Wine: Open all hours

Corallo Nero d'Avola Sicilia, Italy 2008. Photo / Babiche Martens

From a man selling his soul on eBay to uranium available from Amazon, it seems you can get anything online these days. Wine is no exception, with an explosion in virtual wine stores offering fine wines.

Buying wine this way can make the process feel less intimidating. While good wine shops should have approachable staff on hand to offer advice, as Colin Ford from Wine Trade Online notes, "You never have to feel dumb asking Google a question, but people often do feel that way in-store when it comes to wine."

Surfing the net can allow you to source some of the smartest deals on specific wines and compare reviews at your leisure. And it can also be a place to swot up on the subject, says Sarah Crawford of the New Zealand Wine Society.

"A good wine website can enhance the purchase decision through education, history [and] tasting notes, and transform the customer experience from a simple purchase to an enjoyable, educational experience," she says.

If this all sounds a bit lonely, Tracey Poole of the Fine Wine Delivery Company and its sub-$15 sister site bestwinebuys.co.nz points out, "If there are a lot of people in a shop all looking for wine, they don't talk to others around them to discuss wine. But they get online and anyone who shares an interest in wine is happy to communicate with each other through channels, such as blogs, Facebook and Twitter, where they become a part of a wider wine community."

Vendors of cyber vino come in all guises. Some are wineries using their website as a virtual cellar door, often featuring wines and vintages unavailable elsewhere. Others, such as truewines.co.nz are akin to an amalgamated cellar door through which a number of wineries sell their products.

Then there are the pure online wine shops, which often offer sharp deals through dealing direct with the supplier and cutting out the middlemen. Some, such as exciting European wine specialist, wineimporter.co.nz and long-established wine club, the New Zealand Wine Society, have evolved from mail order operations into web-based entities.

Many standalone online retailers focus on cheaper and often heavily discounted wines, such as blackmarket.co.nz, which also has wineries making wines especially for it. These sites have been helping soak up the country's current wine oversupply, offering wines at super-low prices.

It's a situation that's also supporting the growth in one-day wine sale sites, where wineries create cash flow through unloading unsold stock often offered to drinkers below cost.

However, not all offers are the bargains they appear. Stick to sites that feature independent reviews and offer money back guarantees or exchange options.

Many wine shops also now have a strong online presence, which some report is overtaking their in-store sales. So are the days of the bricks and mortar wine store over?

These traditional retailers insist they haven't sold their soul on eBay, but have merely adapted to a phenomenon that will only get stronger.

There's still an important place for face-to-face interaction as well as online options. It just depends on your style.

REAL BARGAINS FROM THE VIRTUAL WORLD

More and more wine enthusiasts are turning to the web to find great bargains and good advice

W5 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2010 $11.99
Made especially for Blackmarket, the latest vintage of this vibrant sauvignon over-delivers again with a palate packed with gooseberries, blackcurrant leaf and zingy lime. (From blackmarket.co.nz)

Clearview Beachhead Chardonnay 2009 RRP $30, now $15.90
Even at full price this is still a smart buy, with its ripe and succulent peachy fruit supported by fresh citrus and a lick of toasty spicy oak. (From glengarry.co.nz)

Corallo Nero d'Avola Sicilia, Italy 2008 Regularly under $10
From sun-baked Sicily, this offers an amazingly intense mouthful of plush dark berry fruit and attractive earthy spicy undercurrent for the price. (From winedirect.co.nz)