Well here’s a new twist on buying wine online: AccidentalWine.com is sort of like the fire-damage department store chain of wine. They buy product that has such merchandising no-nos as damaged labels, out-of-date brnading elements, or other minor defects that do not affect the quality of the wine but do make the bottles unsuitable for conventional retail sale. Then they sell it online at discounted prices. If it works for TJ Maxx, it should work for them, right?
There are a couple of things to pay attention to, though. The first is that you don’t get to choose what wines you buy. They’ve very vaguely organized the wines they sell into three categories based on three sets of “tastes”, but the tastes aren’t even defined by readily identifiable styles such as “Big Reds” or “Citrusy Whites” or by region. One says “…very good wines with reputation and breeding but old fashioned pricing…”, another says “…great wines from around the world as one who appreciates the artistic works of great winemakers…”, and the third says “…great wines with good value, because the doctor (smart guy) demands I drink a glass of wine everyday. These prices help my budget.” That third category in particular makes me think of Two-Buck Chuck, but those are kinda fuzzy ways to identify wines. So you pick which categoy you prefer, and they send you a case (or as many as you want to buy, I guess) of whatever they have that fits that description. Kind of like telling a car dealer “I want something blue that seats four” and letting him decide whether he’ll give you a 2008 Mercedes or a 1953 Buick. At least with this wine thing, you *can* specify white, red, a mix, or a “surprise me” case.
Also note that “discount” does not mean “cheap”. You want Two-Buck Chuck, go to Trader Joe’s. A shipment of three bottles is $67.00 (not including S&H). That means you’re paying a little over $22 per bottle. The webite says that the average retail price of the wines they sell in the 3-packs is $84/bottle, so that is a pretty steep discount off the original price. Unless I’m buying a bottle for a special occasion, though, my typical price point for wine is more in the $12 range. I probably would try this with the hope that I would get some really nice wines for a price that isn’t totally out of my league, but if you’re not among the adventuresome wine drinkers, you might think twice.
If you like good wine bargains, try wine.woot.com.
They don’t ship to KY where I live…
Jesus, my mug is in your visitors thingy twice. And Gretchen! That’s 30% of your traffic!
BTW: Gretchen is a wine-o-file.
You’re welcome.
I know some of the woot guys from another website. They actually have pretty decent wine.