Weekend wine warriors, far from their city cellars, may not be oenologically challenged after all. In truth, given a computer and a phone, they may be well ahead of their urban counterparts no matter how rustic the weekend retreat.
Need a case of vintage Italian wine delivered to your doorstep by Friday? No problem. Try a one-stop-shopping Web site for a list of all US wineries and their wines. What about the controversy over corks versus screw caps? Read about the pros and cons in two online wine magazines.
Wine online, one of the fastest-growing Internet categories, began as a fairly shaky shopping experience. Wineries were quick to establish Web sites, but could you buy a case of California Chardonnay, say, and have it shipped to New York or Minnesota?
Federal and state laws are arcane, complex and ever changing, and state laws vary from state to state.
Shipping laws have both eased up and gotten more complex, but wineries and online wine sellers have become very up to date on who can get what, and they can guide buyers through the state-to-state process
The good news is that no matter where you live, you now have more access to more wine and more wine information than any brick-and-mortar wine shop, no matter how comprehensive, can provide.
Wine Shops Online
The country's best-known shops, with vast selections and worldwide reputations, are all online. For starters, cruise through a New York selection for information, shopping and auctions: www.Zachys.com; www.sherry-lehmann.com, www.winesbymorrell.com or www.ackerwines.com.
A well-known wine retailer in California, K&L wine merchants in San Francisco and Redwood City, is considered by many to have the best online wine site in the country, with a notable list of California, Oregon and Washington wines, as well as just-released and rare vintage French, Italian and German wines. It has terrific prices and a highly informative Web site as well: www.klwines.com.
World Wide Wine Web Site
Almost astounding in its breadth and depth, www.travelenvoy.com/wine lists virtually every winery in the US and a majority worldwide, with contact information, Web site addresses and direct links to the wineries. If you can't find what you are looking for here, you might think about buying your own vineyard.
Italy by the Glass
Italian Wine Merchants, a shop at 108 E. 16th St., right off Union Square in Manhattan, has a constantly changing inventory of about 1,000 Italian wines in its cellars. The shop's Web site has information about its selections, but orders must be placed by phone (1-212-473-2323). About 10 percent of the shop's wines are bought by walk-in customers.
The rest are sold over the phone by three portfolio managers, who will create a tasting case or ship a single bottle or just chat about what's happening, vineyard-wise, in Italy. You can sign up for e-mail bulletins, too: www.Italianwinemerchant.com.
Corkscrews, Glasses and Storage
You and the wine are there but without a corkscrew, glasses or long-term storage. Try this: www.wineenthusiast.com.
Saving Wine
WineSavors, white plastic discs that look a little like oversize communion wafers, are an effective and innovative new way to save wine in an opened bottle for two or three days, even up to a week.
Roll up the flexible WineSavor and pop it into a bottle; it floats on the surface of the wine and retards oxidation. Discovered recently by wine professionals, WineSavors are just now making their way to retail outlets. A package of 10 is US$10 from www.thesavorgroup.com.
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