Can anyone recommend an east coast online retailer with a large selection, decent pricing, and that will hold orders for free for a minimum of 6 months? I need one that can ship into NH.
That’s a super broad question. A couple in DC: Calvert Woodley and McArthur Beverages. You’ll get better responses if you give some detail about what you’re looking for.
May also need to check with what NH laws are and how restrictive they may be. Doesn’t matter how good a retailer is if they don’t have reciprocal rights in that state.
Well I’m kind of looking for one of the big places that carry a little of everything. Kind of like a JJ Buckley, but on the east coast. It seems there are several of these places in California. But to provide a little guidance, I mostly purchase Champagne, Burgundy (low to medium priced), Oregon, Beaujolais, and Sonoma Coast chards.
I’d use McArthur (also called Addy Bassin’s). https://bassins.com/ I am sure there are a ton of NYC shops as well, but I have less experience with them.
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I get a lot of stuff from Saratoga Wine Exchange. Fast shipping, delayed shipping, had decent prices on the wines I was looking for and was one of the only places that had a few I was looking for. They are out of NY. I get stuff to the DC area in about 2 days, even cheap ground shipping.
Neal, does Calvert or McArthur deliver to Virginia? If so, I might have to put then on the shopping list.
I know Bassin’s doesn’t and I don’t think it is legal. But for me, it’s a 10 minute drive and always fun to poke around in the shop, so I wouldn’t use delivery anyway
If you are shipping, why do you care if it comes from the east coast, the west coast, or Burgundy itself? I have gotten wines shipped to me in the DC area from Envoyer many times. But, in answer to your question, my favorite store is MacArthurs. I also like Crush, Morrell and Chambers Street in NYC. I have no idea who can ship to NH.
I’m always nervous relying on ground shipping from the west coast. It’s cost prohibitive to ship anything but ground, and it’s much easier to find nice 2 or 3 day safe windows on the east coast than finding a 5 to 7 day safe window from California. And it’s also hard to predict the path the shipment is going to take when coming from the west coast. Sometimes it takes a northerly route the entire way, and other times it goes much too close to the south imo.
Saratoga is usally $24 for a case shipped to me ground. West coast wine clubs and such are usually $45 a case. Not horrible, but it adds up.
Thanks for the info Neal, I’ll have to check them out next time I’m downtown.
I buy a lot from Grapes (Daniel Posner) in NYC (Westchester, actually). Good prices, a lot of the time. And they will hold my orders until I ask them to ship. For out of state shipping, I’d suggest contacting them.
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I usually ship twice a year - once late October or early November and the other time late March. But, your weather in NH is much different from ours in the DC area. I have not had an issue shipping ground.
I previously uses Saratoga and EmpireWine, have recently branched out to WineWorks as well. Saratoga seems to have the biggest selection.
Thanks all for the suggestions. Some of these look like they could work out well for me.
another +1 re Empire and Saratoga…No clue re rules re shipping to NH…Our weather here in CNY not that different from yours in NH…We average 120 inches of snow/year.
Bassins is my favorite local store but the DC tax is very high and it is only a 30 min drive to pickup for me. I have used many NY stores like Empire, Crush, and Wine Cellarage (I like them). Many NJ stores I’ve used have low shipping and low/no tax like Pluckemen, and Bottleshop. And I just started buying from DowntoEarth in DE for German Wines, but I can drive there to pick up so I have no info on shipping. And Florida stores like B21 and WineWave have no tax. I always shop around for things based on not just the wine price but shipping, tax, and storage
There’s a very poorly* written pseudolegalistic something-or-other on the NH website which seems to indicate that anyone can bring 3 quarts of booze into the state legally:
Section 175:6 Transportation of Liquor.
3 quarts = 2839ml, or about 3 x 750ml bottles plus 1 x 375ml bottle plus 1 x 187.5ml bottle
There also seems to be a provision for issuing a special license to import 3 GALLONS of booze into the state [although you have to pay a 25% tariff on the value of what you’re importing]:
3 gallons = 15 x 750ml bottles
[750ml is roughly one fifth of gallon.]
*There doesn’t seem to be any time [or invocation] constraint on the provisions of this pseudolegalistic something-or-other: Does it apply per citizen lifetime, per day, per year, per each crossing of the state line?!?
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I’ve fallen in love with MacArthur’s (my local-ish shop). I’ve done a little business with Crush, and their customer service is fabulous.
Another vote for MacArthur. I also am a big fan of Chambers st, Verve, and Crush wine co, though their selections are pretty different from JJBuckleys. I’m still not entirely sure how this works, but Benchmark has a DC location now, but I think stock is limited, although also I think they can ship from the west coast location to the DC one… not sure how that benefits anyone though.