Celebrating its 15th year in business this fall, Red Spirits & Wine is one of Bellevue's most enduring independent retail success stories. Customers visit three or four times a week because a trip there is part of their social calendar. And according to general manager Eric Nichols, the store has evolved considerably over the years and included a change in ownership, a loosening of liquor laws in Tennessee and a shift in the spirits landscape.
The original ownership group set out to be, as Nichols puts it, "more of the Whole Foods of the retail spirits industry as opposed to the Kroger." The goal was to be "a little nicer, a little bit more upscale without being foo-foo-y or bougie."
Even the name was intentional. Putting spirits before wine — Red Spirits & Wine rather than the conventional wine and spirits — was a deliberate creative decision made to distinguish the brand from the very first moment a customer had to say it out loud. "There was an intentional inversion of the order on those just to make it a more distinct thing to have to say so that you'd actually have to think about saying spirits and wine instead of wine and spirits," Nichols says.
Ask Nichols what truly sets Red Spirits & Wine apart and he will tell you, "The most consistent thing we hear from our customers is that they just like the hospitality of the place," he says. Job applicants frequently cite the atmosphere as their reason for applying. "Everybody just seems like they like working here," is the phrase he hears most often.
The wine team has earned a reputation for genuine expertise and honest guidance. The staff at Red practices what Nichols calls "micro branding" or curated, personal suggestions based on what each customer actually enjoys. "Our crew's really good at just helping the customers find the absolute best dollar for dollars that they're going to get," he says.
The store's wine director brings an additional dimension to the operation: an extensive background in fine tobacco. Three cigar humidors also draw customers who come for nothing else.
The store also boasts one of only two growler stations in Nashville — sixteen draft taps from which customers can purchase fresh draft beer to go. "You can purchase draft beer to go," Nichols says. "You can't drink it while you're in the store, but you can purchase it to go fresh off the tap."
As the seasons shift and the air in Middle Tennessee finally begins to cool, Red Spirits & Wine leans into the flavors that define autumn. Pumpkin beer, once a strictly seasonal novelty, has become so popular that it now arrives on shelves as early as August. Leading the charge is Schlafly, a Midwest brewery that Nichols credits with single-handedly reviving the category.
"They are probably the largest producer of pumpkin ale," he says. "Schlafly was undoubtedly the brewery that reignited pumpkin beer in this country." The store typically carries at least a dozen different pumpkin beers by the time fall is fully underway, including pumpkin ales, pumpkin stouts, pumpkin porters. "It kind of, I think, almost tastes like brewed pumpkin pie," Nichols says of the Schlafly offering.
Apple, the season's other signature flavor, shows up primarily through cider, a category that has grown considerably in recent years. Apple vodkas round out the offering for spirits drinkers looking for that crisp, autumnal edge.
Beyond the fall seasonals, Nichols has been watching two categories in particular gain serious momentum through the summer and into the fall: mezcal and high-end rum.
Mezcal, tequila's smokier, more complex agave-based cousin, has exploded from a niche curiosity into a legitimate category at Red Spirits & Wine. "10 years ago in this market, if you went in a store, if they even had mezcal, they might have one, and it was usually a cheap one," Nichols says. Today, the store carries roughly two dozen mezcals, reflecting a shift in customer sophistication and curiosity that has accelerated notably in recent years.
High-end rum is enjoying a similar moment. "Nicer rums are also enjoying a little bit of a bounce and interest," Nichols says. Both categories offer something that the bourbon-saturated market of recent years sometimes hasn't: genuine surprise and discovery for a customer ready to venture somewhere new.
As for Nichols himself? His personal go-to remains wine — specifically red wine, consumed with food, chosen for value as much as quality. "Even though I've been in the business a long time and I've traveled in wine country in several different parts of Europe and South America," he says, "I'm just really looking for the thing that I can pay $20 or less for that just really over-delivers."
It's an honest answer from a man who has spent fifteen years helping other people find exactly that. And it speaks to what makes Red Spirits & Wine worth the visit. RedSpirits.com