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Many US wineries also have websites allowing you to order directly from the winery. Shipping charges are usually reasonable, but beware that the
prices they charge will never undercut distributors so if it's a widely available wine you'll be able to find it cheaper locally. Of course,
buying from the winery itself you're guaranteed good provenance.
MyWinesDirect.com - This site has some interesting offbeat selections, although what they
have is fairly limited. Service and shipping are reasonable and they sometimes offer free shipping deals.
Wine.com - If lawyers could write a website, this would be it. You can't even look at the site if
you choose a state where they don't ship on the welcome screen. Also annoyingly won't even let you look at other wines once you've put the
max for your state in the cart - or even details of the wines in your cart! This makes browsing and then winnowing rather impossible. Then
there is the "wine substitution policy", which I reproduce in all it's inanity:
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On occasion, certain vintages will sell out or be replaced by a new release after your order is placed. In that case, we will hold your
order and email you with the option to select other items. Or if you prefer, you can select "yes" under "vintage substitution" in your
shopping cart, allowing our Wine Specialist to substitute your selection with a comparable vintage. If the wine is under $15 and the specific
vintage is not available after placing your order, Wine.com reserves the right to substitute a comparable vintage regardless of the box
checked, to expedite order processing.
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Basically what this means is that although they may advertise several vintages of a wine on their site they actually only have one, which
they will send to you unless you are a high-end customer. Not surprisingly, their selection and prices mirror what you can find at your local
grocery store until you get into the high end. As the largest shipper in the industry they could afford not only to research the myriad of
state laws in the US, but also who among their competitors is failing to follow them - information which they gladly share with state
governments. Negatives aside, they have a wide selection, have reasonable shipping rates and often offer free shipping deals. Plus they send
stickers with info about each wine and tabs to label them!
WineBid.com - If you're looking for wine older than a few years but live far from a major city's
auction house there are limited options on the internet. Ebay of course has a variety of individual sellers, but who wants to buy a $1000
bottle of Bordeaux from ladiesman217? WineBid brings all the traditional valuation and quality checking of an auctionhouse to the internet.
They take consignments from individuals and even verify provenance back to the winery if possible. That being said, they also bring the
auctionhouse mark-up too: 1% insurance, 14% fee, and high shipping costs for fairly flimsy packing. They do, however, offer very flexible
shipping options and only ship if there is cool weather both at their climate-controlled facility and at your location.
winelibrary.com - Probably the most incompetent organization I have encountered, period. I
ordered 2 cases of wine online, and they emailed me a few days later to tell me the only actually had 11 of those bottles. When I received the
shipment a few weeks later it contained 9 bottles and an invoice saying I'd been charged for 11. Calling customer service the next day,
they apologized and said they'd ship the other 2 bottles right away. A week went by, and I called customer service again - apparently they'd
"forgotten" to ship the bottles, but they would ship them right away. Then they called me back to tell me that there was only one of the bottles
I'd ordered still in stock. Three weeks after my initial order I get a refund for a bottle they never had. Will I ever get that last bottle
from my order? I have my doubts. It seems they all must drink as much wine as Gary Vaynerchuk does in his videos - before they come to work.
Wine.Woot.com - An overstock site geared toward the tech-savvy, woot offers one deal every
few days with upfront pricing for shipping (usually $5-7 for 2-4 bottles). Sometimes it's a deal and sometimes a dud (or food instead of wine),
but always a humorous take on the product "from a literary perspective". Wine.Woot.com orders come straight from the wineries or their
international distributors, so packaging varies.
Article 25 October 2008
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