For Wine Lovers With Money - International Wine Accessories
Written: Apr 20 '04 (Updated May 25 '04)
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Catering to more of the fine wine enthusiast with plenty of money, as opposed to the more mass market appeal of Wine Enthusiast. International Wine Accessories is as they claim “everything for the wine lover.” Just that they forgot to mention you need to be a wine lover with plenty of extra money to really take advantage of the site.
On the site, you’ll be able to find most any wine accessory that you are looking for, along with some unique accessories. Prices are on the high side and it's worth taking some time to compare prices at other stores.
Shopping Basics
International Wine Accessories’ homepage is set up in a pretty clean and straightforward manner. The homepage has two major sets of organization, one along the left hand side of the site where basic site information is covered. This is where you would click to search the product database on the site, go to customer service, request a catalog, or track your order for example. Then another along the top of the homepage, just under the title is the main navigation section. Here you can start browsing stemware, decanters, corkscrews, cellars, racks, preservation, and wine luggage.
Products are then categorized in logical ways after you click on the main category. It’s generally pretty easy to find something when you have a general idea of what you are looking for. General browsing can be tedious if you are just trying to look through many different products. The search function does a good job at finding products.
Ordering
When you find the product that you want to purchase, you enter the quantity of that product and then add it to your shopping cart by clicking the “add to shopping cart” button. When you add the product to your cart, you are brought to the cart along with a pop-up that suggests other items you may be interested in. The cart will show you all products that you have in there for purchase, along with information on shipping and handling and your estimated product total. You can remove or change item quantities at this point.
By clicking on the “continue shopping” button, you are brought to the product search screen, not back to the section that you were shopping in. If you are finished shopping, you then proceed through the checkout process by clicking on “checkout”. For first time buyers, you will have to enter your shipping and billing information (they accept MasterCard, Visa, Discover and American Express). Once you have done this once, International Wine Accessories saves this information and you won’t have to do it again when you are checking out in the future. With the account creation out of the way, you review your items, choose your shipping option (which can be quite pricey as many of the items they sell are quite large and quite bulky), and then choose your payment type and finally process the order.
Shipping
Shipping has been hassle free for me, the corkscrew that I ordered arrived in 7 days, right at the beginning of the 7-10 day spread they suggest for standard shipping. Return information is included with your package, should it not be what you wanted or isn’t working right.
Final Thoughts
I don’t shop on International Wine Accessories all that much - I consider many of the products expensive and not that much different from products that I can get in stores in my area. It might not be quite the same product, but it generally costs less and serves my needs since most of my wine shopping needs are fairly simple (a stopper or corkscrew here and there, maybe some stemware once a great while).
This site is really for wine enthusiasts who want the best and want to have it all. How many other places sell chillers that can hold 500 bottles or offer personalized rack designs? In general, it really is a a bit too much for me. I’m not knocking International Wine Accessories, I know others will find the products on the site much more helpful than I do.
I think that International Wine Accessories is a good site for those who want the best possible for their wines. For the rest of us, we might find something that strikes our fancy - however, you should always watch the prices, make sure you consider shipping and check out your local stores before you buy at International Wine Accessories.
Other Wine, Entertaining & Dining Related Reviews
International Wine Accessories / The Wine Enthusisast Online Store / Bon Appetit Magazine / Wine Spectator Magazine / Wine Spectator Website
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? corkscrew
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