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A year ago, with a broken leg, I was suddenly unable to drive. For months, I relied on delivery drivers to bring me groceries, medicine, and of course, booze. Groceries and medicine were pretty easy; only two competitors in my area for local sources. But wine got a little trickier.
I realized there were many different platforms that fit different buyer types, like:
- Wine.com for selection breadth
- Total Wine for in-store pickup hybrid
- Instacart for same-day convenience
- Wine Insiders for curated value and fast shipping
I spent months trying to figure out which one I wanted to use based on my needs at that moment. Was I bored and looking for a different wine? Had I just paid another doctor bill, so I was on a budget for that month? Or, did I need something right away?
Depending on which category you fall into, I want to share what I came away from the experience with, so you can decide which platform works best for you and your needs.
The table below presents a quick comparison for how each competitor stacks up:
Table of Contents
Quick Roundup
| Feature | Wine Insiders | Wine.com | Total Wine | Instacart |
| Best for | Extreme value, beginners, those who want curated selections | Rare labels and breadth | Local speed and hybrid delivery options | Same day shipping from grocery stores |
| Intro Price | For a membership around $89 for 15 bottles, or between $10-$20 per bottle | Standard retail with middleman markup | Standard retail with middleman markup | 10-15% higher than retail |
| Selection | Curated selections | Over 15,000 labels | Over 8,000 labels | Whatever is available locally at your stores |
| Shipping | Free shipping on 6 or more bottles, no membership, no strings | Shipping is expensive unless you pay for their annual membership | Shipping based on method, but winery direct items can be free | Shipping fees, platform fees, tips, and alcohol fees |
| Commitment | Optional, very flexible | None–uses a retail model | None–uses a retail model | None–uses a retail model |
Wine Insiders
Best for: Wine Insiders is easily the best option for people who want reliably good wine under $20 delivered in 2-3 days without overthinking it.
If you are ready to start buying online to cut down on your errands and get better quality than your local grocery store has to offer, this is where to go for everyday drinking, curated quality, and fast delivery.
You get the option of high value, curated bottles typically between $12 and $25 without having to keep up a subscription. The price point is more affordable because the company works directly with wineries so there’s no middleman markups and instead award-winning bottles typically go for around $20. Moreover I know that the bottles are all good even if the selection is more limited because they have a panel of winemakers, industry professionals, and some only days taste those wines and choose the best of the best. No offense to anyone who leaves personal ratings but very much juxtaposed by a rating system based entirely on individual reviews.
If you order six or more bottles you get free shipping, and most order ship within 2 to 3 days either to a local pickup point or to your door.
The selection isn’t nearly as big as other wine delivery services but that’s because they specialize in wine rather than all liquor, and they select high quality wines that are still affordable so you don’t have to sift through an overwhelming collection of thousands of bottles with a lot of flashy sales along the banners and the headers fighting for your attention.
The ordering process is easy, clean, and sleek, something I appreciate when I know what I’m looking for and I just want to get my order in. It also makes the entire experience feel less sleazy.
Things to Know: If you’re looking for a specific brand, you won’t necessarily find it here because most of the wines are from independent or Boutique wineries. Also if you sign up for the club shipments, you can’t generally swap individual bottles for customization but you can choose red, white, or mixed.
My favorite thing: The same-day delivery – If you don’t love a bottle you just let them know and they will make it right with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. No stress, no hassle, just wine I know I will love.
Where it Falls Short: The selection isn’t nearly as large as national companies or wine clubs.
Wine.com
Best for: Wine.com is best for its breadth. If you want thousands of options, and you’re trying a new wine each night, this is for you.
There are a couple of things that make wine.com a good choice for a wine delivery. The first is the stewardship program. Basically if you want to order regularly and you aren’t interested in highly curated, more affordable selections, you can join their stewardship program for about $50 per year. This means free standard shipping on any order valued higher than $49. If you don’t join this program you might see shipping of around $20 for three bottles.
Now, I don’t enjoy being forced into a membership program of any kind if I’m not certain that I’m going to use, however, if you know that you’re going to order from them around 4 times per year then you can safely calculate that you’ve made back that $50 and benefited from the program.
They are also a good choice for sending gifts and buying wine related objects including glasses, bottle openers, and other paraphernalia. Whereas places like Wine Insiders specialize in wine, this company specializes in just about everything so it’s a step between Wine Insiders and your Instacart grocery delivery.
Plus, if there’s a holiday or a birthday coming up and I want to send a nice bottle to a friend but I also still want to send an order to myself, I can select multiple locations and facilitate all of that through a single purchase.
Both wine.com and Total Wine have websites that to me embody the internet equivalent of driving to a seedy part of town into a liquor store with flashing neon lights; my goal is to make my selection and be done as quickly as possible but it’s kind of overwhelming and easy to get lost in all the aisles.
Things to Know: Wine.com only ships spirits to CA, NY, NJ, and MA, so if you live anywhere else, you are stuck with wine and beer only. Additionally, their price is often a lot higher for everyday staple wines because of that middleman markup. Another weird thing is that they use FedEx or UPS to ship from their central warehouses so if you don’t pay for overnight shipping during the middle of summer or the middle of winter, wine can end up frozen or cooked by the time it gets to you because of the shipping process.
My favorite thing: Inventory – Even though I’m not going to find curated options, I’m going to see some very well-known and hard to find labels which, as someone with unique international preferences, sometimes this is my go-to especially for bottles that I know I want to keep on hand but I can’t find anywhere else.
Where it Falls Short: Delivery speed is a little bit longer, upwards of 5 days and you kind of have to pay for that membership otherwise you’re paying $20 or more per delivery.
Total Wine
Best for: In-store pickup options, wiiiiiiiide selection (over 8,000 options), and cheap prices.
Total Wine is somewhere in between Wine.com and Instacart when it comes to delivery options and pricing. They don’t deliver directly to you but instead they use third-party services much like Instacart is a third party service that uses different grocery stores or liquor stores.
If you place an order, third-party services like Uber Eats or DoorDash might be the people handling your delivery and every wine delivery if you’re in the local area comes at a fee but it’s usually around $5 to $15. However, that coverage is definitely limited based on where the stores are so if you haven’t driven by a Total Wine recently, chances are you don’t live near one.
So if you don’t live near one, you can still use wine delivery for next day shipping or scheduled shipping. One of the things they offer is tasting table notes where you can see what other reviewers and users have said about a given wine. They also have a very broad selection, with wine and other liquor upwards of 8,000 bottles, so you’re going to get a ton of variety but the quality might not be there. It can also be very overwhelming to look at a website like this and figure out what it is you want when all you needed was a single bottle of red to go with your bacon wrapped scallops and steak dinner.
Each bottle comes with a review and a ranking system which dictates where in the search results it appears, but those reviews are based entirely on other users and whether they liked it or not. But I love anything that comes with pairing notes so I appreciate that they offer a quick little food pairing section underneath each bottle telling you what goes well with the taste and varietal you have looked at.
Things to Know: Total Wine has a minimum of $50 for local delivery and it’s usually fulfilled by a third-party driver so it’s expected that you tip. They also can’t cross state lines so if you are more than 15 miles from a store, you have to pay for shipping.
My favorite thing: The Pick or Same-Day Delivery – If you have a total wine near you, you can take advantage of same-day delivery in under an hour or schedule a pickup which can provide a reliable way to get bulk wine pricing immediately.
Where it Falls Short: Total Wine uses its physical retailers so if you need immediate wine, you can get it here, but it isn’t a national wine club so you won’t find any curated options like Wine Insiders.
Instacart
Best for: Same-day delivery, especially if you need groceries too. But quality, curation, and affordability go out the door.
Instacart is not a direct wine cellar but rather a third party company that makes it possible for you to purchase wine from stores in your area and have it delivered via an instacart driver. This means you’re going to face separate delivery fees based on instacart as well as things like driver tips.
The fees might also include delivery or stocking fees directly from the grocery store you use. Raley’s for example charges around $10 per order if you aren’t signed up with their membership. Other stores might charge you based on how quickly you want the item delivered, i.e. within 1 hour, 3 hours, or later in the day.
Your selection here is probably the most limited out of all the wine delivery services because it’s based entirely on what’s available at your local stores. In some states like California you might place an order with your groceries and be able to get wine, liquor, and beer with your eggs, toilet paper, and butter. In other states like New York you might only be able to purchase beer from your grocery store which means any wine selection has to come specifically from a wine and liquor store.
I found this to be one of the most convenient for anyone who doesn’t have a Total Wine near them, and need something right away, but the selection is certainly not curated, and you might be stuck with the same 25 wines as everyone else in the local area.
Things to Know: Price markups on the platform are usually around 15% higher than you get in the store, you often have to pay a separate alcohol service fee in addition to the delivery fees and service charges, a 21-year-old has to be present with their valid ID as wine cannot be left at your door, and you have to tip usually between 15 and 20%. Seriously, not only do I have to be there to show them my ID but I have to account for markups and additional fees.
My favorite thing: The Same-Day Delivery – Even though the selection is severely limited, if I need something right now for an unexpected dinner or birthday party, and I’ve run out of milk for my morning coffee, I can order both from the same grocery store and have them delivered within an hour–but this varies by state.
Where it Falls Short: You won’t find curated options either, and it’s all based on local availability in physical stores in your area which means it can come with several layered fees from the store as well as instacart and for tipping the driver.
The Final Wine Rundown
Lots of great options out there but at the end of the day, it really boils down to what it is you’re looking for, especially in terms of quality and price. Wine.com has good selection breadth, but the quality isn’t there and the prices reflect the middleman markup. Total Wine is good for in-store pickup hybrid options but only if you live near one. Instacart offers same-day convenience, but it’s strictly limited to what’s available at your local stores. Wine Insiders is the go-to for curated value and fast shipping.
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