So I live in a wine desert in rural Oklahoma. Costco is an hour away, I’ve tried everything our local liquor store has on offer, and “the locals” unabashedly drink Apothic Red over ice. Which is fine, but doesn’t leave much opportunity for learning about and drinking quality wine. My stewardship at wine dot com was pretty much my wine shop, but our shipping windows here are short.
Then I found you guys. I’ve got a mixed case at garagiste, almost a case at winebid, and thanks to the thread downstream about full pull I’ve got someplace new to check out. I took advantage of berserkerday.
The wines I find from board recommendations are invariably better than anything I pick out on my own. What shops am I missing out on that might be a good fit for ordering mixed cases? I don’t know enough to want to buy entire cases of a single wine yet.
Try WTSO.com They have offerings where you can buy a single bottle with free shipping. They will hold for cooler weather shipping. Basically everyday quaffers with some higher end wines as well. Great CS!
For Oregon and more, I would encourage you to check out Vinopolis, Avalon, and Sec.
All have very good staff, and selections. Pacific Northwest wines are a specialty of Avalon and Vinopolis, both are very familiar with the wines produced locally.
Always consider shipping charges and taxes when purchasing from retailers. Some can be quite high (NY) even if they offer wonderful selections. And consider distance too, I’m on East Coast and occasionally I will buy from West Coast retailers but sometimes it takes long time to get here - so more chances for heat or cold impacting wine. I’m lucky to be near Bassins in DC (high tax) but no shipping!
What I and many of us do is subscribe to wine-searcher.com (pro version). I don’t know what the annual cost is, maybe $60 or something, and you’ll probably save that much the first time you order. It’s a search engine that searches all the retailers nationally for the bottle you’re looking to buy, and it finds you the lowest prices and links you directly to the product on their website.
And as you use it over time, you’ll learn about good retailers who have wines you want, have good customer service, ship at reasonable prices, etc.
If you have questions about it or how to use it, just ask on here.
There are plenty of great stores with great selections that ship. But you might be better off figure out what your plan of education is first. E.G. do you want to dive into a specific region, regions, compare/contrast etc. After you make your drinking plan, then perhaps ask one of the board darling stores to ship you a mixed case that fits that learning desire. Im’ sure you can ask board posters as well for commonly available wines that fit those goals, and then use wine-searcher to find some stores that carry a few of those recommendations.
For example you get can get a mixed case of Cali reds and Bordeaux reds. Or splinter further and put in California pinot and Burgundy pinot. And in one case you have two themes to explore: pinot vs. cab, new world vs. old. And then ask board for a big store that will have examples of all 4 varieties (for which there will be many suggestions).
Lots of good suggestions here. Definitely check out Wine-Searcher. You can start with the free option though many of us move to the paid version.
Chasing good deals will lead you to buying from lots of different stores/producers. So the other absolutely essential digital tool is Cellar Tracker. You can very easily add wine that you buy for your own cellar. Then, when shipping season comes around you have a handy list of purchases so you can ping everyone to arrange shipping. CT has a ton of other valuable features, so worth checking out. The crowd-sourced wine reviews is extremely useful if used wisely.
Wine-Searcher, CT, and Wine Berserkers are the three essential digital tools for true winsanity.
Also depends on what style you like. For example PJ’s wine in NYC offers a nice selection of Spanish wines, however I do not know shipping… Also time your shipments since it is brutally hot out there from coast to coast
I don’t feel like I know enough yet to know what I like. I can tell you an individual wine that I’ve liked, but haven’t drunk enough to know if that’s a typical example of a given region and grape.
Even if you’re in a rural area, you still might be able to pull together a tasting group in a metro area that meets every few months. Look for college towns or things of that nature. You’ll learn a lot that way, and it will help in your online acquisitions.
Lots of good suggestions here. I’ll echo the wine-searcher suggestion, which can lead you to shops that, while they may not have everything you are looking for, they may have great deals on a certain type or selection that you do want to try.