Best deal/coupon for on-line wine shopping

Philip_G · November 20, 2020, 1:48pm

Like almost every Amex offer, they are discounted because the original price is 30%+ more than fair market value. There are exceptions (Benchmark?) but that is the rule. Seriously, if you are paying MSRP at Aveda, you know they are charging you a king’s ransom for a few ounces of their nectar of the gods, and you simply have enough money to not care about the amount they withdraw from your accounts.

If you can suggest a deal from B Cellars or Stags Leap, I’d love to hear about it.

…or they want to attract more customers that buy directly from them and this is them funding customer acquisition.

Stags Leap:

Cab (estate) '17: $60 MSRP, $42/btl online at the winery or $36/btl if you buy a case. Shipping and taxes excluded. With AmEx offer, buying 5 bottles ($210) or a case ($432) reduces the cost per bottle to $30/btl (5 bottles) or $31/btl (12 bottles). Lowest price on WS Pro: $33.33 (Wine Library). Community average on CT: $48

This is the worst-case scenario: it’s their most popular wine and it’s widely available everywhere. In this case the difference between retail and AmEx offer is small. Still, the AmEx offer + buying direct is 10% lower than minimum listed retail. It’s not a great deal but it’s certainly a deal. Can you get it for less? Maybe at auction but you’d have to hunt for it and outbid all other home players. A 2012 of this wine recently went for $40 + vig = $47 on WineBid.

The only other wine of theirs listed on their website I am familiar with and can recommend is a 2013 Late Harvest, a Sauternes doppelganger. With MSRP of $65 for 375ml, it’s overpriced. They offer it for 20% off per bottle on the website so 4 bottles = $208. With AmEx discount it’s $148 or $37/btl. At $65, I wouldn’t buy it but at $37 it’s in the “let me try it” territory. It’s not available anywhere else, no listings on WS Pro and I haven’t seen it in auction. Is it a deal? Depends on whether you like this type of wine and the producer.

B Cellars:

As a producer, they’re a notch or three above Stags Leap and therefore a better deal. Wine I recommend:

2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard: MSRP of $210 on the winery website, with AmEx offer: $150. Lowest retail is $250 on wine.com. CT average is $170 and WS Pro average is $230. Lowest I’ve seen is a 2013 vintage on WineBid for $130 and that was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Not sure how you got down to $150 with Amex deal ($45 off $150). When you add shipping is it still a “deal”?

I’m a big fan of B Cellars and am in their club which gets 20% off so this gets you a little better if you keep it $150-$200. I would skip the '17 Beckstoffers because of the vintage and go to the '18 Ehrlich at $130 which is always a huge over performer and the '18 should be better than the '17 Becks. Add one of the whites to keep it under $200.

DanielP · November 20, 2020, 4:16pm

Rakuten has 10% cashback on wine.com

Ken_B_r_o_w_n · November 20, 2020, 5:32pm

I was applying Stags Leap deal to B Cellars
Thanks for catching that, fixed my original post.

Is it still a deal if you add shipping?

B Cellars - maybe, if you like the producer. Shipping on 1 bottle is expensive.

Stags Leap - for first-time customers, if you sign up for their list, they’ll give you a one-time 15% off. That’ll take care of shipping on a nominally sizeable purchase. With 6 btls of '17 Cab estate @ $42/btl, the total goes down to $214. This includes 15% off before taxes, shipping and AmEx discount. With AmEx discount, it’s $154 or $25.6 per bottle. Shipping is roughly $5/btl which brings the cost back up to $30/btl excluding taxes.

Arv_R · November 20, 2020, 6:15pm

One slight caution about Amex Offers on some wine deals: they can’t always be used to purchase estates the same ways you normally do for estate purchase direct. In the fine print, there will be T&C about the offer has to be exercised through some special link/site. Invariably, those are not the lowest cost channel.

This is a crummy thing Amex tolerates and seems to have started in their hotel offers world where all kinds of strange websites have ‘offers’ at worse prices than any other OTA

Ken_B_r_o_w_n · November 20, 2020, 6:37pm

These offers are (in large part) funded by merchants, they want you to buy directly from them.

B Cellars fine print: “in-store at B Cellars Vineyard & Winery or online at bcellars.com by 1/6/2021”
Stags Leap: the terms were similar to above…but the offer expired yesterday

JohnP · November 20, 2020, 6:50pm

SabatinoTruffles.com is offering a 30% discount on white truffles, now through 11/23. Code - WHITEFLASH30

I had my wines ready for turkey day, but will now be updating to include an aged Barolo, exact wine TBD.

AndyK · November 20, 2020, 7:11pm

Is there a code needed or are the prices already reflecting the 30%?

Michael_H2 · November 20, 2020, 7:32pm

I currently have the following offers on my Amex, but since they are personalized ymmv.

Total Wine - Spend $100, get $20 off
Wine.com - Spend $100, get $30 off
Wineaccess.com - Spend $200, get $20 off up to 3 times

A couple of highlights currently available at wineaccess:

2017 Guigal La Doriane - $100
2017 Guigal Brune et Blonde - $68
2015 Cavallotto Bricco Boschis - $75
2016 Bruna Grimaldi Camila - $39
2018 Ezio Poggio Archetipo Timorasso - $30 (love this wine…)

For $50 off first $150 purchase with wineaccess: Friendbuy - Forwarding To Destination
Note, this can stack with the above Amex offer.

Max_S1 · November 20, 2020, 8:32pm

I appreciate the way you did this, it feels more valuable than the standard “give me $50” post

Jim_Stewart · November 20, 2020, 8:37pm

Robert_Dwyer · November 20, 2020, 10:30pm

Sea Smoke Pinot Noir on Wine Access:

Not available in all regions.
2018 Ten and Southing for $99/btl before discounts.

$50 off $200 if you haven’t used it already:

Arv_R · November 20, 2020, 11:05pm

Yes, but there are some situations where one can buy product X from merchant Y for price Z.

Amex Offer comes out, and they offer the same X at a different variant of the merchants site for a much higher price.

Treasury Wines often sells direct at pretty low prices (Friends & Family etc), and at Costco, and all their Amex Offers (many of those brands are just Treasury labels) are through channels which are much higher. I can’t fault the merchant for this…but it erodes the general value of Amex Offers. And I think Amex should themselves trying to protect the value of that by having contract language which says if vendors want to participate it should be via their normal sales channel. This is not really any different than Expedia (or any other commissioned platform) saying ‘we’re happy to sell your goods, and collect a commission, but not at prices that are off market - prices need to be the same’.

I spent a few min sorting through Offers today and I have hundreds of junky ones (oooh spend $750 at Jimmy Choos and get $100 back!), none of the good wine related ones others are getting, which is kind of inexplicable to me.

Tyler_Rico · November 21, 2020, 1:18am

Bump

Robert_M_yers · November 21, 2020, 1:21am

Maybe the begging links could be put in ones signature lines so viewable on all posts?
We need a pan handler emoji

JohnP · November 21, 2020, 5:35pm

Oops. Yes, it’s WHITEFLASH30

bretrooks · November 22, 2020, 8:43pm

Another wine.com coupon:
APPWELCOME $20 off of $50, expires 12/22

Barry_L_i_p_t_o_n · November 22, 2020, 8:55pm

Have you purchased from them before and been happy with the quality?

JohnP · November 22, 2020, 8:59pm

Made my first purchase a couple days ago, they arrive on Tues, I’ll let you know

Peter_C · November 22, 2020, 9:22pm

Keith_Levenberg · November 22, 2020, 9:55pm

The deals you can get on those 20 off 50 codes are so good I’m starting to feel guilty about it.