Buying Wine for Reasonable Prices

Most wine is imported, which means there are lots of costs that are tacked onto wines during the distribution process, from transportation to storage and all the way to regional markups due to demand. While there are lots of places to buy wine, not every place is a good place to buy wine.

When judging a wine merchant, here are some criteria:

• Pricing: are the prices reasonable with the rest of the market? This is probably the single-most important consideration for this list.
• Selection: how much wine do they have from various regions in the world?
• Niche: Are there specific wines that this merchant is very good at choosing and pricing?
• Delivery: Does the place offer delivery, safe for your wines, and at a reasonable cost?
• Authenticity: are the wines here likely to be authentic, and not fabricated ones?

Contents

• New York: greatest city in the world
• California: greatest wine state in the US
• Online: convenient
• Thoughts on Popular Wine Shops: Total Wine, Trader Joe’s, Supermarkets
• What to Watch Out For: tips to not get scammed

New York

The greatest city in the world, and possibly the greatest wine city in the world as well. Tons of importers are located here, and there is no shortage of wine selection in New York.

• Astor’s Wines and Spirits: If you’re in Manhattan, you gotta visit this store. They have a wide selection of wine from every region, with top wines as well in their cool room. They have liquors as well, and also a decent selection of sake. Best of all, they have sales pretty often, ranging from 15–25%, and have flash sales as well. This is not a wine store you want to miss out on.
• Grapes the Wine Company: Actually located in White Plains, which is a 30-minute drive north of Manhattan, this is a massive wine merchant, and they have amazing prices and an even more incredible selection. Don’t miss out on their Black Friday discount, which allows you to get any 12+ bottle order for 25% off…now that’s a steal.
• Empire State of Wine: The store itself is pretty scrappy, but their selection for European, especially French wines, is incredible, and they sell wines at absolutely steal prices. You can find $200+ wines for 50–70% sometimes. They have a variety of techniques to get the prices so low, such as sourcing directly from the Chateau. They have great recommendations, sales, and I would highly recommend taking a peek at ESoW if you’re looking for a special bottle of wine.
• Gramercy Wine and Spirits: Rarely do I recommend going to boutique wine stores since they usually mark up a ton, Gramercy Wine and Spirits has very reasonable prices, an excellent selection of small producers, and also boasts perhaps the cheapest fruit-flavored soju prices in the city.
• Sotheby’s Wine: Sotheby’s is mainly an auction house, where they sell wine and fine art. However, they also have a retail store, which has really great selections of wine. For the most expensive wines, think First Growths and rare and cult wines like Screaming Eagle and Harlan Estate, Sotheby’s is your top choice. The prices are reasonable, and you can guarantee authenticity for sure, otherwise you can bring the wine back to them. They also do van shipping if you spend a certain amount, and the service overall is impeccable, as you would expect from such a prestigious auction house. In addition, if you are in need of a cellar starter, they offer a service where they can build you a cellar collection, given a budget. Finally, if you are interested in wine futures, Sotheby’s is the place to go.

California

• K&L Wine Merchants: They run as both a wine auction and as a retail store. Their California selection is absolutely insane at amazing prices, and they have really good prices for non-California wines as well.

Online

• Vivino: prices are generally expensive, but I like using Vivino to keep track of my tasting notes, and making lists of what I want. Some of the merchants here are pretty good, and if you use the Honey browser extension on top of it, you can get some pretty good deals. However, the UX makes it pretty hard to find deals and combine them in one order, so the experience overall is pretty hard, so I would only do this if I have a bunch of time. A few warnings about Vivino:
  - You should interpret the ratings as relative to the price. This means a 4.0 $50 wine might rate 3.5 if it were $100 and 4.5 if it were priced $25. This is important, because Vivino often encourages you to try cheaper wines with similar ratings, when in reality the price relativity makes it a nonsensical comparison.
  - Some wines have extremely high ratings even though they are not well-known. Although you might feel like you are stumbling into a hidden gem, often the case is that the wine has faked reviews or somehow inflated their rating, e.g. by asking winery visitors to rate them 5 stars. I would be careful about these.
  - Some wines are on extreme discount, like 50–90%. This helps if you sort wines by discount, but if you read reviews, you will realize from people who have previously been scammed that these producers on purposely markup their wines a ton, so that when they sell at 50% off, they are actually selling at the market value of their wine. This is really disappointing and I wish Vivino wasn’t gamed like this.
• Wine Searcher: They pull wine prices from a variety of sources, and this is a really good way to make sure you’re not overpaying for wines. Usually only extremely popular or expensive wines are listed on here. If you’re more tech-savvy or you need to do wine price research, you can purchase access to their API.

Thoughts on Popular Wine Shops

• Costco: As most things are in Costco, prices are unbeatable, and in wine, this is pretty much true. From the cheap everyday wines to the Grand Cru Classes, all the way to Kirkland wines, Costco has wines at a great quality for an amazing price. Depending on which Costco you have near you and wine demand, the selection varies greatly. For example, Costcos in California tend to have incredible selections, whereas more rural Costcos may not have as wide a selection of wine.
• Total Wine & More: If you become a member and buy a lot, it’s generally ok, but for just buying something once, their prices are pretty high, usually 10–20% marked above market.
• Trader Joe’s: In some cities, Trader Joe’s has a dedicated wine shop, sourcing wine from locals, Trader Joe’s brands, and other selections. In terms of pricing, Trader Joe’s wines are usually right around, or a little below market. However, they never have sales, so you’ll be getting an okay price, but no steals. As for quality, the range is quite large. Although people claim Trader Joe’s has some of the best cheap wines, at the end of the day, these wines are not of great quality, and aside from parties, these wines under scrutiny are objectively not good wines. In terms of their selection of more premium wines, it’s often limited, and has high variance depending on what the owner chooses.
• Wegman’s: Known as the “Disneyworld of supermarkets,” Wegman’s usually has a large selection of wines, and depending on your area and Wegman’s wine manager, can have really nice wines as well, especially if there is a Fine Wine Room. In terms of pricing, it’s around Supermarket pricing, which is, it will rarely be overpriced, but usually won’t be very underpriced as well. A reliable place to buy wine for everyday drinking, and if you want an expensive bottle, you won’t get ripped off. However, because of no discounts, more expensive wines are better found at auctions or during a sale at another importer.
• Supermarkets (e.g. Whole Foods, Safeway): Similar to Wegman’s, but with less selection, supermarkets often have a decent selection of good, bad and popular (which can be good and bad) wines, priced around market value. Some places like Whole Foods and Safeway have discounts for being a member, or buying in bulk, which you should take advantage of. In terms of selection, you should expect wines $50 and under, and rarely see any bottles above the $50 range. I don’t mind buying at supermarkets since it’s usually not a super expensive wine, and I know I won’t be getting ripped off.

What to Watch Out For

If you’re on the bargain for wine, here are some tips to help you make sure you get the highest quality wine out of your wallet:

• For the most common wines you buy, remember their price points. This is a great way to judge a wine store immediately. For example, if you know that a Caymus sells for $75 on market, and you see one for $90 in the store you’re in, it might be a good idea to head out. Of course, there might be flukes, so more data points help. Memorize a few wines to help yourself avoid very marked up wine stores.
• Boutique wine stores: small wine stores in general have to mark up wine prices because they can’t source a large amount of wine, they have less staff, and they rely on locality to grab more service. All of these point to charging higher margins to keep their business going. Although there’s nothing wrong in buying from these stores, especially if you want to support local businesses, it’s generally hard to find a good deal at small wine shops.

Learning more about wine

There are many ways to do this, but I’ll list some of my favorite resources below. Understanding wine will not only help you find what wines you like, but be a better party host, and choose more suitable wines for your group when you go out to eat. It’s a great skill that can last for a lifetime and increase enjoyment in many occasions.

• Wine Folly: Maddy Puckette knows a ton about wine and has the perfect personality to teach it to others. There are lots of free materials online, and her book is decent as well.
• The Wine Bible: It’s not super deep in some categories, but this book does read pretty easily, so it’s good for an introduction to the world of wine. It is definitely a long book though.
• WSET: This is the start of formal wine education. WSET is a London-based wine school that awards certifications for completing courses related to viniculture and viticulture. These wine courses are more focused on theory, meaning grape varietals, growing and regions, rather than service, and is thus more accessible to the average person. Courses are not as pricey as CMS, and I would recommend WSET 2 as a starter course if you’re interested in wine, since WSET 1 doesn’t cover a whole lot, and can be easily learned just by being moderately interested in wine.
• Court of Master Sommeliers: If you want to become a sommelier in the US, this is definitely the way to go. However, it is very expensive, and usually isn’t worth it unless you’re actually going to be working as a Sommelier in the Hospitality industry. Usually CMS level 2 would be an entry requirement for a Somm in industry.