The 10 Best Places To Buy Wine Online

Educate Yourself So You Can Find The Best Places To Buy Wine

You want to buy the best wine for the money online, but how? Where can you find great-value wine? Which online wine stores deliver quality without big markups?

If you’re reading this article, it’s a safe bet that you have purchased a bottle of wine at some point—perhaps at a restaurant or wine shop or even at a winery.  It’s also a safe bet that at some point, you’ve wondered if you’ll have to take out a second mortgage to support your habit (that hint of salinity I’m picking up in my 1er Cru Puligny-Montrachet is probably just the tears I cried into my glass when I checked my bank statement).

Given that the more wine we drink, the more refined our palates become, we have to ask several essential questions if we are to be fiscally responsible wine consumers: why is this grape juice so expensive? Who decides what I will pay? And how can I continue drinking delicious, interesting wine without losing my shirt? (Figuratively.  If you literally lose your shirt, I can’t help you there, but maybe that third bottle wasn’t the best idea). To summarize, you want to find the best wine at the best price. We want to help you with your quest.

Let's start with the easy part. What are the costs associated with making wine?

Understanding What Drives The Cost Of Wine Online

The Three-Tier System

All of the combined above will still only get us a fraction of the way to the final cost of the bottle you consume.  Where, then, does the rest of the cost come from? With this knowledge, you can find the best places to buy wine online and avoid some of these markups.

To understand this, we must become familiar with the “Three-Tier System.”

After prohibition was repealed in the US in 1933, a multi-level distribution system was put in place to provide control of the market, prevent monopolies and brand favoritism, and ensure tax revenue from alcohol sales.  While the details were left to individual states, in most cases, the structure looks essentially the same:

• • • Tier 1 is production (wineries, sometimes importers)
    • Tier 2 is distribution (importers, suppliers, distributors)
    • Tier 3 is the consumer-facing tier (retailers, restaurants, bars etc.)

While a discussion of the advantages, disadvantages, and relevance today of this system is cause for a whole series of articles in itself, what can definitively be said is that since each entity involved in the three-tier system needs to turn a profit, then with each step in the system the cost of the bottle will increase.

Say you see a $100 bottle of wine on a restaurant wine list.  A winery may have sold the bottle to the distributor for $21 at a moderate profit margin, and in turn, the distributor will have sold the wine to the restaurant for $35.  At an industry-standard markup, the restaurant can sell the wine on its list at $100.

As there are more costs involved with wine service in a restaurant vs. wine sales in retail—service staff, glassware, wine lists, rent for a larger space, etc.--restaurants use a higher markup than retailers, but you could still expect to see this bottle on a retail shelf at around $55.

It is easy to see how costs can add up. Given the vast amount of wine available on the market and the often-confusing factors that determine value, consumers may tend to make quality decisions when purchasing based on the final price of the bottle. In reality, the best wine isn't always the most expensive.

With some education and practice, however, we can train ourselves to make quality judgments about a wine based on the juice itself.

Look For These Characteristics When Buying Wine Online

There are five main factors to consider when tasting wine for quality: balance, length, intensity, complexity, and typicity. The best wine will score high on all of these measures.

The best online wine stores have detailed reviews and tasting notes to help you find the best value bottles. Understanding the factors below will help you sift through the flowery language in the reviews and find the most essential qualities.

1. Balance

The individual characteristics of a wine are in harmony with one another.  When you taste a wine, does it feel “flabby” or have a “hot” sensation on the palate? If so, the alcohol is likely out of balance with the acidity.

Alcohol, acid, tannin, body, and sweetness are all examples of structural characteristics that work together to create a well-textured wine, and they must be in balance with one another.  Likewise, the flavors must be balanced; a wine that is all earthiness and no fruit will not be in balance.

2. Length

Refers to the “finish” of a wine.  A high-quality wine will linger on the palate, revealing its complexities and giving you time to ponder its personality.

3. Intensity

It could perhaps better be stated as “clarity”, as this is not to say that delicate, elegant wines cannot be of high quality; quite the opposite.  But they must still have a certain intensity of character—the flavors will be clear, not watered down, and sure of themselves.

4. Complexity

Refers to all the different characteristics of a wine you can perceive—generally referring to aromatic/flavor complexity.

A wine that only tastes like say, cherries may be pleasant but not super interesting.  A wine with aromas of black cherry, plum, baking spice, tilled earth, and mushroom will provide much more nuanced enjoyment.

5. Typicity

Does the wine taste like where it came from? One of the reasons we enjoy wine is because it speaks to a particular time and place.  A California Cabernet Sauvignon from a hot vintage should not taste like a French Pinot Noir from a cool vintage.  If it does, something has probably gone wrong.

More Ways To Save Money On Quality Wine

Beyond looking for certain regions for value, you can also get creative with buying and consuming your wine.

While I urge consumers to be respectful of a restaurant’s policies on corkage, if buying wine from a restaurant wine list is cost-prohibitive, you may consider going to a BYO restaurant.

Additionally, many consumers are now buying wines online (some state-by-state restrictions may apply) or from wineries through direct-to-consumer programs.  Increasingly, online “flash sales” are popping up as well.

Sites like Wine Access and Total Wine and More offer value through unique buying relationships with wineries.

That said, the personalized experience you get when you shop at a local retailer or have a sommelier assist your selections at a restaurant is a big part of the experience for many consumers, and rightfully so.  If you enjoy this value-added experience, as I often do, then by all means, enjoy--and feel good that you know where that money is going!

Some online wine stores are doing an excellent job of creating that personal touch. These stores typically have a chat feature. The person on the other end of the chat is a wine expert trained to assist you in your search for high-quality wine. The online wine superstore, wine.com offers a live wine expert to help you as you shop.

What if my state doesn’t allow wine to be shipped in?

Several states don’t allow any alcohol to be shipped in.  In these cases, you’ll need to find a retailer in your own state that ships wine and work with their site to find what you’re looking for.  Wine-Searcher is probably a great way to look for a reliable shipper if you don’t know the best retailers in your area. Here is a list of state wine shipping regulations to help you determine if you can receive shipments.

Always look for a site with real-time inventory and straightforward shipping methods. Avoid fly-by-night sites that list ghost (out of stock) inventory and overcharge for shipping.

Do you have a favorite online retailer that helps you find your favorite wines?  Let us know in the comments!

Online Wine Stores We No Longer Recommend

These online wine-shopping options dropped off our list, but you may still be interested.

Vivino

The size of the user community and the number of bottles you can access make Vivino a unique place to buy wine online. With over 100,000 bottles of wine to choose from, the selection process could be daunting for you.

The beauty of the Vivino app and website is how easily you can pair down those 100k bottles into just those that match what you are looking for.

When you open the app or land on the homepage, you are offered a few curated wine lists. These lists feature great bargains, top-rated wines, and hot varietals. You can use these lists as a starting point to discover great new wines.

Your other option is to start searching for a specific bottle you already have in mind. There is a good chance the bottle you want is available from one of Vivino's retail wine partners.

So how does this all work? Vivino partners with retail wine shops and posts their inventory through the site and app. When you purchase wine through Vivino, it is shipped from the partner.

Vivino's value add is making all those wines easy to find and providing lots of detailed information about the bottles you are interested in. That's what makes Vivino one of the best places to buy wine online.

Vivino offers a monthly membership option called Vivino Plus when you download the app for IOS. As a Vivino Plus member, you receive unlimited free shipping on your wine orders for only $4.99 a month. That's a great deal for anyone who buys wine even a few times a year.

Final Thoughts

Purchasing wine can certainly be a confusing and often frustrating process.  Fear not! Armed with knowledge, a thoughtful palate, and a sense of exploration, everyone can enjoy quality wine—all without losing your shirt (unless you’re into that).