Where I Bought Wine in 2009

"Where do you buy your wine and why?" is one of the most common questions people ask me.  I enjoy talking about this with fellow wine consumers, retailers, distributors, and salespeople.  Towards the end of 2008 I started using CellarTracker which supports easily reporting purchase and consumption trends by store over time.  For the longest time I thought "I don't need no stinkin' CellarTracker- I can remember which wines I bought!"  While that's true, as my wine collection has grown (I only have around 170 bottles right now) it's become more interesting to be able to track wine purchases and consumption.  For these reasons, I'd recommend CellarTracker even to people who have as little as a case or two of wine on hand.

The average bottle I bought cost $21.63.  I spread my purchases out across 29 stores and wineries, most of which are in the metro Boston area and tend to be close to our home base in Wellesley.  (Click on the chart above to enlarge.)

What I'm Looking for in a Wine Shop

I tend to buy from retailers that make it convenient to do business with them based on the way I like to shop. For me, this means I can keep in touch with them via E-mail (or better yet on Twitter) and take advantage of deals they're offering.  They either offer low-cost/free shipping -or- make it easy to buy over E-mail/online and then pick-up in store.  I'll admit- I'm a value-hunting cherry picker to an extent, but retailers I've done business with know that when I come in to pick up my order I like to look around the store and I usually buy more while I'm there.  A smart technique for retailers, I think, is when they offer a 10% off coupon when you buy online and pick-up additional items in-store.

I like stores that are fun places to hang out and talk about wine.  The best stores remind me of baseball card shops I used to visit as a kid.  They've got copies of wine magazines lying around, the people who work there like to chat about wine trends, and they've always got wines open to try and talk about.

Events are very effective.  I particularly like ones where you can try a bunch of wines offered at special pricing without having to buy too many bottles of any single wine.

Above all, the retailers I favor tend to have a good nose for value wines at all price points and they sell wine at competitive prices.  Most of them limit the number of wines they choose to stock, instead focusing on important categories and specific wines to get the best pricing possible.

The top stores I shopped at last year blended aspects of all of these things to earn most of my business.

My Top Shops of 2009

1. Blanchards West Roxbury, MA
   Strong E-mail deals with in-store pick-up, grand tastings/focused educational events, and competitive pricing on well-selected wines combined to land Blanchards the top-spot on my list.  Knowledgeable and helpful people like Steve Grant, Eden Stone and others regularly selected wines I liked.
   Outlook: Strong.  Relatively close to my house and they keep giving me a reason to get in the car and go over there.
   
2. Hingham Wine Merchant Hingham, MA
   Dick Graham's editorial sort might be the sharpest in town.  Strong E-mail offers, amazing events, and a kids play area combined to make this a great place to shop for wine.
   Outlook: Over 30 miles from my house, so I find myself making the trip less frequently.  I still keep in touch for deals and events.  No web site.
   
3. Bin Ends Wine Braintree, MA
   I haven't found a retailer who uses social media more effectively than Craig Drollett at @BinEndsWine.  Between their TasteLive! events, monthly fine wine flea markets, short-burn deals, and my personal favorite bargain bins (where they offer 50% off a random assortment of sometimes-incredible wines) they continue to innovate at a high level and earn my business.  John Hafferty and the rest at Bin Ends are running a very cool wine store.
   Outlook: Fantastically helpful in guiding me towards specific wines in categories I'm exploring, and so easy to do business with.  I can't imagine this store falling in ranking in 2010.
   
4. Wine Cellar of Stoneham Stoneham, MA
   Mike Reardon's well-selected, limited-SKU, low-priced model within the BJ's Warehouse stores (no membership required) in Danvers and Stoneham was the beginning.  Stepping in and offering an amazing price on our 2007 Paul Autard CdP case club was the next step.
   Outlook: Holding steady and could rise higher with more E-mail offers and an improved online presence.  No web site, but follow @WineCellarsMA on Twitter.
   
5. Upper Falls Liquor, Newton, MA
   Combined with Post Road in Wayland and Auburndale Liquors in Newton, the Upper Falls model is to offer 20% off 6 mixed bottles on a different category each month.  I appreciated getting some hard-to-find bottles of Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc and 2005 Columbia Crest Reserve Cabernet when they first came out.
   Outlook: Haven't been in lately.  Could improve with E-mail specials to get me in the door and look around.
   
6. Lower Falls Wine Co. Newton, MA
   I don't know why it's taken me a while to warm up to this store, but their stock really rose with me later in the year especially.  They're able to find wines others don't seem to be able to, and their free tastings are the best I've seen.  I'm really growing to trust their guidance on more expensive and difficult to navigate categories.
   Outlook: Rising star in my book and close to home. I expect to do more shopping there in 2010.
   
7. Wine ConneXtion, North Andover, MA
   Just opened two months ago but has already established itself as the low-price leader on brand name fine wines.  Razor-thin margins on everything they sell, and you don't need to buy more than a single bottle to get their best pricing.
   Outlook: Far away from my place.  E-mail offers would convince me to make the drive more often.
8. VinoDivino, Newton, MA
   Full review HERE.  They offer a focused selection of highly rated wines at reasonable pricing combined with excellent service.
   Outlook: Holding steady.  More closeout deals could catch my interest.
   
9. Bounty Hunter, Napa, CA
   Scooped up a couple of bottles of Kosta Browne Pinot Noir and a bottle of Lewis Cab.  High per-bottle cost lands them in the top 10.
   Outlook: Probably won't buy from here frequently unless I'm in Napa looking to one-stop-shop hard to find wines.
   
10. Costco, Waltham, MA
    Despite my impression that their shelf talkers are shady, we shop at Costco and I swing through the wine area while I'm there.
    Outlook: Their assortment seems stagnant lately, and their prices are being matched or beaten by other retailers.
    
11. Whole Foods (Wayland, MA and now Dedham, MA)
    They relocated their MA liquor license from Wayland to Dedham and expanded their wine operation.  The new store has some interesting wines -and- they appear to be price matching Costco on wines they both carry.
    Outlook:  Wait-and-see.  I'm not sure how much we're going to shop in Dedham-it feels a little farther out of our way than Wayland.
    
12. Table and Vine (Springfield, MA and online)
    This subsidiary of the Big Y grocery chain distinguished themselves by listening on Twitter and fulfilling our inaugural Case Club on some Cakebread Cab.  They're making a play to reach the Boston market via free shipping offers.
    Outlook: They're always an option I price-check online.  More closeout deals could trigger more purchases.
    
13. San Diego Wine Co. (San Diego, CA)
    Full review HERE.  One of my favorite shops in the country for their incredible prices on wines in categories I shop.  Extremely shrewd selections. Love their business model.
    Outlook: I'll be stopping in any time I'm in San Diego this year.
    
14. Other
    There's another 16 retailers/auction sites/wineries that collectively account for 25% of the money I spent on wine in 2009.  Notably out of the Top 13: Trader Joe's.  We just haven't been shopping at TJ's as much lately, but I continue to think they're a good place to buy wine.  Other sources are a random collection of retailers and wineries across the country.

Want another opinion on the best wine shops near Boston?  Here's a piece from The Passionate Foodie listing some of his favorites: Check it out HERE

Question of the Day: What are some of your favorite shops in the Boston area?  Why?

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Best Wines at Total Wine

A good friend asked for some wine recommendations for gift-giving purposes, so I thought to share my suggestions here to see if anyone else had a tip to share based on inventory at Phoenix-area Total Wine stores.  Let us know in the comments section.

Parameters:
Looking to give a gift of 3-4 wines to a friend who drinks mostly California Cabernet.  Average cost around $25/bottle.  Shopping to be done at Total Wine's Desert Ridge location in Phoenix, Arizona. 

Suggestions:
For gift giving purposes, there's a few different ways to go.  You can give wines you think they'll like based on awareness of the categories they're fond of.  Or, it can be nice to focus on a region (France, Italy, Napa) and then combine the wine with a book about wines/travel to that region.  Or, you can mix it up and give them wines that align with the taste profile of their favorite category. 

Here’s 4 Napa Cabs that I’d recommend:
Chappellet Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Mountain Cuvee $24.99
-Delicious entry-level offering from a winery making incredible Cab (Chappellet Signature) at the $40 price-point. For immediate consumption (as opposed to cellaring it for a couple years) I think their Mountain Cuvee is a better play.

Honig Vineyard & Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley $31.99
-This is an outstanding wine and a good buy at $32. Big, bold, aromatic Napa Cab that drinks like a $50 wine. Highly recommended.

2006 Groth Vineyards & Winery Cabernet Sauvignon $39.99
-Long-standing brand that’s staged a bit of a comeback with this vintage. Drinking very nicely. Big and chewy without being harsh. Elegant label too.

Buehler Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley $27.99
-Buehler consistently makes a legit Napa Cab at a reasonable price-point.  This isn’t the best price I’ve seen on this wine, but if you want to do 4 Napa Cabs this is one I’d choose to round it out. Or ask someone who works there for a recommendation within your budget.

Other Red Value Picks:
Altos Las Hormigas Malbec Mendoza $9.99
-Haven’t had the ’08 vintage of this wine yet, but the 2007 was a WSJ value-pick and an amazingly delicious $10 wine.

2008 Two Hands Wines Shiraz Angels Share McLaren Vale $31.99
-Not the best price on this one (I’ve seen it for just over $20 here in Massachusetts) but this is a very delicious (if higher alcohol) Australian Shiraz.

Hall Merlot Napa Valley $22.99
-Haven’t had their Merlot but really enjoyed their Cabs.  Don’t see that Total Wine carries the Cab but if you wanted a Merlot to mix in with an assortment of varieties I’d give this one a go.

Carmel Road Winery Pinot Noir Monterey $14.99
-It’s tough to find a good bottle of Pinot Noir under $20 but luscious soft fruit makes this one a crowd pleaser. 

Pedroncelli Winery Pinot Noir $16.99
-The label isn’t much to look at but this wine is legit Pinot.

Elk Cove Vineyards Pinot Noir Willamette Valley $24.99
-Love love love this Oregon Pinot Noir. Every time. Big and fruity while still being serious.  Great looking bottle, and not too pricey. Highly recommended.

Sanford Winery Pinot Noir Santa Barbara County $28.49
-Decent price for this classic Santa Barbara Pinot Noir.

Ridge Vineyards Zinfandel Paso Robles $22.99
-Can’t go wrong with a big luscious red Zinfandel from this famous CA producer.

Notes:
I really appreciate the way Total Wine has per-location inventory online.  It enables me to give suggestions to friends they can easily find.  Vintages weren't available for all of the wines, but I assumed the current vintage was consistent with is coming to market now.

You can follow @Total_Wine on Twitter 

Question of the Day:
What do you think of these picks?  What $25 gift-friendly red wine would you recommend from this Total Wine location?

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Mystery Shopper: Buying Wine Online from Vinfolio

"It's simple, seamless and a buyer's and seller's delight." -from Vinfolio.com

When you want to track down an old or obscure bottle of wine, and there aren't any feasible retailer options listed on wine-searcher.com, the next place to turn is the online auction market.  Although there are a number of wine auction sites, my gut instinct tells me that Vinfolio is the leader in this space.  This is based on how polished and functional their website is, how complete their information is in terms of how the process works, and their integration with CellarTracker (which allows users to easily list wines they have on hand for auction without having to let them out of their hands for an indeterminate price).

The wine I chose to pursue for the purposes of this experiment (I'm doing this all for you, my readers, don't you know?) was the wine that got me into wine- the 1997 Cakebread Cellars Benchland Select Cabernet Sauvignon.  If I look at online retailers selling this wine nationwide right now, I see 3 available ranging from $124.99 - $199.99:

If I wanted to pursue buying the wine from one of these 3 retailers, I would need to spend some time determining whether each of them actually had it in stock, what their shipping terms are, and finally whether I trust that they're legitimate retailers that would follow through with the transaction in a pleasant manner.

That can be a little cumbersome, and that's where Vinfolio comes in.  They offer a certain level of consistency in the buying experience.  When I looked a couple months ago, this wine was available on Vinfolio at a "Buy Now" price of $99.95.  I thought that was a nice round number to work with in terms of assessing transaction/shipping costs relative to the wine being purchased.

You start a transaction on Vinfolio by entering the wine you're looking for in a search box:

From there, they list whether the wine is available with a "Buy Now" price -or- whether it's available in the Marketplace at all:

For an older wine like this with limited volume, this isn't as informative as a wine with higher current interest.  Say for example the recently-announced Wine Spectator Wine of the Year- the 2005 Columbia Crest Reserve Cabernet:

A couple of observations here.  First, this wine was selling for less than $25 in stores when it was released.  Now that Wine Spectator has rated it 95 points and named it their Wine of the Year it's going for north of $100.  This tells me that for as much as we like to think that professional ratings are losing influence and community rating sites like CellarTracker and Corkd are gaining power, Wine Spectator can still move the wine market.  Second, we discussed this wine and where to buy it in the Boston area over a year ago.  Think of the profit you could have realized if only you'd stocked up!  Subscribe to the WWP now and you might know about next year's big values before prices go up.

Back to our original hero- the Cakebread.  On October 24th, I registered with Vinfolio, secured an account, and bid the asking price of $99.95.  I was quickly alerted via E-mail that my bid was accepted automatically (since it was a Buy Now price).  Depending on the wine you're bidding on, it might already be in storage at Vinfolio -or- it could be in someone's private collection anywhere in the country.  For the particular wine I bid on, I could tell it was in a private collection so I fully expected it would take some time for the wine to travel to Vinfolio so it could in turn be shipped to me.

Vinfolio's informational pages describing all aspects of the buying/selling process are very well done.  Many questions and complications arise as a result of the inconsistent state-by-state laws.  I found the following pointers to their policies the most relevant to my transaction:

• Shipping and local delivery overview
  
• Interstate shipping policies
• Alternative shipping options for states that don't allow wine shipments
• Tax collection policies

The specifics about how difficult it will be to buy wine online from Vinfolio will of course vary depending on where you live, but they do a number of things quite well in this complicated arena:

• They offer Vinfolio Safe Shipping- a unique program where they monitor the weather at your shipping destination and determine the optimal time and shipping method which will get your wine to you without risk of weather-related damage.  They're not just winging it- they've done more to analyze this than anyone I'm aware of.  Read their blog entry on the subject for more information.
• They offer free storage up to six months.  This provides the opportunity to wait until weather conditions are favorable -and- you can stack purchases from multiple sellers and then ship a case of wine to reduce per-bottle shipping costs.
• They've negotiated favorable shipping rates through the carriers they work with, and they don't charge additional fees for packaging materials.
  

For my friends in Massachusetts- they do not ship here.  You may be able to finagle something through one of their third-party carriers and assume the risk of this transaction yourself.  I wouldn't recommend this approach.  It will cost a lot more money and it's probably illegal.  Better to ship to a friend/family member in a neighboring state.  And better yet, consume it in the neighboring state if possible to avoid the uber-ambiguous dilemma of whether you need to remit taxes to the state for out-of-state purchases just like you should when you buy a computer in tax-free New Hampshire and drive it home to avoid taxes.  You do submit taxes to the state at the end of the year for purchases like these, right?  And when you buying something on Amazon.com that isn't taxed too, right?  Here's more information in this 4-page document from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue regarding "Use Tax".

One other nuance related to Massachusetts...  We're the only state Vinfolio lists as being problematic to ship wine out of the state:

Another tax implication that's ambiguous to me is whether these auction-based sales brokered by Vinfolio (not sure if broker is the right word but you get the idea) are subject to taxation.  I've read through Vinfolio's tax collection policies but I'm still at a loss as to whether taxes should be collected (or later remitted by the purchaser) according to the state wine is shipped to.  We don't pay tax when we sell a piece of used furniture on Craigslist- do things change when we buy and sell wine?  Does the answer change because there is an intermediary involved?  Who knows, really.  For as much information as Vinfolio offers, many answers depend on the laws in each state and whether you want to play strictly by the book.

At any rate, once the bid is accepted the wait begins until the seller ships the wines to Vinfolio for inspection and shipping.  I received notification that my wine arrived in San Francisco on November 12th, 19 days after I placed my order.  I thought that was pretty reasonable.

Once the wine arrives, it becomes part of your VinCellar- Vinfolio's cellar management solution.  You request your wine be shipped from VinCellar.  I was initially confused by this part of the transaction because an important part of the web page wasn't being rendered using the Google Chrome web browser.  When I checked the same page with FireFox, it became immediately clear how to interact with my newly-added wine to request shipping.  This appears to have been repaired since I ordered my wine.

A nice feature, and one I wasn't aware of when ordering, is the ability to estimate shipping costs and assess whether they can ship to your zip code via the form pictured at left.  Enter a Massachusetts zip code and it will say "NA" (can't ship here).  Ship to a Manhattan address and it will estimate the cost of shipping 1 bottle.  Switch the quantity to a case and you can trade-off the per-bottle savings vs. how likely you are to do additional purchases in the near future.

I really appreciate this feature because one of the single most annoying things in e-commerce is time wasted considering a purchase that you can't even make because they don't ship to your state -or- you find out after investing a lot of time in the transaction that shipping costs are higher than reasonable.

I think Vinfolio's cross-country ground cost of $9.40 for a single bottle (as of this writing) is reasonable, especially considering they don't charge additionally for packing materials.  You can get it down to $7.27 if you ship to a business.  For a case, it's $35.37 to a residence bringing the per-bottle cost to $2.94.  These guidelines are helpful when seeking to trade-off shipping costs vs. the cost of the wine vs. procuring locally.  I probably wouldn't consider shopping Vinfolio for wines under $30/$40 as the cost of shipping would be prohibitive but your situation may vary.

I considered trying the weather-safe option, but that forced a selection of 2nd day air and boosted the cost considerably.  Since temperatures were moderate across the country I chose ground.  There's no additional fees on top of the price of the wine and the shipping cost.  My credit card was charged for the wine when the order was accepted.  It was charged again for shipping when I requested the wine be shipped.

Although Vinfolio's shipping information page says I should have received a tracking number via E-mail I never received one.  I wasn't able to confirm the current status of the order by logging into my account either (or if this is possible I was unable to figure it out).  As compared to Amazon.com, this (order tracking) was one aspect of the transaction that I felt could be improved.  Or with Domino's Pizza from the moment you place an order, you can see where in the process your order is:

 
For Vinfolio it could be Ordered/In Transit to Vinfolio/Arrived at Vinfolio/In Transit to Me.  But I couldn't get that information.  One potential complication is that if I had the tracking number I could see where the wine came from and Vinfolio avoids letting you know who the seller is.  I'm fine with this, but I just want to know the wine is scheduled to arrive at Vinfolio so I can in turn know when I can ask it be shipped to me.

I decided to just wait and see if it showed up.  And it did.  I'm sure I could have called or E-mailed about the tracking number but I decided to not sweat it and see how things went.  If I was having to negotiate work schedules or staying at home to receive shipment this could have been a source of tension.

In the end, I received a bottle of wine that I couldn't find anywhere in my state, it cost half as much as the nearest retailer was offering it (in Rhode Island), and the seller presumably was able to receive far more than they would have otherwise.  Vinfolio brought together a willing buyer and seller in an efficient transaction in an otherwise complex market.

Strengths:

• They've put in a tremendous amount of work to establish an online auction marketplace that operates within the context of an incredibly varied and complicated set of state laws related to wine shipment.
• The information they provide in terms of various selling and buying scenarios is the most comprehensive I've seen.
• Thoughtful touches like weather-safe shipping options, free temporary storage to enable bulk shipments, and reasonable shipping costs make transactions as efficient and effective as is reasonably possible.
  
•  If you live near San Francisco or Napa, where drop-off and pick-up at Vinfolio would eliminate shipping costs, I can see this method of shopping being amazingly affordable and convenient.

Areas for Improvement:

• A key portion of a page wasn't rendered when using the Google Chrome browser. This has since been fixed.
  
• Order tracking could be improved in terms of website navigation and overall clarity in terms of where in the process each order is.
  

Other Options:

• WineBid.com
• WineCommune.com
  

Recommendations:

For hard to find wines, especially over $30, Vinfolio is a site I'd recommend consulting.  Conveniently, their listings are reflected on wine-searcher.com making it easy to one-stop/comparison shop online.  They've put together a marketplace that makes it as efficient and easy as possible to buy and sell wine within the context of a complicated interstate shipping environment.

Further Reading:

• Why the 1997 Cakebread Benchland Select Cab was the wine that got me into wine
• More on the subject of whether it is legal to ship wine out of Massachusetts

Question of the Day:

What do you think of online auction sites like Vinfolio? Best thing ever? Or more trouble than it's worth?

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Wine Deal Alert: 2006 Keller Estate La Cruz Vineyard Pinot Noir

 

They don't ship to Massachusetts, but the deal on Wines 'Til Sold Out today is a pretty good one. They're offering the 2006 Keller Estate La Cruz Vineyard Pinot Noir at $19.49.

I visited Keller Estate in Petaluma, CA this spring.  Nice place.  I sought them out because Ryan Zepaltas sourced the grapes for his 95-point 2005 from this exact vineyard.  I just cracked open a 2004 Keller Estate La Cruz Pinot to remind myself what the wine is all about.  It's a restrained expression of Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, full of flavor but not overbearing.  Medium-body, medium-acidity, and classic Pinot Noir fruit on the nose.  Not a lot of earth, but then again, I haven't found Sonoma Pinot Noirs to ever offer a lot of earth.  Nice elegant stuff.

I recently had the 2005 vintage of this wine poured by the glass at A.R. Valentien at The Lodge at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, CA.  I think it was $16 per glass.  Steep, but showing quite nicely and I enjoyed it very much with a fantastic Chicken "Under a Brick" with Braised Escarole and Crispy Prosciutto.

All together, I thought this was a wine deal worth mentioning for folks in a position to take advantage.  The deal is only available 'til sold out so act quickly.

Further Reading:

An interview with Ryan Zepaltas talking about my 2008 Wine of The Year- his 2006 Zepaltas Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

Getting this E-mail Friday morning when the wine is already sold out?  If so you might want to follow me on Twitter to hear about wine deals like this real-time: @RobertDwyer

Question of the Day:

Tons of deals lately.  What are some of your sources for the best online wine deals?  Even if we can't take advantage of them in some states it's interesting to hear what's out there. Let us know in the comments.

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