The Best Wine Retailers

Wine retailers provide a service.

Whether you buy wine at a grocery store, liquor store, package store, at big box stores like Costco and Sam's Club, or even online, there are a few criteria that wine buyers look for. The best wine retailers are those that meet several needs of the consumer.

Price Matters

Wine lovers are value shoppers, and wine retailers that offer frequent sales are doing both their customers and their business a favor. Better wine retailers wisely offer a discount on purchases of more than six bottles of wine -- generally a 10 percent discount. Large retailers, like Costco and Sam's Club, often have lower prices for wine because they buy in bulk. Wine selections at these huge stores, however, can be limited.

Ratings, Please

The best wine retailers provide ratings about wine that they sell and awards that it may have won. Ratings include scores from wine judges and information about how well certain wines fared during wine competitions. Yes, wine vineyards compete against each other in numerous wine events throughout the year. Competition is fierce among wineries because good ratings are highly sought in the winemaking world. A good wine retailer will be familiar with such competitions and judge ratings, and share them with their customers.

Samples Would be Nice

Sampling new wine can be informative

Nothing says "We value you as a customer" more than a free event at a wine retailer's location. Free samples and light snacks, such as cheese and crackers, make for feelings of goodwill between wine consumers and wine retailers. Wine retailers that hold such gatherings may compile a customer email list and contact them about such events or post an advertisement inside their stores -- a good idea for building customer loyalty.

Looking Around

Better wine retailers make it easy to search aisles for wine. Wines should be displayed by type (for example: red, white, blush) and further broken down by genre (for example: cabernet, merlot, chardonnay, pinot grigio) and lastly, wine is easier to find when it is arranged by country and/or state of origin (Spain, Chile, California, Washington state, for example.)

References

• San Francisco Wine Competition: 2010 results
• French Scout: Types of wine

Resources

• Vineyard and Winery Management Magazine: International Eastern Wine Competition