Deal: Elk Cove Goodrich Vineyard Pinot Noir for $35 (before discounts)

I know a lot of readers have been interested in Wine Access deals, but due to their relatively limited assortment are also looking for specific recommendations. The 2017 Elk Cove Goodrich Pinot Noir for $35 before discounts is a great one:

2017 Elk Cove Vineyards Goodrich Pinot Noir

Their single vineyard Pinot Noirs retail for around $60, and their Willamette Valley bottling retails for $32. So this is like getting a single vineyard wine for the price of an appellation wine...but then you can stack the discounts mentioned below to take the price down even further.

I was poking around and they've got some other great wines right now:

• 2017 Hirsch Vineyards San Andreas Fault Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast
• 2018 Kistler Vineyards Pinot Noir Russian River
• 2018 Ridge Vineyards Geyserville

How to Maximize It

If you're an existing WineAccess customer, see if you're taregeted for $50 off $200:

https://www.wellesleywinepress.com/2020/08/targeted-50-off-200-at-wine-access.html

If you've got a new email address to use with WineAccess, use a referral for $50 off $150:

http://share.wineaccess.com/v/robert_48

Through the end of September 2020, check to see if you've got an Amex Offer:

https://www.wellesleywinepress.com/2020/04/ymmv-wine-access-amex-offers.html

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$10 Off $50 at Wine.com Amex Offer: How to Maximize It

Amex is back with yet another iteration of what's got to be the most reliably recurring lucrative online wine deal out there:

$10 off $50+ through 1/31/2021

Update 9/8/2020: There is also a $30 off $100 variant of this offer available, and both offers can be had with one SSN. The targeting doesn't seem very broad for this offer as of yet.

How to Maximize It

1. Add the offer to your Amex card(s)
   (one per SSN, plus non-Amex Amex cards like Wells Fargo Propel World)
2. Buy $50 gift cards and send them to your self
3. Buy StewardShip (yes, it can be a good deal)
4. Load those cards to your Wine.com account at check-out
   2 per session, clear cookies/go incognition when you get throttled
5. Shop through a portal (check rates here)
6. Use a promo code for up to 40% off (here's a list of probably still active codes)
   If the portal denies your claim because of use of a promo codes found on another site, ask them nicely for "a one-time exception."

What to Buy

• Here are 5 wines I'm consistently buying
• Here's a list of 10 reliably outstanding widely available wines on Wine.com

HT: @TheRetailTrader

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Rakuten 10x Back at Wine.com: Wines I'm Consistently Buying

Shopping portal Rakuten is offering 10x back at Wine.com today. You can see this is a good rate that heightens every month or two through Cashback Monitor's handy tracking feature.

Some other portals to consider for Wine.com (that aren't tracked by CashbackMonitor) are RetailMeNot and FreeShipping.com/ShopSmarter. RetailMeNot doesn't consistently offer cashback for Wine.com however. And FreeShipping.com/ShopSmarter require a subscription of around $10/month in order to get 10% cashback at all the retailers they work with.

I like Rakuten because you can elect to have earnings converted into Amex Membership Rewards which can be worth more than 1 cent per point towards travel.

If you don't have a Rakuten account yet, here is a referral link. $25 for me, $10 for you after spending $25+:

https://www.rakuten.com/r/ROBERT67875?eeid=28187

Promo Codes

Here's a list of promo codes for August 2020 with up to 40% off.

Keep in mind that Wine.com promo codes are single-use (per Wine.com account) so the optimal play is subscribing for StewardShip then breaking up your orders into smaller chunks to maximize the promo codes with the deepest discounts first.

What I've Been Buying

These are Wine.com affiliate links

Columbia Crest H3 Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

One of the most common recommendations people are looking for is a good $10 Cab. This sells for $12.99 in MA at the moment so towards that goal I can't think of a better play.

La Marca Prosecco

Total Wine has it for $12.97 in MA and Wine.com is at $15.99. With discounts Wine.com is cheaper, though I usually prefer finding wines that Wine.com sells for closer to the best available price. Still, this Prosecco is great in an Aperol Spritz and we tend to go through a bunch of it and it's nice to have it delivered to the house without additional cost.

Hartford Court Russian River Pinot Noir 2018

This has been an amazingly reliably outstanding California Pinot Noir. Just so vibrant, pure, and powerful while still showing elegant restraint. At $34.99 from Wine.com it's a fair price and not widely traded at local retailers. After discounts this is a great value.

Honig Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

For some reason, I find myself cracking a Honig Cab regularly for Friday night pizza night. It delivers on what I'm looking for in a Napa Cab every. Single. Time. I don't see other retailers undercutting the $43.99 price this goes for in MA so it's well suited to purchase from Wine.com.

EnRoute Winery Les Pommiers Pinot Noir 2017

They used to sell this for like $33 at Total Wine. But recently they've increased the price there to over $50. Wine.com has it for $49.99 so after discounts the pricing is very attractive. It's been spectacular every time I've tried it, often veering into "Classic" territory (95+ points) for me. More here in this post.

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[Targeted] $50 off $200 at Wine Access

Direct Link: http://wineaccess.com/newsite

I got a postcard in the mail today from Wine Access offering $50 off $200 on existing accounts, to celebrate the redesign of their website.

They actually did revamp their site. They're finding their way between being a flash deal site, a generalist online retailer, and a purveyor of allocated wines and as they do so they're going through some transitions.

Along the way, search and naviagation has indeed improved.

When I enter their site through the /newsite link I see a banner for $50 off $200. And when I proceed to place an order of $200+ I see $50 off:

But when I compare notes with a non-targeted account, I do not see $50 off $200. So it feels to me like this is a targeted offer.

How to Play It

The utility I see in this is where you have an existing account with referral credits and you want to reduce the price of the wines you're buying.

If you're not an existing customer you'd be better off shopping through a portal, going through a referral link (for $50 off $150), and stacking it with an Amex Offer.

Bottom Line

I consider Wine Access the second best ongoing online wine deal right now, narrowly behind wine.com with all their promo codes and angles.

But don't forget to consider great winery-deals like this one. And this one.

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