They say that journalists keep their absolute favorite sources for goodies to themselves. I admit to being tempted to do just this with Warehouse Wines & Spirits. But if you’re a reader of Urban Vintage, maybe even a faithful reader, how can I hold out on you?

Let me cut right to the core values of this rambling, highly unsleek wine supermarket located on Broadway at Astor Place. Warehouse Wines & Spirits is all about special vinous values, sometimes knockout values. When a wholesaler needs to move wine fast and in quantity, whether to make space for new shipments or some other reason, that wine might well end up at Warehouse Wines & Spirits at retail prices ruthlessly lower than had been intended.

Just now, for example, the store is featuring the red l’Aurore Bourgogne 2002 and the white l’Aurore Bourgogne 2002, one Pinot Noir and the other Chardonnay, each for $9.99. Vintage is critical in Burgundy, and 2002 was superb. These wines were slated to sell for at least $15, according to proprietor Steve Goldstein. “The story is that the importer brought in a container of these l’Aurore wines – that’s 900 or 1,200 cases – that they wanted to launch as a brand. And they just abandoned the project. On both sides of the deal we were realistic about price. So I bought it all.”

The l’Aurore wines are a great buy in a wine made for the mass market. What is more intriguing to avid wine hunters at Warehouse Wines & Spirits, however, is the small quantities of offbeat or downright rare wines that are always lurking here. Finding them, amid regiments of steel racks and cases holding more than 5,500 wines, requires some patient poking. But that’s the fun of the hunt. Sometimes limited to a few bottles, these are mainly tail ends of lots that the wholesaler could not be bothered to keep in inventory. Or they may be wines that are no longer attractive to the wine-buying public. Some are wines that, despite high quality and interesting taste profiles, were simply too esoteric to ever gain a following.

Consider, for example, the trio of wines that were opened at my table last weekend, all of them purchased at Warehouse Wines & Spirits. On Friday night, a roast chicken was paired with Chateau Potensac, vintage 1994, a well known cru bourgeois exceptional from Bordeaux. Americans are highly vintage-conscious when it comes to French wine, and 1994 was dismissed as second-string. In fact, it was a perfectly decent vintage. My Pontensac, purchased a few months ago, was more bones than flesh, but with a firm core of curranty flavor. A decade old, it was at its best. On Saturday afternoon, I opened a half bottle of “Les Trois Schistes” vintage 1997, from Domaine de Montgilet. It’s an intense, honeyed, sweet white wine, edged with acidity, from the Coteaux de l’Aubance in the Loire Valley, a tiny appellation that I’d never heard of. I’d intended to serve Les Trois Schistes with a Coach Farm goat cheese. But the wine was so vividly intense that it ended up being sipped solo. On Sunday, I opened a Meursault, vintage 1993, Domaine Henri Germain. White burgundy worth its salt needs time in bottle to be at its best. This one, hazelnut-inflected and creamy-textured, was as good as it gets. All of the above wines were bargain-priced, the most expensive being the Meursault at $17.99.

Obviously, not every batch of wine being unloaded at a distress price is pristine. A wine industry source told me, for example, that he knew of an importer who discovered that some bottles in a shipment of wines were refermenting in the bottle. That defect might well throw off the taste of the wine, although it would not be unhealthy to drink. Those wines, I was told, ended up at Warehouse Wines & Spirits. “If we find out that a shipment is no good, we dump it,” a staff person told me at the store. “Or we give it to customers to use for cooking.”

In my experience, the bad bottles have been few and far between. Currently, I’d warn you away from a Chablis, Premier Cru, vintage 1996 from Moreau-Naudet. At $10, it seems too good to be true. And so it was with the bottle I bought, which had spoiled. That same staff person told me that, as at most wine shops, there is no formal policy on return at Warehouse Wine & Spirits, “but that if the bottle was under $10, we’ll probably just issue a credit, even if this was a case of a wine that didn’t suit the customer’s expectations.”

The look of Warehouse Wine & Spirits, sallowly lit by fluorescent tube lights, is rigorously utilitarian. On Saturdays, the scene in the narrow and crowded aisles can be as boisterous as uptown at Zabar’s. But there are informed salespeople roaming the floor, and I especially recommend Allen Sack. He’s an opinionated guy, but that’s desirable in a wine salesperson that knows his or her stuff.

At most wine shops I frequent, I get to know the proprietor. In years of shopping at Warehouse Wines & Spirits, however, I never caught sight of the boss, or even learned his name, until late last week. When I reached Mr. Goldstein by telephone, he was cautious about talking to the press and told me that he is rarely on the sales floor. “I do not try to create a following,” he said. “This store is defined by its great buys and values, and I prefer to stay in my office working on those deals. That’s where I can best serve the customer.”

If staying behind the scenes is what it takes to keep the great deals coming, Mr. Goldstein, then I hope I never do see you.

Some Recommended Wines

LA DAME DE MONTROSE, ST. ESTEPHE, 1997, $19.99 When I asked Mr. Sack for his best Bordeaux value under $20, he unhesitatingly picked this one. It’s the second wine of Chateau Montrose, currently one of the region’s best-performing wines. “Open it 90 minutes before serving,” Mr. Sack said, and I obeyed. The wine is no fruit bomb, but it has poise and elegance. After a night on a cool windowsill, it had plumped out in texture and flavor.

DUFF GORDON VINTAGE PORTO 1994, $15.99 This brand, best known for sherry, is the second label port of Osborne, the fine port house that owns Duff Gordon. The price at Warehouse is a fraction of what it goes for in Britain. With winter sipping weather far from over, you can’t go wrong.

DOMAINE BOTT-GEYL MUSCAT, RIQUWIHR, 1998, $11.99 Age has given this white Alsacian wine a peppery, floral bouquet so intense you can almost drink it with your nose. Lovely, glycerin smooth texture and a taste of lichee and pineapple. An individualist among wines.

IRONSTONE RESERVE ZINFANDEL “OLD VINES,” 2002, $13.99 From a vineyard dating back to 1909 in Lodi, classic Zinfandel country. Ironstone wines are reliably good, and this one goes the extra measure. Intense fruit and eucalyptus notes. It’s double this price on the winery’s Web site.

SCORES BRUT, SPECIAL CUVEE BY PACIFIC ECHO, $7.99 I’m not planning to check out any of the Scores strip clubs, for which this wine was custom-labeled, so I can’t tell you what this sparkler costs on site. I can tell you that Pacific Echo is an excellent California winemaker and this bubbly is surely a bargain.

Warehouse Wines & Spirits, 735 Broadway at Astor Place, 212-982-7770.