wine.com

I have been ordering wine from wine.com for about 5 years now, maybe 6 years. For part of those years, I was a Stewardship member (free shipping for an annual fee). I have ordered Bordeaux futures as well as wines they have in stock. This is a summary of my experience with the company.

Website: 5/5 stars. Their website is by far the best website for finding information about wine. They have a tremendous number of wines in stock, and they contain not only information about that particular wine and vintage, but also information about the vigneron and other wines produced by that vigneron. They post the reviews of all the major wine reviewers, and you can see what the ratings were for that particular wine during other vintages - even if they do not have that wine in stock. Their layout is super helpful and pleasant. Their filtering options are above average. I disagree with some of their categorization of wines (e.g., some wines should be Rhone rather than Languedoc, etc.), but that is a rare issue.

Pricing: 3/5. Generally, wine.com has higher prices that elsewhere. Bordeaux futures are comparable. If I use a 10% case discount and utilize my Stewardship membership, the price is roughly equivalent to what I would pay locally with the high Chicago taxes. However, this is when I buy a case of wine. I don't find buying less than a case economical unless there is a 10% > $200 coupon or something with the free shipping membership. There's probably an overhead and a desire to make a profit here, but that's OK. This is just an assessment of their competitiveness in terms of pricing.

Phone App: 4/5. The App (at least the android app) is almost as functional as the website. It is a little buggy at times, but it has the basic functionality that the website has with the addition of using a barcode scanner and camera to search for wines. When I am in local stores in Chicago, I typically use the wine.com app to look at prices and ratings.

Customer Service: 3/5. I've had a mediocre-to-above-average experience with customer service reps. The wait can frequently be long, and if you're not looking for recommendations and want to ask questions about your order, shipment, etc., sometimes they can be helpful; sometimes they are not. This can be frustrating, but I don't frequently have to involve customer service.

Shipping 5/5. I've had about 30 cases of wine delivered over the years. One case was substandardly packaged (they forgot the top casing that stabilizes the wine bottles upright). I informed them about it, and since none of the bottles were damaged (ha! California cabs and their thick glass bottles), there was really no recourse. The first time I ordered, I had them send it to my home. This was a major disaster since my wife and I weren't home the three times FedEx attempted to deliver, and I had to pick it up at a regional FedEx store. I don't consider this to be a wine.com problem, rather a FedEx problem. If people are complaining about the delivery, they should complain to FedEx -- the company actually delivering the product. Certainly neither FedEx nor wine.com can be blamed for the fact that an adult >21 is not home to sign the receipt. Certainly wine.com cannot be blamed for a FedEx delivery man who just drops the case on the porch without a signature. Since that first occasion, I had FedEx deliver to Walgreens, and I just pick it up at my convenience. Yes, it would have been nicer to have it delivered to my home, but sometimes we're just not home when FedEx comes by. Now, since I am a member at a wine storage facility, the deliveries are managed by them and the wine goes into my storage locker. I've checked all the boxes -- never damaged and always complete.

COVID Issues: Come on, folks. During a global pandemic when people are sick or dying and when all these government regulations are being enforced and shipments of all kinds are being delayed, you're going to give wine.com a 1/5 star rating because it took a few extra days to deliver your wine? You're going to complain that it took a couple of weeks to process the order and ship it? Ok, I get that it's an annoyance, but we're not talking about the delivery of flour, toilet paper and water -- those, you know, essential things in life. If you need your bottle of wine now for a special occasion and it is time sensitive, go to a store and pick it up or something equivalent. If wine.com is the only place that has that very special one bottle, plan ahead.

I order from a few other on-line retailers, and I've never really had any issues with any of them. The longest one took was about 6 weeks, but I was ordering from a mom & pop wine shop in Connecticut. I think I would be scared to order from wine.com if I had read all these reviews first, but that's not the way it happened. They have issues, but their selection is excellent. Their pricing is OK. Their customer service is so-so. But, they make ordering wine exceptionally easy -- especially in a state that is a national disgrace, regulation heavy and a nightmare to live in (Illinois).

If you live in a state that allows for the online delivery of wine, you have got to use wine.com. Way cheaper than using your local store, and a bigger selection than BevMo, and access to lots of reviews and information. Wine.com is the best way I know of to get wine, if you drink it often. Also they have a lot of obscure reds that I would have never tried otherwise.