Winetex  
Austin, Texas
Master of Wine
Posts: 11028
 | | 12-21-2005 04:47 PM |
| I'm in a jolly mood today so here's another positive retailer note. I have ordered quite a bit of wine from the Wine Club. The wine arrived promptly, in superb condition and were well-priced. Their pre-arrivals generally arrive within 2-5 months after the order (not 2 years).
The good - Good shipping prices and no sales tax for out-of-staters
The not-so-good - too many tempting purchases
*No affiliation just a satisfied customer. | | |
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Eric White 
San Ramon, CA
Advanced Sommelier
Posts: 9430
| | 12-22-2005 02:03 AM |
| This as good a place as any to mention it - awesome idea doing these Retailer Reports Winetex! Great content for the site! | | | 2008: the end of an error | |
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davidandrose
Aurora, CO
Barrel Racker
Posts: 1677
| | 12-22-2005 03:11 AM |
| Agreed - Great Idea. And a second for their service, though I frequently order items and have them held until another visit to the LA area. (They're good about holding and consolidating)
As for tempting, I used to live less than 10 miles from the store, and was even closer to the Wine Exchange in Orange, CA. My wife would call my cell phone on a Saturday afternoon and try to guess which store I was visiting and how many bottles I was trying to sneak home! | | | |
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pizinah
Barrel Filler
Posts: 1313
| | 12-22-2005 03:35 AM |
| | Temptation is definitely a serious problem in Southern California with Wine House, Wine Exchange, Woodland Hills, Wine Club, Red Carpet, Hi Times, multiple Costcos and even sometimes Wallys and 20-20 etc. all within easy driving distance. Sometimes I wish I lived in the middle of nowhere... | | | |
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tanglenet
Oakland, California
Wine Bottler
Posts: 3265
| | 12-22-2005 01:18 PM |
| I buy a lot from the Wine Club, mostly in SF and Santa Clara. I've been to the Santa Ana store and have purchased from them over the phone. All excellent transactions.
My criticisms:
Their website. I've complained to them about this before and "they're working on it" (this is over 3 years now). They have 3 stores and only the Santa Ana store is on-line using a Yahoo storefront. They boasted that they did $50 mil in sales one year in a newsletter a couple of years ago. You would think they could afford a decent transactional website.
Also, their inventory system is separate from each store. So, if you were looking for a bottle of XXX wine and they don't have it in the local store, they don't have a clue if it's in another store.
The newsletter: a lot of times out of date. A bottle will be advertised as available and I go into the store and inquire. The response is, "Gee I don't think we have that" or "I haven't had that in months" or "I show it in the system, but I don't know where it is."
The pluses: great pricing; knowledgable workers. A good email system for notification of new wines. | | | TN posted on Cellartracker"
I drink no more than a sponge." François Rabelais | |
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Randy Wigginton
Master of Wine
Posts: 10802
| | 12-22-2005 02:38 PM |
| I get all their emails. It is the best part of Wine Club's service. Typically their prices are either the lowest or very close to it.
Agree that they should have a better inventory tracking system. If a wine is in Santa Ana, that means nothing about their SF and Santa Clara locations. Kind of odd. | | | |
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skwid
Wine Connoisseur
Posts: 5452
| | 12-22-2005 03:17 PM |
| Quote:
Their website. I've complained to them about this before and "they're working on it" (this is over 3 years now). They have 3 stores and only the Santa Ana store is on-line using a Yahoo storefront. They boasted that they did $50 mil in sales one year in a newsletter a couple of years ago. You would think they could afford a decent transactional website.
My understanding is that K&L paid something like $500K to get their website up and running. This was during the dot com days so high end wine was really selling well. A couple of years later they probably wouldn't have done this. Now days I suspect the cost would be less but probably still into the low six figures for a site like K&L's. | | | |
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Randy Wigginton
Master of Wine
Posts: 10802
| | 12-22-2005 03:28 PM |
| | People don't understand how hard it is to do a website well, and real time inventory tracking is difficult as well. K&L has done a great job. | | | |
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Lakersguy
Orange County, CA
Barrel Filler
Posts: 1023
| | 12-22-2005 11:09 PM |
| | The wine club in Santa Ana has been a place I have purchased a ton of wine from. The only complaint I would voice, and its minor is they have had high turnover the past year and lost some really great people that had lots of wine knowledge. Pricing and availability is very good. I only buy walk-in. | | | |
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davidandrose
Aurora, CO
Barrel Racker
Posts: 1677
| | 12-23-2005 01:59 AM |
| Quote:
IMy criticisms:
Their website. I've complained to them about this before and "they're working on it" (this is over 3 years now). They have 3 stores and only the Santa Ana store is on-line using a Yahoo storefront. They boasted that they did $50 mil in sales one year in a newsletter a couple of years ago. You would think they could afford a decent transactional website.
Their latest newsletter also adressed their website and said that it would be updated shortly. | | | |
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Wineaux
New Orleans, LA
Wine Thief
Posts: 2804
| | 12-23-2005 02:24 AM |
| | One of my first tier wine retailers these days. | | | |
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GATC
Wine Lover
Posts: 4740
| | 12-23-2005 07:01 AM |
| I love their emails. There have been times when I get the email, call immediately (a few seconds after I get the email and read it) and secure the wines. Sometimes I have a gripe about the way they hype the wines in the emails, but I got used to it.
Otherwise, they can be a little disorganized (I only deal with the Santa Clara store). It seems like when the futures come in (especially Bordeaux), the place is a mess and I have to help them find my wine.
Overall, I do buy a lot of wines there and their tastings are decent. | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Destemmer
Posts: 61
| | 12-25-2005 05:06 PM |
| Have purchased at the Santa Clara store on a few occasions.
Good prices, good tastings.
TTT | | | |
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Winetex
Austin, Texas
Master of Wine
Posts: 11028
| | 01-04-2006 08:47 PM |
| The Wine Club has a new website but they may have shot themselves in the foot.
FYI if you're searching - I was browsing by "Champagne" (no big surprise) but only about 10 champagnes showed up including no Krug, etc. Somehow the category is not listing all of the wines available. | | | |
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Dave
Wine Connoisseur
Posts: 5751
| | 01-04-2006 08:58 PM |
| | I used to shop at the Delicacy Shop in Fullerton in the late '70's/early 80's. Ron Loutherback was very knowledgeable, and he had a good, but small, assortment of wines. He got tired of educating customers and then having them buy their wine at the discount places. So he started the Wine Club. It seems to have worked out very well for him. | | | |
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skwid
Wine Connoisseur
Posts: 5452
| | 01-04-2006 08:58 PM |
| | That's a problem with The Wine Club website. Not all wines are available on the website. Btw, a search for the term "glass" brought up the Krug Grand Cuvee as one of the hits. | | | |
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Winetex
Austin, Texas
Master of Wine
Posts: 11028
| | 01-04-2006 09:06 PM |
| | I searched by Krug and brought up a couple of hits - the NV and the pre-arrival of the CdM. | | | |
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Randy Wigginton
Master of Wine
Posts: 10802
| | 01-04-2006 09:16 PM |
| | Its pretty flakey so far. Hopefully they will get their act together soon. | | | |
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Edward Bowers
Palm Beach Gardens
Barrel Sampler
Posts: 2072
| | 01-06-2006 06:35 PM |
| Quote:
This as good a place as any to mention it - awesome idea doing these Retailer Reports Winetex! Great content for the site!
Now if we can locate some of these folks that would ship to a certain southern state. I'd be happy. Thried a few of these folks, and get a NO-NO as to shipping. | | | |
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Winetex
Austin, Texas
Master of Wine
Posts: 11028
| | 11-16-2006 02:30 PM |
| | Bumping up for additions. | | | |
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