(It’s a $50 credit after you spend your first $150)
Ongoing AMEX plat offers
- Wine Access (ref) $30 off 100 (up to two times), expiring end of Jan
- Total Wine & More $15 off 100 (up to two times), expiring end of Dec
Wine Access has great price on Grattamacco '21 for $89, and HeavenSake for $62
Total Wine has a very good price on Moutai if anyone is into that ($249 for 375ml),
Vine & Cellar Reserve has a closing sale with some pretty solid deals, like on Bordeaux: Order wine from Bordeaux - Bordeaux wine by mail
I think they’re associated with Vons/Safeway/Albertsons. Free shipping on $150 in CA (only ships in CA unfortunately). I went in on a case, looks like many of the prices were lower than what I saw for ex-negociant on Liv-ex:
2018 Beau Sejour Becot $44
2020 Beau Sejour Becot $44
2016 Chevalier Rouge $53
2018 Chevalier Rouge $47
2020 Chevalier Rouge $47
2020 d’Issan $39
2018 Brane Cantenac $49
2020 Brane Cantenac $49
2020 Branaire Ducru $34
Also 2021 Tolpuddle Pinot Noir at $47 is a steal
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Thanks for the heads-up! Lots of interesting stuff at excellent prices - I couldn’t resist and also picked up a mixed case.
Guido Porro Barolo Vigna Lazzairasco 2018 $34
Chateau Langoa Barton Saint-Julien 2020 $33
R. Lopez De Heredia Vina Tondonia Rioja 2011 $29
Domaine Alain Voge Cornas Les Chailles 2020 $29
Domaine Les Pallieres Gigondas Les Racines 2019 $24
Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer Mosel Riesling Kabinett 2020 $17
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Wow, those are some crazy good prices! Too bad they don’t ship outside of California, I would definitely be a buyer……
Definitely some pretty solid deals there. A couple of additional things: you can use code “VCReserveNews” to get $30 off $149. The order also gets charged to your card as Albertsons, so I believe if you have a rewards card like Amex Gold you can get 4x points back on this transaction.
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When i go to checkout and put in my email it wipes the discount code and says its not available to me anymore, do you have to sign up on their emails or something?
It’s possible. I had placed one order and checked the sign up for newsletter box, a few hours later they emailed me the code. So if you signup first you will probably be able to use the code
In for a mixed case of Champagne!
Sounds good I signed up and tried again but no luck. I’ll see if any email comes through soon
I piggybacked off some of your themes.
The sale is one of the first in a long while that actually looks like it reflects the weak market conditions for wine. I thought the Underground Cellars liquidation also was similar (in that prices actually looked like reality for unspecial wines)…but that had so much strangeness that I passed.
Hope UPS is good for delivery…I have not had vinuous delivery from them in a long time maybe 4-5 years.
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Anecdotally, I have seen my local Vons/Albertsons heavily discounting wines, especially in the higher end range. I was also vaguely familiar with Vine & Cellar Reserve since I got an email from Vons when they started it. Though the selection was/is well-curated, it didn’t truly stand out from other web retailers in any way, least of all pricing. Winding down given the headwinds is not surprising.
In any case, I had some BDX and an Etna Rosso drop out of my cart due to sell outs. But I was able to grab some Barolo (Porro, Negri), N. Rhone (Faury, Voge, Ogier), S. Hemisphere Pinot (Tolpuddle, Felton Road) and a Loire Franc (Roche Neuves Franc de Pied) for very attractive prices.
UPS shipping is a pita, I’ll probably have to pay the fee to have the order routed to an access point. It is what it is.
Some good choices there. Negri and Roche Neuves at closeout pricing are nice snags for sure.
I didn’t partake in the Underground Cellars madness, but my impression was that a lot of it was stuff that wasn’t going to sell very quickly at much higher than the clearance price anyway (maybe I’m wrong, I didn’t follow it super closely).
This sale in contrast was fairly interesting. Lots of pretty well-known producers. No super premium bottles (or maybe they had been already picked through by the time I looked), but plenty of solid mid-tier drinkers at prices generally less than secondary market.
For posterity, here’s what I saw that was interesting:
- 2020 Domaine de Chevalier - $47
- 2018 Domaine de Chevalier - $47
- 2016 Domaine de Chevalier - $53
- 2020 Langoa Barton - $33
- 2019 Langoa Barton - $37
- 2020 Chateau d’Issan - $39
- 2020 Chateau Brane-Cantenac - $49
- 2018 Chateau Brane-Cantenac - $49
- 2018 Chateau Sociando-Mallet - $30
- 2019 Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste - $54
- 2020 Chateau Branaire-Ducru - $34
- 2020 Chateau d’Armailhac - $39
- 2017 Vilmart Grand Cellier d’Or - $54
- 2011 Lopez de Heredia Tondonia Reserva - $29
- 2015 AR.PE.PE. Sassella Stella Retica - $30
- 2019 Tempier - $36
- 2022 Pegau CdP - $44
- 2021 Pegau CdP Blanc - $39
- 2019 Pegau CdP Cuvee Laurence - $59
- 2020 Alain Voge Cornas VV - $43
- 2017 Royal Tojaki 5 Puttonyos - $37
- 2019 Felsina Rancia - $32
- 2018 Felsina Fontalloro - $33
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I like the way you think.
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Wow, some amazing deals there on Kermit Lynch imports that I love. What a crying shame they don’t ship outside of CA. For reference, they have a Lavantureux Chablis Vauprin 2020 for $27 while Kermit Lynch’s website is selling the newest vintage (2023) for $60. Blast!
So the first wave of deliveries arrived today
- Delivered via UPS, which I had not used for wine in perhaps 5-8 years because I cannot re-direct to a pickup point. But I was at home, and the delivery arrived the middle of their estimated delivery window. The driver stated he has been making a lot of stops in my area with these distinctive boxes. Signature was required, and the cheerful driver had brought everything right up to the front door, unafraid of our (now virtual) German Shepherd avatar.
- Packaging was excellent but lots of bright red logo bows/ribbons/tape signifying wine/alcohol. No styrofoam and the cardboard/trays broke down easily for recycling. I suppose I could have dropped off the boxes at a nearby TW&M which claims to reuse these.
- All the bottles look excellent – no shop wear, scuffed labels, low fills or anything. I did not see any French tax stamps and most appeared to have come in via their official well known importers. My order was 99% Old World, fwiw.
- I was expecting this, so I suppose it’s a ‘known unknown’, but at least some of the bottles will end up being 375ml’s rather than expected (and order receipt / shipping manifest described) 750mls. This is a low level risk anytime one buys ‘bargain’ dessert wines unseen, since multiple formats are more likely in that category. I’m not fussed and was quasi-expecting it; every blue moon it works in reverse too.
- Shopify made me confirm my email a few days ago, but no coupon / discount code appeared. If you can get shipping from this vendor, deal with UPS, and like Vine & Cellar’s selections, there are still some solid deals left.
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Glad to hear the order went smooth! I hopped in for some Bordeaux. I went for some Chevalier, Giscours, and Pape Clement. One order says shipping soon and no word on the other one yet. I thought these were excellent deals all around and theres still some fun stuff left!
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Wow, which wine was this?
Suduiraut, a Sauternes (so far). We’ll see how the other dessert wines end up, since some boxes are still in transit.