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Wine Online

Tony S

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I'm not talking about online wine shopping "clubs," of which I generally take a dim view. Nor am I talking about forums and other social media related to wine. I suppose those could be interesting, hypothetically, but I've just never chosen to go there.

I'm talking about simply buying wine online. Who does it? What vendors do you prefer, and why? Most importantly, why do 95% of vendors insist they "are prohibited from" shipping wine to Maine, while a small handful will do it gladly? Which group is full of it?
 

Paul Lutes

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Not sure about the Maine thing, but I order wine from Wine.com, mostly because their selection of premium wines, both domestic and international, is exceptional. At least you've got a "small handful" - I tried to ship wine to France last Xmas and was laughed off the internet.
 
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Tony S

Tony S

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Screenshot_20200401-215037_Chrome-01.jpeg
 

cantunamunch

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Most importantly, why do 95% of vendors insist they "are prohibited from" shipping wine to Maine, while a small handful will do it gladly? Which group is full of it?

Wait, which small handful of vendors will do it? Do they have winery (producer) licenses?
 
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Tony S

Tony S

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Wait, which small handful of vendors will do it? Do they have winery (producer) licenses?

Ah. See, here is where we enter dicey territory. What if they don't have those licenses? I really don't know, and I'm not sure it would be smart to start blathering specifics on the net.

As it is I'm already questioning the wisdom of my original post.
 

Rod9301

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Wtso. Com


The only place i buy wine, free shipping and great deals
 

mdf

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You can buy direct from California wineries. The only non-shippable states from there are Arkansas, Mississippi, New Jersey, Kentucky and Utah.
Some wineries have a longer exclusion list, either because they haven't kept current with law changes or because some states are more of a hassle than others.

They want you to "join" for periodic shipments, but almost all will sell one-offs.
 
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Tony S

Tony S

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Wtso. Com


The only place i buy wine, free shipping and great deals

This looks interesting. Will check it out in more depth tonight. Thanks.
 

cantunamunch

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A good article that explains it...

It's a good start but it doesn't have the scope to explain how defended the distributor and wholesaler tiers are. Which is the part that suxx for out-of-state importers - and let's face it, few importers are going to base themselves in ME.
 

johnnyvw

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That's a whole 'nother argument. Most states have licensing schemes for direct shipment of wines, my state has one as well, but at least they provide a list of the licensees. Yes, the local distribution chain is defended....and honestly I'm not against that. Not much different than buying from a local ski shop (or local anything).

The OP was wondering why only a handful of places will/can ship to Maine, I was simply pointing out the reason.
 
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Tony S

Tony S

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Not much different than buying from a local ski shop

It's totally different for a bunch of reasons. The one that comes to mind first is that there are hundreds of thousands of wines but only hundreds of skis. My access to a particular brand and model of ski is not meaningfully constrained by what state I live in. By contrast my access to a specific wine is HEAVILY constrained by what distributors in my state have chosen to bring in.

Granted this is less of a death sentence for Maine wine lovers than it was 20 years ago, but it's still an issue. If you live in NY or DC probably not so much.
 

cantunamunch

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The wholesaler warehousing requirement is the big problem in our control county - I hope Maine is better on the outright corruption and thieving fronts at least.


 

johnnyvw

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It's totally different for a bunch of reasons. The one that comes to mind first is that there are hundreds of thousands of wines but only hundreds of skis. My access to a particular brand and model of ski is not meaningfully constrained by what state I live in. By contrast my access to a specific wine is HEAVILY constrained by what distributors in my state have chosen to bring in.

Granted this is less of a death sentence for Maine wine lovers than it was 20 years ago, but it's still an issue. If you live in NY or DC probably not so much.

If you have a specific wine you want to buy, have you reached out to the winery in question? It seems the way the rules are written, it favors smaller wineries that may not be as widely distributed anyway. Not trying to argue, but just wondering how far you've looked into this.

BTW, I do understand where you're coming from. When I first moved to PA and went to the nearby "state store", I thought I had found a wormhole to 50's USSR...it was a dinky little store, very bare bones compared to the stores I was used to in NJ. Thankfully I found stores closer to more populous areas had much better selections.
 

Paul Lutes

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Could you have your order FedEx'd to a FX store across the state boarder and then pick it up?
During "normal" times, of course, not so much now in the time of Covid.
 

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