Houston Wine Merchant . . . not a bad choice if it's payday

A commenter asked me what I thought of this store (at the Randall's plaza at Westheimer and Shepherd). Since I hadn't been there in literally years, I stopped in briefly the other night on the way home from work. I was more impressed than I thought I'd be. This store has a well-chosen selection of wines from several countries. I was most impressed with its Australian section, and its Burgundy selection was interesting as well. The mark-ups seemed relatively high for most items (though not nearly as high as Christopher's), but there were still several notable values interspersed throughout the store. This would appear to be a good store to go to if you wanted to find something interesting in the $18 -$50 range, as that seems to where the bulk of its wines are priced. For value, I'm still a Spec's and Richard's guy, but this store certainly fills a niche (albeit a niche for people who like to spend more on wine than I typically do).