What if you couldn't buy wine over the internet?

[craig_v]

I buy much more locally then online but I really need out of state stores to fill in the blanks.

@bmckenney

I can’t buy online. I buy almost all my wine locally, and I am more than satisfied with what I’ve been able to do. Even with $1M a year in budget I could not buy all the local wine that I’d like to.

I don’t have access to US lists, which is probably a good thing.

[brodie_thomson]

My NZ based “retirement” cellar of 3k+ bottles would not exist. Retirement would look ghastly! Thank god for the internet is all I can say…

I would be quite a lot better financially but much much worse off emotionally, spiritually and socially.


Brodie

[Brad_B_a_l_l_i_n_g_e_r]

I buy what amounts to roughly one case of wine annually over the internet, and I’m quite happy with the local selection (and I live where Craig does). Although Minnesota is far removed from the coasts, there are about 30-40 distributors here. So we get decent variety. I don’t have the curse that others do about stocking my cellar with tons of Burgundy (and can’t play in the Top 10 Burg Producers in Your Cellar thread),which means I pursue some lesser-known regions and have been quite happy. But Craig is right about some gaps here, particularly Northern Rhone, Sauternes, and Alsace.

Albeit if I lived in a more remote location, I would step up my internet wine purchasing and/or make wine buying roads trips.

[Ken_V]

@craig v

What if you couldn’t buy wine over the internet?

Then I would have to invent it!

[Please no Al Gore jokes. And Internet should have a capital first letter. Like God. ]

[Dan.Gord0n]

I would spend a lot of time on the phone. Way back in the mid to late 90s, I looked at the ads in the back of WS and learned of a few stores - then spent a lot of time talking with “my salesman” every handful of weeks. Might spend 30-60 minutes finding out what was new and available and talking about new recs. Ordered a good bit from Bassins in DC and some from Woodland Hills, North Berkeley and a few others. Took a lot of time talking with those as well as calling a handful of other places. Stores would also send out catalogs and actually still have the good finds by the time I got and reviewed the catalog.

[David_Glasser]

More money.
Less friends.
Less fun.

[Markus_S]

Probably be making twice a year buying forays to the Finger Lakes!

[Howard_Cooper]

I could afford to retire.

[dsGriswold]

I would start getting nervous in about five years.

[GregT]

The internet adds transparency. Transparency removes ‘great deals’.

Yep. Back in the day, I used to call places. Then the internet came around and people posted their inventory, but you still couldn’t buy. That was probably the best. Then buying came about, but that made everything more or less a commodity. So no more “deals”, although the competition has served to level prices no matter where you are.

If I could no longer buy via the internet, I’d drink what I have then be more or less screwed.

[Frank_Drew]

I bought, and drank, plenty of wine before online ordering became common. Geez, people…

[jbray23]

@Peter Hirsch

Actually this was all much easier in the pre-internet days. Not to buy wine, but to get good deals on hard to get wine. Before the internet, you’d get on mailers from stores. Guys would actually send you a monthly ‘stock list’. Also when you traveled, you had a real shot to get some fantastic stuff in out-of-the-way locations. My trips to London in the '90s let to lots of great buys. Same to Calif at the same time, Winex and PC and TWC were fantastic and stocked full of rare stuff. And Nashville. Given that it was illegal to sell wine (and ship it) out of state, the in state stuff was fantastic. The internet adds transparency. Transparency removes ‘great deals’.

Great post, I was thinking about this as well, seemingly you can still find great stuff, you just have to vacation with Mark in Wisconsin.

Although a lot of the rare stuff is being soaked up, the internet has created a whole new generation if rare stuff.

I am happy to able to shop the world for wine, I’ve gotten cheap wine at auctions I didn’t know about before, found cheaper wine than in my local area and have been introduced to numerous new wines that I would otherwise not have known about.

Another question, do you think the wine business would be where it’s at today without the internet? It’s created a lot of jobs and help greatly expand the industry, creating more competition ;price, created more wineries and launched many writers as well as building the overall community.

[Mark_B]

@David Glasser

More money.
Less friends.
Less fun.

Truly, this. A longtime friend introduced me to wine shortly after my 21st birthday. 90% of what he buys comes from the internet. We’ve been getting together once a week to blind taste each other ever since.

[Bryan_W]

Well I live in MA so the internet doesn’t help so much.

[EricG]

I’d have more free time.

[Neal.Mollen]

@GregT

The internet adds transparency. Transparency removes ‘great deals’.

Yep. Back in the day, I used to call places. Then the internet came around and people posted their inventory, but you still couldn’t buy. That was probably the best. Then buying came about, but that made everything more or less a commodity. So no more “deals”, although the competition has served to level prices no matter where you are.

If I could no longer buy via the internet, I’d drink what I have then be more or less screwed.

Economists would tell you transparency drives down prices, so while you might miss out on the odd ridiculously priced wine on a shelf no one else could find because of a lack of transparency, the internet makes it much easier for retailers to compete on price, lowering margins overall.

[Thomas_Keim]

I remember being a wine merchant before the internet and it was a very interesting time. We used to send out personalized letters to our best customers, outlining the last year of their purchases and what we thought they should purchase in the upcoming year. Futures were also mailed out with orders coming back in the mail as well.

And remember getting your Wine Advocate 1st class so you could jump the gun on any new special wines?

And remember how IMPORTANT those monthly newsletters were back then as well, and how much fun to read.

It makes me miss the old time retailers like the VILLAGE CORNER in Ann Arbor Michigan who had the coolest monthly newsletter back in the day - I was in awe of their monthly newsletter - Dick ??? was the owner I believe.

[Kirk.Grant]

If I couldn’t buy wine on the internet…I wouldn’t feel a need to own a computer. I’d do everything through my phone…and I’d probably be far less connected socially. I would probably spend less $, take more time off from work, and spend more time in nature than the office. All in all…I’m ok either way. However, it still boggles my mind that we’re in “the land of the free” but still have laws keeping us from spending our own money the way we want to…in our own country. That’s not a political statement…just a pet-peeve of mine as a veteran.

[John_Glas]

As mentioned more money in the account. I highly doubt many of us would have as much to talk about on the boards as we would not always get certain wines that get a lot of discussion. FedEx and UPS would be hurting.

[craig_v]

I still read through well though out online newsletters like the ones from Rare Wine Company. On the other hand with the board and CT I fell much more like a self directed wine buyer more than ever.

@Thomas Keim

I remember being a wine merchant before the internet and it was a very interesting time. We used to send out personalized letters to our best customers, outlining the last year of their purchases and what we thought they should purchase in the upcoming year. Futures were also mailed out with orders coming back in the mail as well.

And remember getting your Wine Advocate 1st class so you could jump the gun on any new special wines?

And remember how IMPORTANT those monthly newsletters were back then as well, and how much fun to read.

It makes me miss the old time retailers like the VILLAGE CORNER in Ann Arbor Michigan who had the coolest monthly newsletter back in the day - I was in awe of their monthly newsletter - Dick ??? was the owner I believe.