Still here in Israel and having a blast…while working my ass off. Still sleep deprived as well, but I’ll have plenty of time to sleep…in another life.
In the meantime I have been speaking with lots of people here about online wine sales. There are many different opinions and thoughts as to how viable online sales of wine really is. I suppose you can visit online retailers such as wine.com and wineaccess.com or a brick & mortar with a massive online presence in winelibrary and you will find some apparently thriving businesses. Amazon has recently thrown their hat into the online wine sales ring, while it is reported that the Wall Street Journal is even getting involved.
I must admit that I am a bit skeptical. Which seems weird when I think about how many time I myself have purchased wine online – but I am an admitted wine buying addict. The skepticism I have comes from the realization relating to when wine purchased is consumed. And the answer to that question is (about 90+% of the time) IMMEDIATELY. OK, not the instant one leaves the wine shop, but certainly within 24-48 hours – and apparently generally even within 1-2 hours. So where do online wine purchases fit into this equation??
Thanks to Megan of “Wine & Spirits Daily” I discovered this recently written Reuters article. An interesting little read that does point out that online sales only represents about 1-2% of US wine sales. Ahhhh…who knows…??? I guess only time will tell…
Happy online wine (purchasing then) tasting!
WTG
