Dr Vino's wine blog

wine woot! Have you discovered the loot?

I just placed my first order since I was unable to resist two bottles of 01 Pepperbridge Cab from Walla Walla for $59.99 + $5 shipping. It’s usually $50 a bottle. (find this wine)

After punching in my order the delivery message was a little cryptic about when I would actually get the wine. I doubt that Woot handles the inventory but somehow shipping is always $5. I’ll keep you posted as to how long my order takes to reach me in NY. This is, of course, the beginning of the frugal wine buyer’s window for shipping wine by ground across the country. The summer heat is gone and the tundra has yet to freeze.

What is woot? Besides being yet another made up name since all existing domain names were taken, they offer a deal-a-day on general merchandise and a deal-a-week on wines. So every Sunday at midnight, they put up a new deal and the old deal is gone forever. The writing is hilarious. To wit:

Hey, taxpayer! Get ready to hand over some more of your hard-earned wages to those clowns in Washington! Only this time we’re talking about ye merrie winemakers at Pepper Bridge Winery in Washington state. And if you enjoy ultra-premium, critically-acclaimed wines like the Pepper Bridge 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon, this is one bill you’ll happily pay.

With a sales pitch like that it’s not hard to believe that the winery has sold 1200 bottles through Friday. I just stumbled on this news item where one of the Pepperbridge owners implies they are selling it as a loss leader, saying “Just given that it is a one week deal and nationwide exposure on a popular site to our wine, its been worth it for us.”

As of midnight tomorrow, though, the deal is over. And then the next one starts. Woot!

tags: wine | woot | online wine shopping