5 Places to Buy Alcohol Online

05.06.2010 // Drinking // admin // 15 Comments

There’s nothing more enjoyable for me than a Gin and Tonic in the evening. The crisp taste with citrus undercurrents…the bitter and refreshing tingle of tonic. But wait…there’s a problem. I can’t buy Blue Coat gin in Michigan. I’m sure we’ve all run into this problem before. You travel for business or pleasure, and discover a great wine or spirit, only to realize they don’t carry it where you live.

Whether they don’t carry your favorite brand, or you’re just to damn busy to stop in, the liquor store around the corner doesn’t always cut it. My Blue Coat dilemma caused me to go a different route: online. I have to tell you…it just feels right: Shopping for booze while drinking booze is a thrilling experience. No annoying college kids trying to figure out which plastic handle best fits their budget. No snaggle-toothed homeless men outside begging for change. No one looking at you like you’re a gigantic asshole for being in your underwear with a semi (am I the only one who gets a little erect when buying wine?)

As this list shows, there are some great places in cyberspace to find your favorite brands, and vineyards, and your best bet is to peruse them all.  In no particular order:

1. 4 Seasons Wine

About: Four seasons wine sells…well…wine. And they do it well. The interface and navigation is clean and user-friendly. Shoppers can browse by Type, Country, Region, Grape, or Price, which helps to narrow down your options from their large list. 4seasons wines also offers bulk buying (12 bottles) which usually carries a significant savings. Coeur de Cuvee for example runs 677.99 per case, which is a savings of $68.01 (which equals the price of one bottle with some money left over). Another plus is their rotating Fine and Rare wines collection which currently features a 2005 Chateau Mouton Rothschild for $675.00. But if expensive wine isn’t your bag they also offer a great selection under $20.00.

Shipping: 4seasonswine has a standard $19.99 shipping price no matter what the order quantity (it does not appear that they offer free shipping for orders over a certain amount). It’s probably best to buy from here if you are placing a large order. Otherwise that $12 bottle of Pinot Grigio just turned into a $34 dollar bottle.

2. Wine.com

About: Wine.com offers a huge selection of wines. They have a great tool to help shoppers called “Wine Finder.” With this search feature users can browse wines by type, style (fruity vs. earthy), varietal, special designation (Kosher, Green etc…), region, appellation, vintage, bottle size, price, rating, and rating source. Whew! It sounds like a lot, but really the feature is helpful for someone like me who enjoys browsing. It’s what shopping for wine should feel like online–as detailed or simple as you need it to be. Like 4seasonswine, Wine.com has a large rotating selection of fine wines, usually at a discounted price. They also sell their bottles in bulk, which also have a generous discount. Wine.com also has another venture in the works called WineShopper:

According to the website:
Incredible Deals
Limited Quantities
Members Only.

Something tells me this will be like Gilt Men for wine.

Shipping: Wine.com calculates shipping based on order total. They also have an AmazonPrime like option called Steward-Ship. For $49.99 you receive free unlimited shipping for a full year. A $14.00 bottle of Louis Martini 2007 Cab cost us roughly $12.00 to ship.

3. DrinkUpNy.com

About: Drink Up Ny is my favorite online shop: They carry Blue Coat Gin! Yes, that’s right DrinkUpNy stocks liquor, wine, and even Sake which means it’s time to get your drink on! The layout and design are probably the worst out of this list, but the navigation is fairly simple: Search wines by region, type, and price. Liquor is searchable based on it’s respective category. Browsing this site is like shopping at the jackpot of all liquor stores! In the Gin and Genever category alone there are over 4 pages of product. Their selection heavily features small batch and boutique liquors, and I must admit it takes a decent amount of discipline to not get credit card happy! Another thing to note is that they usually offer discounts between $4 and $10 per bottle which makes it a little easier to justify that small $44 bottle of gin.

Shipping: Ground shipping varies by state. We shipped a $32 bottle of Genever to Michigan for $14.99. Ground shipping is free for orders or $100.00 so buying in bulk is always a good option with these guys. They also offer overnight shipping (that same Genever bottle would have been $39.99 to ship overnight), and Saturday delivery. I believe they ship to all states, and of course it’s up to you to decide if it’s legal!

4. Cameron Hughes Wine

About: CH Wines was recently featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, so I’ll let them give you some background:

Mr. Hughes takes the $100 California Cabernets that have gone begging for buyers and sells the very same wines under his own labels for $25 a bottle and less. He packages them in generic-looking bottles with names like Lot 164 Rutherford Cabernet and Lot 135 Syrah and sells them on his website and to retailers like Sam’s Club and Costco in 38 states. (Via WSJ)

So basically at CH Wines, you are buying amazing wines, at an even more amazing price. The catch is that you have no idea what vineyard the wine came from. Lots are labeled and based on vineyard location and type of wine. Shopping at CHWines is sort of like going to a wine store blindfolded–if that store only carried fantastic selections. The site itself is easy to navigate, and contains plenty of information about its stock. There are usually tasting notes for each bottle, and from time to time a “Cameron Confidential” section which let’s you know the vineyard your bottle came from.  It’s best to put your name on their mailing list, because these wines sell out quickly! For more information about CH Wines I recommend reading the WSJ article here.

Shipping: Shipping costs vary by location, and usually ship via FedEx Home Delivery (although there is a Business delivery option as well). A $13 bottle of wine cost $17.00 to ship, so again it’s best to buy in bulk. Of note: CH recommends East Coast buyers purchase on a weekend or at the beginning of the week to avoid having your wine sit in a shipping facility over the weekend (temperatures at the places can spoil the wine).

5. Wine Chateau

About: Wine Chateau carries a wide selection of both Wine and Spirits. The site isn’t anything fancy, and I find the search options here to be a bit lacking. Wines can be searched by region (via a long list of links) and spirits are searched by type. I included Wine Chateau on the list because they offer some great pricing and also carry liquor. There is always a sale going on, and I have found some hidden gems here before. It’s worth digging through the clunky navigation. Think of it as the tiny liquor store around the corner: Nothing fancy to look at, hard to browse, but always reliable, and always a treasure to be found (for instance, I just ordered a bottle of Lorraine Bracco’s Chianti…yes, that lady from the Soprano’s sells wine now!) They carry a more recognizable selection of liquor, unlike DrinkUpNy, so you’ll find your Tanqueray’s and Jack’s here.

Shipping: Shipping varies by location. For a $24 bottle of gin (are we noticing a gin theme here) it was $15.82 to send to Michigan. They offer the most options of any site, so choose between  2 day, overnight, Evening, and day time delivery. I like the evening option, so that I know I will be home to sign for it. They also have a category (located right under the top navigation bar) that has a list of items that include free shipping.

*Remember: When buying liquor and wine online it is your responsibility to make sure it is legal to do so in your state. Or…you could just tell those legislators to get back to their mistresses and leave you alone. I personally like the second option…Cheers!