Wine Online

It’s no secret that I love wine. Now that I’m living in Minnesota, I realize that I took California and it’s awesome wine for granted. It was easily available everywhere.  OK, not everywhere, but it was more accessible. I just had to drive down to the grocery store to grab a cheap bottle for the night or I could take 30 minutes to go to Lodi or Clarksville to visit some wineries.

Here in Minnesota, I think it’s easier to pull teeth than pick up a bottle of Pinot Grigio.

So, like all modern folks, I turned to the internet to easy my shopping burden.  I had heard about Invino from Klout. I saw it as a perk a year or so ago, but never did anything with it until now.

Because crowdsourcing is a great way to make a decision and blame someone else when it doesn’t work, I asked the Twitterverse if anyone had used the online wine service.  Interestingly enough, Invino responded and I got a $10 discount, which pretty much covered shipping.

Now, I do get overwhelmed by wine. I know what I like, but unless I’m at the winery tasting it, I have no idea what kinds I like. I know I’m not a huge zinfandel fan, but I do enjoy a good tempranillo. Beyond that…I just like red and white. No pink or sweet wine though.  Barf.

As eloquent as that last thought was, I did find a smart solution to my indecision: Sampler Packs

I bought 6 different wines for $10.  They were an unoaked Chardonnay from Chamisal, a Tempranillo from Twisted Oak, a Zinfandel from Artezin, a Merlot from Bargetto, a Cabernet Sauvignon from La Storia by Trentadue, and a Petite Sirah from Clayhouse.

While I’m a huge fan of purchasing wine this way, there are a few things you should know:

1. Your wine won’t ship until the sale ends.  So if you buy something today and the sale doesn’t end for a week, it won’t ship for two business days after that date.
2. No tracking. While the site says they will send you an email when your wine is on its way, I never received said email, so I wasn’t home when the wine arrived. They suggest you ship to your office, but that’s a little bit of a problem for those of us who don’t have one.
3. Those sampler bottles are damn tiny!  I have no idea how big or small things really are. I thought the sampler bottles would be like the individual bottles of wine found in the stores.  Uh. no.  If you look at the picture of the Chardonnay in the glass…that’s the entire bottle.

If you do happen to sign up, you will receive at least two emails a day from Invino letting you know about new sales.  Maybe it’s not that often, but it seems like it. It’s nice if you are really into wine, but if you aren’t you might get overwhelmed by them.