The online shopping world has exploded of the past 10 year, and the online wine industry is no exception, although it hasn't happened as quickly as other industries. Skepticism behind buying wine from unknown sources has been the main driver behind the slow uptake of online stores.
However, over time more business have entered the market place and added a large variety of ideas about how to sell wine over the internet. The level and quality of wine being sold has improved as business models have improved. But, there are still some bad ways to buy wine over the net. One of the most dubious ways to buy wine over the net is through online wine auctions houses. Many wineries and wine companies dump their stock to these online auction companies at a bottomed out price. There is one main problem with this. The companies will generally dump their stock as "cleanskins" (wines without labels) which leaves the consumer with no real idea where they come from apart from wine type and region.
Ordering cleanskins without first tasting them can be fraught with danger as you really don't know what you are getting. The varietal of wine may match with the region, but the quality of the wine is always anybody's guess. Why do you think that the wineries or companies are dumping this stock off to auction houses in the first place?"
The next thing to be aware of is how the wines have previously been stored. Many examples of wines being purchased which have found to be off can be found, with the main reason being the lack of knowledge as to how the wine has been stored. Its quite easy to see a bargain basement price for a $50 a bottle six pack of wine and buying it, only to find its been kept in somebody's back shed during summer and all the wine is off.
"Affiliate" sites are also starting to creep into the online wine market. These types of wine stores look like any regular online wine store, but generally look like they stock more wines than the ordinary. The bottom line is these stores don't stock any wine at all. These sites basically take your order, pass them on to the wineries, wash their hands of it and take a percentage commission.
The easiest way to pick these types of web sites is by checking their Shipping/Delivery Information pages. You will generally find with these sites that most will ask you to check the shipping costs either from the winery themselves or a special shipping page which shows the costs of delivery per winery. You are better off finding the wine you like and ordering it directly from the winery themselves as the service levels will be no different and you are supporting the winery directly. If they are smaller wineries, they will appreciate your patronage more so directly than paying an affiliate a commission.
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