Where to find a good bottle of wine in Poland?

I would be grateful for some advice and help on where I can go to find good red or white 'dry' wine.... Although there are plenty of supermarkets selling wine, very often the wine I see is 'sweet' and it is quite difficult to find 'dry only' wine. I am now careful to look at the bottle label to check on whether the wine is sweet and have only really found one or two labels which are ok...Italian wine seems to provide the best 'dry' wine. Of course it does perhaps depend on price and in general I am looking at the 12-18zl range, but would be happy to pay more if the right wine was available.

Any market chain will do: from Żabka to Tesco....

Thanks for your advice....I have already tried Tesco and other supermarkets a number of times but no luck in finding a selection of 'dry' white or red wine, just the odd one or two...Some wines I have come across should be 'dry' but still taste 'sweet'....I will keep on looking but just wondered if anyone could recommend a 'dry' wine as opposed to 'sweet dry' etc.

You don't say where you live, but all larger cities now have wine speciality shops, just ask for 'bardzo wytrawne' and then select for price.

Pure nonsense - you must not be looking close enough for some reason then as Tesco for sure have got a wide selection of Pinot Grigio, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, etc. Just look or ask for 'Wino Wytrawne' under country and colour of choice.

Maybe you're getting "półwytrawne" (semi dry) instead of "wytrawne"?

Just go to M&S.

back in my days a 8 zł bottle of Komandos or Klosterkeller was considered a good deal for 8zł ;)

The two best place i have found is Tesco and lidl both have a good selection of cheap and quality wines

Thanks for your feedback....and yes for me I really enjoy Pinot grigio from Tesco which is my favourite. Larger Tesco stores also have Chardonay and Soave from the same producer which all have a really good 'dry' taste...Lidl also have some good wines and I will also try out some of the speciality shops....Thanks again for your feedback..

If you're in Warsaw, Carrefour in Centrum Handlowy Willeńska has a huge selection of wines and there's also a specialist wine shop in the shopping centre. I think wine was always seen as a 'ladies' drink in Poland and even now when my husband and I visit older people, they always trot out a bottle of wine for me which they assure me is lovely and sweet! It tends to be very bland. Dessert wine is definitely favoured and wine is still often sold simply as sweet, semi-sweet, semi-dry with no reference to the grape used. However it is changing and you can get a decent Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet etc in most supermarkets now. There won't be a huge selection but you should be able to find something. It's usually a safe bet to go for any Argentinian or South African wine if you want good quality and taste. They're my own favourites :)

Thanks for this Atch.....your feedback is really helpful....I live near to Krakow so will check out specialist wine shops...I agree that a lot of wine tends to be sweet or semi sweet etc but I am sure to find a better selection soon....

Have you tried Alma? They have a few branches in Kraków and they're a bit more upmarket than the average supermarket. Na zdrowie!

If you are in Kraków you will find there is a specialist wine shop on Dietla just next to the crossroads at Starowislna. Also a couple in Kazimierz. These are very expensive though so be prepared to pay through the nose.

I always found Lidl had a good selection as did my local Biedronka (I had 2 next to me, one had a great selection, the other not so much). In the latter I have found NZ Sauvingon for 17.99 at times. It is hit or miss as it depends the stock that's in at the moment, their prosecco is pretty good too. Also check out the Portugese Vinho Verde as that's dry with a nice effervescence and is often in stock. Lidl is a safer bet as their wine selection is more consistent, however I always find they are better for red than white, so keep that in mind.

Other than that, I echo the comments of others, make sure you are looking for "Wytrawne" and check the description on the bottle as you will often find Polwytrawne wines sitting in the Wytrawne section.

In Krakow, there is a shop on ul. Karmelicka (near to al. Slowackiego) which has a wide selection of all wines you could possible desire. Even non-alcoholic ones.

Thank you all for your comments which are really helpful...I will try out Alba and also the NZ Sauvingnon recommendation..as well as the other suggestions...Portugese Vinho Verdeso sounds interesting..I will also check out the shop in Krakow...thank you again...

In my opinion for what its worth... the wines of casillerodeldiablo.com/becoming-a-legend are good value in Poland, you will find them in any Biedronka or Carrefour - the price per bottle is around 28-30 Zlots. Enjoy

Thank you grape juice I will check this out in my local Biedronka.....