in the city.