The topic of online retailers has been covered here ad nauseum. However, I am revisiting the topic now looking for input. With gas prices rising and my increasingly busy schedule, it does not make sense for me to trudge all over town to buy wine. That being said, who are your favorite internet retailers taking selection, price, shipping costs, return policies, and customer service into consideration?

K&L by far.

I have used them 6 or 7 times to ship wines from their California office to hotels in everywhere from Chicago to Atlanta to Houston, etc. with very small delivery windows. They have been perfect every time and every bottle I have ordered from them has been perfect. This includes 1970 ports and Bordeaux.

Their prices are almost always one of the lowest...

MW Sales by a good margin and to a lesser extent, Cellaraiders and of course WineCommune/JJ Buckley.

Shhhhhh.... PW!

Actually, must agree on MW Sales. I've been purchasing from Michael for a few years now, and always have been pleased with his service, prices and follow up.

Some others:

K&L
Premier Cru (never failed to deliver a bottle, just gotta be patient)
Wine Chateau out of MO
Zachy's (you have to cherrypick them, as their regular pricing is silly, but they occasionally have some great deals and service is second to none)

PH

www.winelibrary.com is my go to for every day drinkers. Gary V. is goofy but his prices are good.

MW Sales and Vinfolio have been great to me. Just tried Cellar Brokers for the first time, so I'll report on how that works out once I receive my bottles! -mJ

Wine Commune is my favorite
Fully agree w/PH on Zachy's and Wine Chateau in MO.

I've had good success with winechateau as well as 2020wines, and missionfinewines.com. I've also used winestilsoldout.com a couple of times with good results.

I have had excellent experiences with Brown Derby. Pretty decent prices too...

http://www.brownderby.com/

K&L
Woodland Hills Wine Company
Premier Cru (you have to know what you are getting into with them, though, esp if you buy futures)

Fine and Rare Wines in UK - http://www.frw.co.uk

I have been dealing with FRW for 10 years now and have bought all my EP from them.

Bordeaux Wine Investments in UK - http://www.bordeaux-wine-investments.com

Dealing with BWI for 1 year and managed to pick up some great wines at the right prices e.g. Clos des Papes '05

Regards,
Conor

Premier Cru - we know the drill

Alta considering your on the eastern coast I would consider Sherry-Lehman and garyswine.com. Good customer service, nice selection and Garys has really nice shipping prices. I buy all my Bordeaux futures on the east coast through these two.

Woodland Hills
Wine Exchange

Thanks for your replies, everyone. I'll need to check some of these out.

Has anybody here had any experiences with B-21? Some of their prices seem decent and their shipping charges are not outrageous. I noticed that they had the 2004 Vall Llach Embruix for $20. Sure, it's not the incredible '05 but it is still a decent price.

We do not, but lots of the other Floridians buy from them regularly. Of course, the Wine Warehouse here as the Embruix for 16.99 but they are not really an internet retailer.

And I thought MW was my own little secret. Michael Weiss has been a great source of hard to get wines. He doesn't always have the best price on a single wine but I always do better on my total order. http://www.mwwinesales.com/stores/?storeID=64

I buy from B-21 all the time. Great store and employees.

quote:

Originally posted by Altaholic:
Thanks for your replies, everyone. I'll need to check some of these out.

Has anybody here had any experiences with B-21? Some of their prices seem decent and their shipping charges are not outrageous. I noticed that they had the 2004 Vall Llach Embruix for $20. Sure, it's not the incredible '05 but it is still a decent price.

B-21
Pops
Zachy's

The out of state ones are hard to come by with the archaic laws we have for shipping here in FL

Why do you guys keep outing MWSales???

PJ's seems to have pretty good prices in NY, Premier Cru just scares the crap out of me (I think I am waiting on 35 bottles, some of which have almost doubled in price since I purchased, I probably won't feel comfy until they are delivered)

K&L
Bottle Barn in Santa Rosa - good prices but you have to contact them as their website doesn't show their store inventory.

KarenT
www.jeanedwardscellars.com

quote:

Originally posted by winetarelli:
K&L
Woodland Hills Wine Company
Premier Cru (you have to know what you are getting into with them, though, esp if you buy futures)

what winetarelli said....

I mainly buy local at winex, wine pavilion, the wine club and amazing grapes. Hitimes in Newport has a good selection, but the prices are by far the highest compared to the others I mentioned. Some of the worst prices I have seen on the net are from The Rare Wine Co. I don’t know how I got on their e-mail list, but I just got an e-mail for 2005 Malescot for $169 I think I paid $60-$70 for mine a couple of months ago.

My favorites are:
1) JJBuckley/WineCommune - Best combination of low price, great selection, and great service
2) KLWines - Great selection and service, price usually isn't the lowest though. If you're into wine clubs their Signature Red Collection is best I've seen.

My least favorites:
1) AdelsWine - Single purchase nightmare, they screwed up shipping, basically accused me of lying when I called them on it, and refused to make it right
2) PremierCru - I know alot of you swear by these people but I've placed 3 orders with them, between March 06 and June 06, and have yet to receive any. Granted 2 of those were 05 Bordeaux futures but I'm still waiting for a March 06 order of 03 Pichon Baron. If I ever receive anything I ordered from them I will probably take them off my Sh!t List.

quote:

Originally posted by GlennK:
2005 Malescot for $169 I think I paid $60-$70 for mine a couple of months ago.

$53.50....