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Ten tips

By LAURA T. COFFEY
Published May 21, 2006

Ah, the seductive power of the grape - to get you to spend lots and lots of money, that is. If you love wine and you love bargains, these tips will help you avoid spending more than necessary on your favorites:

1. Opt for direct shipment. The Florida Legislature ended its session May 5 without passing a bill on direct-to-consumer wine sales. That means Florida consumers can continue to receive wine shipments based on a recent court order and determination by state regulators.

2. Shop the Internet. These Web sites, reviewed by Consumer Reports Money Adviser, have good selections or good shipping rates: K&L Wine Merchants (www.klwines.com); My Wines Direct (www.mywinesdirect. com); Wine.com (www. wine.com); Wine-Searcher (www.wine-searcher.com); and Wine Zap (www. winezap.com). Some of these sites require Florida residents to call a toll-free number and order by phone; others point consumers to retailers that offer good deals.

3. Use coupons. look for sales. You occasionally can find online wine coupons for use on some of the above-mentioned Web sites at places such as www.wow-coupons.com or www. edealinfo.com. You can find coupons by doing a Google.com search for "wine" and "coupon" or "beverages" and "coupon."

4. Order by the case. You typically can save by buying a case of 12 bottles at a time. You don't have to buy 12 of the same bottles; retailers often will let you mix and match.

5. Join a wine club. You can sign up through your favorite vineyard or wine retailer. Membership usually gets you shipments of a bottle or two of wine per month and access to special deals.

6. Haggle over the phone. If you spot a good price on a Web site but prefer to buy your wine from a different source, call a customer service representative at your preferred outlet and ask them to match the price.

7. Shop at a discount warehouse. As they can with so many other goods and products, ware-house stores are able to offer great deals on wine because they deal in bulk.

8. Keep an eye on the grocery store. When you're whipping through the aisles of your regular grocery store, look for deals, particularly along the wine aisle's bottom shelves. You'll be surprised by what you're sometimes able to find.

9. Don't let wine go bad. After you go through the trouble and expense of buying wine, don't allow any unfinished wine in your home to turn sour. Rather than simply attempting to recork it, use a rubber stopper and a pump to vacuum out the oxygen that can spoil your wine. You can buy these stopper-and-pump mechanisms at most wine stores.

10. Wine in a box? Really. Another way to save money and ensure that your wine won't go bad for a long, long time is to buy "cask wines" that come in a box with a spigot. You can buy truly good wines from California, Australia and elsewhere in boxes containing wine-filled bladders that keep wine fresh for a month or more.

Sources: Consumer Reports Money Adviser; Free the Grapes! (www.freethegrapes.org); Family Winemakers of California (www.family winemakers.org).

[Last modified May 21, 2006, 08:45:36]