Anthony King attended his first wine tasting earlier this month, one of about 50 people who gathered for the Pittsburgh chapter of the American Wine Society event. Local wine educator John Eld led the program at the Millvale Knights of Columbus lodge, where the group sampled and debated the qualities of six recent vintage Burgundies.

As Mr. King and the others waited for the first bottle to be uncorked, he mentioned that he had spent the 1990s in Europe, where wines were part of everyday life, and he'd decided he wanted to learn more about them.

Patrick J. Stapleton, new chairman of the PLCB.

He began his wine education by perusing wine magazines off the newsstand, but quickly hit a roadblock.

"Some of the wines I started reading about, the state stores just doesn't have them," the Squirrel Hill resident said. "They have their premium stores but still, if something isn't on the list, you have a real tough time getting it."

Like a middling merlot, Pennsylvania's state stores can produce a wide range of opinions and judgments from wine enthusiasts and those just looking for something to go with dinner tonight. They like shopping in well-kept stores with clean shelves. But the limited selection and three-stop party shopping are frustrating, and can be a jarring adjustment for new Pennsylvania residents accustomed to buying wine at the grocery store.

Jonathan Newman, who resigned as PLCB chairman a year ago.

"It's not a great system," said Mr. Eld, "but it could be a lot worse."

In the past five years, Pennsylvania's state stores have made miles of progress in improved service, with expanded hours, online ordering, premium collection stores and the Chairman's Selection program.

Barbara Wagner, another participant at the wine tasting, believes the premium collection stores have ample offerings for the discerning wine lover. "My feeling is it isn't that broken so there's no need to fix it."

But Greg Pollock, current chairman of the wine society and a winemaker himself, still rues the departure of former liquor control board chairman Jonathan Newman, who resigned in protest a year ago after former Sen. Joe Conti was abruptly brought on in a newly created CEO position. Mr. Newman is a connoisseur and aimed to bring broader selection and higher quality to the state system.

"Newman brought us from the dark ages to where we are today," said Mr. Pollock. "Since he left, I don't see a lot of vision in the state system."

In a December interview, PLCB Chairman Patrick J. Stapleton and Mr. Conti said the agency is regrouping and rethinking how it does business as it reviews its entire organizational structure.

"We're moving to more of a retail model," said Mr. Conti, noting they had already realized a $25 million savings by reducing inventory that may mean one or two extra bottles of a particular wine kept in stock instead of three or four.

"Our biggest battle," said Mr. Stapleton, "is the perception that our prices are high and our selection is less."

Whether prices are, in fact, lower seems a matter of debate. While programs like the Chairman's Selection bring steep discounts, the 30 percent markup, plus the 18 percent Johnstown Flood Tax, plus a bottle charge and sales taxes can wipe that out.

Rep. Robert Donatucci, D-Philadelphia, who chairs the House Liquor Control Committee, said both are true -- some items are cheaper here, and some are not. That's why he favors reducing the Johnstown Flood Tax.

"If we could cut down the Johnstown Flood Tax, nobody could come close to our prices."

No program in recent memory has been a bigger hit more than the Chairman's Selections, which uses the state's massive purchasing power to buy wines at discounted prices.

Started by Mr. Newman in 2004, the program greatly expanded after his departure a year ago. Where there used to be 20 to 30 Chairman Selections at one time -- all personally tasted by Mr. Newman -- the individual listings numbered more than 175 at one point last year.

But wine experts say that's a case of quantity outpacing quality.

"These are flawed wines. If you really sit down and pick your way through them, you will find the flaws," said Mr. Eld. "They figure the average person that buys those isn't [noted wine critic] Robert Parker, so they are not going to notice."

With more selections, though, the odds of getting a clinker go up. Bargain hunting saves money, but it precludes getting the best wines because wineries won't discount what they can easily sell at full price.

"If you look closely at those [Chairman's Selection] deals, the best ones are in fact wines that were under producing, where the wine was not in demand, then Pennsylvania walked up with its checkbook and offered to buy the whole lot," said Mark Squires, a Philadelphia attorney and wine writer who runs an electronic bulletin board on Mr. Parker's Web site, www.eRobertParker.com.

He did say that Pennsylvania's state stores can offer great deals "if all you really want is to buy wine under $15. But on the best wines, the hot wines, the wines that are getting people excited, they don't get a deal on those."

Just before Christmas, the PLCB advertised what appeared to be a great deal on a Sommelier Collection: a 2000 Robert Mondavi cabernet reserve with a suggested retail price of $150 that the state stores were selling for $59.99. During the Christmas season, the tissue-wrapped bottles were prominently displayed in a special blue rack near the cash register at the Liberty Avenue store near Fifth Avenue Place.

But an Internet check one day in December found posters on Mr. Squires' site reporting the same wine being sold for $30 through a special discount by one retailer, while other sites priced it at $90 and up to $150.

Mr. Stapleton said LCB staff members do check the Internet before putting the "Lowest price in the U.S." stickers on placards. Usually they are the lowest or, if not, they are very close, he said.

The problem, said Mr. Squires, is that the listed suggested retail price "is usually a joke. The reason is that usually the winery had delusions of grandeur [when it set its prices]."

The Mondavi Reserve scored a 91 on a 100-point scale, which Mr. Squires termed "a good performance in a bad vintage. But at $150, you expect something truly excellent, not just a bit above average.'"

This night, Mr. Eld had made sure that all six wines at the tasting are available through the Pennsylvania state store system. The clear favorite of the 50 or so attendees was a $93 bottle of Grand Cru Echezeaux.

Mr. Pollock wonders if a private retail system would have such choices, especially if the Pittsburgh region was not seen as a good market for specialty wine shops. The picture is different in Philadelphia.

On a wintry Tuesday morning last year, the parking lot at the Total Wine and More Store in Claymont, Del. -- less than 10 minutes from the Pennsylvania border -- had more than a dozen cars with Pennsylvania plates in the parking lot.

The store carries all the popular labels, plus dozens of private labels.

A few dozen paces into the store and there, next to a display of Italian wines, clerks have stocked pastas and snacks, the makings for a complete dinner in one easy stop. To the left is a tasting station.

Looking for a brandy? They come in peach, ginger, coffee, cherry, blackberry, apricot and apple flavors, and all but the apple are available for $9.99. Looking for some Boone's Farm to reminisce about the old college days? It's available for $2.49.

At the higher end, but in the same store, there's a '95 Chateau Petrus for $1,100 a bottle.

Mr. Conti said Pennsylvania should not be expected to match Delaware's prices when that state has no sales tax.

"We can compete with any state, save Delaware," he said. "Where we're going to beat Delaware is with a better in-store experience."