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25 October 2008 - Ideally, wine buyers would always buy from the wineries themselves to assure quality and provenance. However, most of us
have been making the majority of our wine purchases from the local grocery store or wine shop as a matter of convenience. Convenience nowadays
is leading many online to make purchases because of the increased brand and vintage selection and sometimes even price. Unfortunately for many others
there are still a number of states where shipping wine directly to consumers is illegal, but this number shrinks annually and smaller outfits
are often willing to flout laws which are difficult at best to enforce. In this article we review websites from the behemoth Wine.com down
to smaller upstarts like MyWinesDirect.com and from posh auction websites like WineBid.com down to overstock discount sites like Wine.Woot.com.
A regularly updated list of website reviews will also be available for future information on this topic. Without
further ado, here are the ratings:
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.
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.
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.
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