WINE CLUBS AND ONLINE RETAILERS
There are disadvantages to joining a direct-selling wine club like Cellarmasters or The Wine Society – the main ones being the inability to try before you buy, and the fact that you have to take the rough with the smooth: not every wine you are sent will be a masterpiece of the vintner’s art (that’s one way that costs are kept so low). The same applies to buying wine over the internet. But we think the advantages outweigh the negative sides – look, for example at the quality and exceptional value of the Cellarmasters wines we have been able to recommend in this edition.
WINE CLUBS
Cellarmasters 1800 500 260 Liquorland Direct 1300 300 640 Vintage Cellars 1300 366 084 Wine Selectors 1300 303 307 The Wine Society 1300 723 723
ONLINE STORES
The following web sites often have some excellent prices, and all have a good range, including some smaller-producer, harder-to-get wines and, in many cases, a wide range of cleanskins.
Judging by its newspaper advertising and the strong recommendation of my pal, Jon Cook, the biggest of these may well be
SEARCH ENGINES
The Wine Searcher web site is very powerful and extremely useful in finding wines – and their wildly varying prices – all around the world, not just in Australia. If you buy a lot of wine online, it’s worth signing up to the Pro version:
And despite its limited scope, the Wine Robot search engine can return some great bargains:
