Flexibility is the key to successful wine shopping on the World Wide Web. That’s what we found when we took a shopping list of 10 wines-three Bordeaux, two Italians and some Californians-to four Web sites and two area wine stores (which also have Web sites). We struck out on three California cabernet sauvignons-Harlan Estate, Silver Oak (Napa) and Grace Family-all of which have small productions and are coveted by wine snobs. Both shopkeepers and nextwine.com, which had one 1990 Silver Oak cab at $121, were aware of the wines. The rest of the sites shrugged off the searches with “You’ve stumped us” or “We have no exact matches.” Two Italians, a Gaja Gromis Conteisa Cerequio and a Brunello Di Montalcino Biondi Santi, were available at Sam’s but not elsewhere. Wineshopper.com struck out on all counts. And the rest? Here’s how they fared.
UPSIDES
Sam’s: Can’t beat the volume of merchandise or the help, either human or the shelf tags.
Schaefer’s wine: Be in and out in 15 minutes with wine for dinner, thanks to helpful staff.
Wine.com: May not have had what we wanted, but always offered several alternatives. Good consumer-oriented capsule info on each wine, its drinkability, pairings, etc.
Nextwine.com: When it didn’t have the tough-to-find wines, it offered to search its network of private cellars.
Evineyard.com: Label displays are large and easy to read.
DOWNSIDES
Sam’s: This place can be overwhelming, especially at 2 p.m. on a Saturday.
Schaefer’s wine: Small size, small selection.
Wine.com: Something–either on AOL or the site–conked out during ordering, a real pain considering we had to start the process over. Guilty of bad puns (“Hit a home Rhone”).
Nextwine.com: Too much type and tries too hard to fill site with clever quotes and history, missing out on helpful wine info.
Evineyard.com: Had a very hard time recognizing some pretty basic wines.
Key: NA = Not Available — = Offered cellar search
LAFITE ROTHSCHILD
Sam’s: 1996/$369
Schaefer’s Wine: NA
Wine.com: 1996/$399
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Nextwine.com: 1995/$240
Evineyard.com: NA
CHATEAU PETRUS
Sam’s: 1996/$868
Schaefer’s Wine: $543.71
Wine.com: 1992/$404.90
Nextwine.com: —
Evineyard.com: NA
CHATEAU CHEVAL BLANC
Sam’s: 1997/$183.65
Schaefer’s Wine: NA
Wine.com: NA
Nextwine.com: —
Evineyard.com: 1983 St. Emil/$367.79
COPPOLA CLARET/ CABERNET
Sam’s: 1998/$15.21
Schaefer’s Wine: 1998/$21.66
Wine.com: NA*
Nextwine.com: —
Evineyard.com: 1998/$19.74
GALLO OF SONOMA/ CABERNET
Sam’s: 1996/$23.69
Schaefer’s Wine: 1996/$29.28
Wine.com: NA**
Nextwine.com: —
Evineyard.com: NA
*Had merlot, syrah, zinfandel. **Ordered chardonnay at $22.95; arrived in the promised 3 days.
Note: Shopped in-store and on-line the same day. Prices include taxes or any shipping charge. Sam’s Wines & Spirits, 1720 N. Marcey St., Chicago. Schaefer’s, 9965 Gross Point Rd., Skokie.
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