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When choosing a site for this review, I wanted to avoid the shopping sites that I am familiar with. I have been buying off eBay since high school. I figured it was time to find something else. So I chose a site that hovers around a subject that is new to me: wine.com

In a similar format to Amazon, wine.com sells numerous kinds of wine as well as gift baskets that feature cheeses and wine. However, Amazon originally sold books and moved on to just about everything, probably even wine, but wine.com does a good job of exclusively selling and distributing numerous types of wine.

The saying goes, “you only have one chance to make a first impression.” What do you see when you visit wine.com? Everything you need to.

There is nothing overly flashy about the site and it is broken up into several easy to read sections. At the top of the page, three very important customer options are easily accessible. The cart, the customer’s account information and customer care.
The cart is where a customer can keep track of what they are purchasing. It provides information on shipping charges and options. The “My Account” section allows registered members to be updated on their wine interests and review past purchases.

If you were ever worried about purchasing wine on the Internet, the “Customer Care” page lets the worrisome buyer relax. The page is broken down into nine links including an “About Us” section that features a history, overview and career opportunities at wine.com. It has customer testimonials which are very important these days, especially when buying off the Internet. It has security information, a page for people new to wine, list of services and a contact page.
The contact page has everything people need to know. It has phone numbers, e-mails and addresses of wine.com. The buyer can buy comfortably knowing that the offices of wine.com are at 114 Sansome Street in San Francisco and not a suspicious PO Box.

Overall the site moves the customer through easily and swiftly. Two clicks and you’re at the “contact us” page, one click and you’re in the wine shop, it’s very easy to navigate and it has definitely taken pointers from other e-commerce sites in the user-friendly department.

As I mentioned earlier, the entire site is easy to read. It has conservative colors and there is nothing flashy about it. It’s simple and straight forward. This is good for their target market which I would assume would be older customers, people who might not want a whole lot of hoopla when buying their wine off the Internet.
An interesting feature is the sidebar on the left hand side of the main page and the wine shop page.
It has links to top rated wines, top selling wines and recommendations from people at wine.com. On the wine shop page, wines are separated by region. You can look at wines from all over the world including California, Greece, South America and Israel.
Customers can also look at types of wine (red, white, bubbly etc…), wines in different price ranges (from $25 and below to $75 and above) or even browse specific wineries.
I browsed through a few pages and there are hundreds of different wines to choose from. It offers everything you need to know when buying your favorite wines.

The Final Test:

To explain the convenience of wine.com, I will run you through the purchasing process from start to finish. I will browse through some of the wines, read the write-ups each one gets and finally make a choice, and since I will not be actually buying the wine I figure I can be a high roller.

So I started off searching the “$75 and above” wines and the first ones that come up were from Tuscany, Italy and were $86. I kept looking and after perusing through the many choices, I finally picked a Ch L’Evangile 2001 Pormerol from Pomerol, Bordeaux. It was $139 and according to the page, Wine Spectator magazine says this about the wine:

“Beautiful aromas of chocolate, blackberry and light cappuccino follow through to a medium- to full-bodied palate, with fine tannins and a long finish. Delicious already but will be much better in a few years."

At the bottom of the wine’s page, there are related links to information about Bordeaux wines and Pomerol. Unfortunately there are no customer reviews for this product, but these are the types of things you have to put up with when you are a high rolling wine connoisseur like me.
On the right side of the page, there are more recommendations that a Ch L’Evangile fan might like.
So I was satisfied with my purchase and added it to my cart. It then asked me what state they will be shipping my bottle to and soon I found out that I would not be able to get my L’Evangile wine (even if I had an extra $140)…and here’s why:

· Due to varying state laws, wine cannot be shipped to every state. See map at right.
· While our wine selection is extensive, all wines we carry may not be available in every state.

So, overall the site itself is nearly flawless, but you can’t expect them to get around state laws. I’d recommend this site to anyone who lives in the red states.