Buying wine in person isn't hard. Then again, some people may not live near a wine store that's stocked with the best bottles or schlepping a haul of wine isn't their idea of a workout or a good time. Luckily online wine clubs and retailers are making it easier to get the bottles of wine you want, sent directly to your front door. Whether you're looking for hard-to-find vintages or you're testing the waters of natural wine, at least one of these online retailers will get you the juice you're craving.
Can You Buy Wine Online?
If you live anywhere other than Alabama, Oklahoma, or Utah, then yes, you can buy wine online. While some of the following retailers listed below may not list one of those states on their exclusion list, it's technically illegal to be a private citizen and get alcohol shipped directly to you. Each state dictates its own specifications for alcohol deliveries, but one thing is common: you need to be at home to receive your shipment and have ID to prove you're 21 or older. For more clarification on whether or not you're eligible for wine deliveries, check out the National Conference of State Legislatures' Direct Shipment of Alcohol Statutes information page for up-to-date information on the legality of booze shipments.
Wine Subscriptions
Argaux
Blind dates with people aren't always fun; blind dates with bottles of wine are always fun. Argaux offers Blind Tasting Kits for people looking to dive straight into sommelier-curated wines, and the only thing you can choose is whether you want reds, whites or mixed. The quarantine-edition of these Blind Tasting Kits encourage you to gather up as many people as you can to try the bottles over video call and discuss the wines without unwrapping them to conceal their identity. And if you're really averse to blind dates, Argaux sells bottles you can pick out.
Shipping: Free on orders of six or more bottles. Nationwide.
Price: $100 for two bottles; $125 for three bottles; $150 for four bottles
Bright Cellars
Bright Cellars, founded by two MIT grads, is another one of those quiz-based wine subscriptions. The seven-question quiz is straightforward and mainly focuses on what food and drink you already like. Each four-bottle delivery costs $80, and bottles are curated based on your quiz answers and chosen against Bright Cellar's in-house sommelier picks.
Shipping: $8. Nationwide.
Price: $80 for four bottles
Firstleaf
If you don't know squat about wine, a number of wine subscription services, like Firstleaf, offer an introductory quiz to get a handle on what you might like. The 13-question quiz is fairly straight forward and makes note of what you already like about wine, plus what kinds of foods you like. The first shipment of six bottles of wine costs $40, and subsequent monthly shipments cost $80. Customers can rate the wines in their order to get Firstleaf's algorithm to better learn their preferences so that future shipments are better tailored to their tastes. There's also a separate web store to buy wines a la carte.
Shipping: $9.95. Nationwide, excluding Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii and Rhode Island, with pending approval in Kentucky, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Price: $40 for your first shipment of six bottles; $80 for following shipments
Kingston Wine Co.
Based in Kingston, New York, at the base of the Catskill Mountains, Kingston Wine Co. specializes in biodynamic, organic and natural wines — plus a few bottles of select spirits. If you can't make it out there to meet owners Michael and Theresa Drapkin, experts in wine, their webstore is the next best thing. Order bottles as you please, usually hovering around or under $30, or join the Wine Club program. Every month, you'll get two bottles of wine, the selection dependent on which program you opt for. There's Farmhouse Reds for only red wines, The Adventurer for those looking to get something to excite their palate and The Dirt for savory, earthy bottles that exemplify the "natural" in natural wines.
Shipping: Free shipping on Wine Club orders. Shipping on everything else is dependent on weight of order and destination. Nationwide, but spirits can only be shipped in New York.
Price: $35 for two bottles (local pickups); $45 for two bottles (delivery)
Mysa Natural Wine
Natural wine isn't new, but wine drinkers are giving it a resurgence for how they're produced: without chemicals, minimal intervention and usually through sustainable practices. Mysa is one of the leading natural wine e-commerce platforms not just for its wide selection, but for its available resources to get in to natural wine. Founders Holly Berrigan and Niclas Jansson personally curate wine subscriptions available in three-, six- or 12-bottle shipments. The two highlight both up-and-coming wine producers as well as those with cult-like followings. If you've got a handle on natural wines, peruse Mysa's online bottle shop to choose bottles on your own.
Shipping: Free shipping on wine subscriptions and orders over $125. Nationwide, excluding Alaska, Hawaii, Utah, Kentucky, Alabama and Mississippi.
Price: $85 for three bottles; $140 for six bottles; $250 for 12 bottles
Orange Glou
Orange wine drinkers are surely sick of having to tell people that orange wine is not in fact wine made from oranges. Instead, it's a skin-contact white wine, which means the grape skins are able to tint the juice giving it an orange-ish hue. These wines are tannic, fresh and easy to drink. More often than not, they're also natural. Renowned sommelier Doreen Winkler started Orange Glou to focus on the orange stuff, and she offers a three-bottle subscription box ($105) and six-bottle subscription box ($195). If you're not interested in subscribing, she offers the same boxes as a one-time offering for $10 extra. She also keeps a couple bottles available for purchase on her website along with Orange Glou-branded wine glasses.
Shipping: Varies by location. Nationwide, excluding Arkansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, South Dakota and Utah.
Price: $105 for three bottles; $195 for six bottles
Parcelle
Parcelle is a New York City-based wine store that also happens to have an excellent wine subscription called the Wine Drop. Each month features a three-bottle delivery of curated wines that costs $95. Each bottle is unique in its own right, and they come with in-depth descriptions into the wine and producer. These are probably not wines you'd find in your local liquor store, and it's well worth the the price for the packaging alone.
Shipping: In New York City, get free shipping on orders over $125, or $10 delivery fee on orders under $125. Flat-rate shipping based on bottles per order is available everywhere else in the US. Nationwide.
Price: $95 for three bottles
Primal Wine
Primal Wine is a mom-and-pop wine shop in California that focuses on natural, biodynamic and organic wines sourced from around the world. They have an enviable selection of wines, and if you're overwhelmed by the selection, you can join the Primal Wine Club. Opt for a shipment of red, whites or mixed wines, with prices starting at $85 for a shipment of three bottles.
Shipping: Free shipping on Primal Wine Club orders. Shipping varies on everything else, but Primal Wine sometimes offers free shipping discounts on orders of three or more bottles.
Price: $85 for three bottles; $155 for six bottles; $285 for 12 bottles (only for Mixed Wine subscription)
Winc
Winc is one of the most well-known online wine subscription websites most likely because of its ease of use and millennial branding. Signing up starts with a six-question quiz to assess your Palate Profile, which is used to curate your first shipment and tailor your future deliveries. Membership starts at $39 for three bottles a month, and users can add additional bottles from the bottle shop, where wines start at $13. There are multiple ways to score discounts whether it's referring friends or buying in bulk.
Shipping: For members, shipping is $9 for three bottles or fewer, and free shipping for four or more bottles. For non-members, shipping is $15. Nationwide, excluding Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Utah. A handful of zip codes in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Florida and West Virginia are ineligible for shipping (full list here).
Price: $39 for three bottles
Vinebox
If you don't want to commit to buying bottles of wine, Vinebox offers wines by the glass. Every three months, you receive nine vials of wine plus credits to put towards full bottles of the wines you liked the most. Buy a quarterly membership ($79/quarter) and get $15 in credits per quarter; or buy an annual membership ($72/quarter and get $30 in credits per quarter. Each shipment of wines highlight what's good at the moment and always takes into consideration the season.
Shipping: Free shipping.Nationwide, excluding Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia.
Price: $79, billed quarterly, for nine glasses every three months; $72, billed annually, for nine glasses every three months.
Online Wine Stores
Astor Wines & Spirits
Astor Wines & Spirits is the hub for all things, well, wines and spirits in New York City. While their in-store shopping experience is second to none, its webstore makes it feel like you're still shopping in person. The website makes it easy to filter what you're looking for down to the region, grape, vintage and more — a huge value considering just how many wines it stocks. Plus, its selection of staff picks bottles come with personal anecdotes on their reasoning, and it really feels like they're with you, guiding your purchase to your next favorite bottle of wine.
Shipping: Same-day delivery in Manhattan below 125th Street for $30. Free ground shipping on orders $150+ in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and orders $199+ everywhere else in New York. Nationwide, excluding Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Drizly
One of the leading alcohol delivery websites, Drizly partners with local liquor stores in a handful of cities to get customers deliveries in under an hour. While your selection is limited to whatever bottles are in stock at the stores around you, it does make it easier to get liquored up without having to leave home. It's easy to use, and you won't have to haul bags full of bottles home. And be sure to tip your delivery-person well.
Shipping: Prices vary. Available in these select states: California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Wyoming and Washington.
ReserveBar
While ReserveBar may be known for its selection of gift-able whiskey and whiskey gifts, but it does carry a variety of high-end wines. The cheapest bottle right now is $15, with most prices hovering around the $30-$50 mark. To get a feel of how expensive things can get, there are bottles that cost multiple hundred dollars, but this is for sure the website to check out if you want to get a boozy gift.
Shipping: Nationwide. Individual bottles have certain shipping restrictions.
Rock Juice
Melissa Gisler Modanlou's Rock Juice is a San Francisco-based natural wine shop, with each bottle hand-selected by the advanced sommelier herself. Mondanlou focuses on wines from small producers, and each bottle is meant to be enjoyed right away. As it says in the website's about page, "we love bright, refreshing wines with minerality, acid and balance, wines that often come from rocky or volcanic soil." The wines are typically low in alcohol and because of their scarcity, can be hard to find in your typical bottle shop. Rock Juice also offers a wine subscription for those looking to regularly stock up on juice.
Shipping: Prices vary by location (more information here). Nationwide, excluding Alabama, Delaware, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Utah
Wine.com
With a website called Wine.com, you'd expect nothing but a massive selection of wine and wind-adjacent products. Luckily, the website delivers. With tens of thousands of bottles, it can be overwhelming to shop through, but shopping filters can help you whittle down the noise to the wines that best suit your tastes. You can also schedule delivery to your local FedEx or Walgreens to pick it up there.
Shipping: Varies by order. Nationwide, excluding Alabama, Delaware, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, South Dakota and Utah.
Direct from Wineries
AmByth Estate: Templeton, CA
Amplify Wines: Santa Barbara, CA
Bow & Arrow Wines: Portland, OR
Broc Cellars: Berkeley, CA
Donkey & Goat: Berkeley, CA
Franchere Wine Company: Willamette Valley, OR
Heart and Hands Wine Co.: Union Springs, NY
Lo-Fi Wines: Los Alamos, CA
Macari Vineyards: North Fork, NY
Old Westminster Winery: Westminster, MD
Southold Farm + Cellars: Fredericksburg, TX
Tank Garage Winery: Calistoga, CA
