Guide to Buying Wine Online

How can you really buy wine online and get it right? If you’re really interested in getting good wine, then isn’t it better to go to a proper store and ask the people there the right questions and get good recommendations? Well, it’s one way to do it. The fact is that buying wine online is perfectly feasible. Yes, you can buy Tom Foolery wines online and get it absolutely right, but just as long as you follow the right kind of advice beforehand.

It Starts with the Right Kind of Online Shop

The first part of a great online wine-buying experience is to ensure you shop in the right places. Common wisdom says you should always shop around for great prices, but with wine you should shop around for great information.

Websites that properly introduce the wine, its origins, how it’s made, its special characteristics and how it is best enjoyed (IE paired with what kind of food) are the websites to treasure. Those that give minimal or meaningless information and just push prices and deals are not worth your time.

Don’t Jump Straight into a Wine Club

Alcohol clubs of different sorts like wine clubs, gin clubs, beer clubs and whatnot are increasingly popular, and people like that these clubs give a large sampling of what’s out there in the marketplace. The trouble with these organisations, however, is that they take away the power of choice, leaving your monthly receipt of wine entirely at the whim of people working for the club.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and variety can be great, but it’s a wasteful approach because wine comes in so many different tastes and profiles, there’s no possible way that a single selection of 12 bottles received every month is providing a set of wine that people largely enjoy. Each member might like half the selection at best, giving the others away. Wine selection is better when it’s personalised.

A First-Time Order Should be a Single Bottle

Another important tip is not to over-order on wines you haven’t tried before. Even if the description makes them sound irresistible and you’re convinced that the contents of that bottle are your perfect wine, don’t be fooled. Buy a single bottle first and sample it before you order more.

Wait Before Trying the Wine

After you receive your wine delivery, first take note of the proper serving temperature of the wine before you just start cracking them open and giving them a taste. If you’re serious about getting good wine online, then the stuff needs a chance to be stored at the proper temperature before being served. It’s unfair how much wine gets slated because people try it as soon as it arrives without chilling it or allowing it to return to a palatable temperature after being stuck in a box and shipped in a van or on a plane for a day or more.

Sample a Wide Variety

It’s tempting with online purchases to just stick with one type after you’ve found one you really like. The world of wine appreciation needs people to be bold enough to keep sampling different wines and discovering great examples even after they’ve found one that in their minds is like the “ultimate” wine. It’s a rich and diverse world, and one should never think that any one single bottle of wine could be the be-all and end-all.

Sample as many different kinds as you can, and broaden your horizons with wines from regions and countries you might never have known were wine producers. It wasn’t so long ago that “new world” wines was a kind of synonym for “rubbish” in some people’s arrogant view. That has changed quite radically as more people continued sampling and discovering great things!

• Prev
• Next