The Wine Enthusiast Online Store

Pros: cute wine-related paraphernalia you won't find elsewhere; expert advice
Cons: shipping, and other items, are expensive

Last spring, I went shopping online for a new wine rack. (My 12-bottle Pottery Barn rack just wasn't holding enough anymore!) I found the Wine Enthusiast Online store after checking with several other wine-related webstores.

I ended up...

Wondering where you could get a $24,000 full service bar or a basic all purpose stopper for a wine bottle? Wine Enthusiast has them both and just about everything in between. Wine Enthusiast’s website is, as they claim “the ultimate ...

If you're ever wondering what to buy for the wine lover in your family, a great website to check out is The Wine Enthusiast Online Store About the Wine Enthusiast My first experience with The Wine Enthusiast store was through their mail ...

Sent wrong corkscrew. I ordered a very nice Leverpull model that was rated at 60,000 uses; substituted a Screwpull model rated at 2,000 uses without even asking if I wanted it. Left messages with customer service. Received no call-back from Wine ...

Original Review: I am extremely disappointed with The Wine Enthusiast. Although their magazine is ok, their products are overpriced, and their customer service is horrendous. Recently, I was on hold for 50 minutes before I hung up; I never actually ...

Be careful of false advertising!

I tried to buy a wine cellar from these guys. The product page said the item had free shipping (a $375 dollar value.) When I got to the final page it incorrectly showed the shipping fee. I called the store and talked to someone who said they would get the issue cleared up and call me back in 5 mins. I waited over a hour and called again. To my surprise they had no idea what I was talking about. It also turns out that someone had changed most of the web pages that referred to the sale (but not all.) The only reason I was considering buying this cellar was it was onsale with free shipping. I find it very underhanded to advertise a special on other sites, and then when someone tries to buy, remove the offer and pretend it did not exist. I would be very weary of trusting a web site that will not stand behind what they have printed.

I made a mistake when placing my order online and reversed two of the numbers on my credit card. I had asked for expedited shipping. On the day the order was to arrive (4 days after it was placed) I received an email letting me know about the problem. I called the customer service number and waited for nearly 1 hour. After the hassle I canceled my order and will never shop there again.

Dealing with Wine Enthusiast has been a nightmare. Ordered a $3000 EuroCave wine cellar, plus $450 for "white glove service" one month ago. What we received was an unusable unit with no electrical plug, wrong door, and only 1 shelf. After 10+ calls to them (yet never one returned phone call to me) I've heard that they have to take the plug off of another unit so will be yet another week to deliver - so I'm sure another unsuspecting customer will endure the same problems. Their customer service is much worse than CVS - buyer beware.

My Christmas gift order (ordered on Dec. 4th) from the Wine Enthusiast was delivered reasonably quickly, but was incomplete. When the missing item was brought to their attention on Dec. 15th, after a 16 minute hold time on the phone, they failed to ship the missing item in a timely manner and it took another 28 minute call to find out the status. The worst of this is that during all this time, I kept getting their e-mail ads touting their free on time for Christmas delivery. (My order had no free delivery or special deals attached.) I wonder if their free delivery was better that the delivery they charged for? I will avoid this merchant if possible in the future.

The shopping experience with Wine Enthusiast Online is a breeze, it's the after you pushed the button process that is horrendous. We waited longer than expected for $6k worth of wine refridges to come, had them scheduled and to our surprise they had delivered the wrong units. That being sorted out eventually we had no issues until one of the two Eurocaves experienced a fault. Biggest problem Wine Enthusiast is the only distributor and they have NO clue how to service these items. After 3 weeks we were finally sent a repairman who has NEVER seen or worked on the Eurocave as of now still no response from WE and our 4 month old wine fridge is not working. AND THEY SAY THEY ARE CUSTOMER SERVICE PROVIDERS....HAH!

My experience with the Wine Enthusiast (through amazon.com) was mixed -- on one hand, they didn't deliver the wine essence kit I ordered as a Christmas gift when they were supposed to, and ignored a phone call and an e-mail placed to customer service when I tried to find out what was happening. (Just as a reference, I ordered the kit December 16, and it was supposed to be mailed December 22, and still hadn't received it as of January 7)

However, when I sent them a second e-mail after placing an extremely negative review on epinions.com and complaining to amazon.com, I received a response that was courteous and apologetic. I was told that the kit was on backorder, and would be sent next day delivery to make up for the atrocious customer service I had previously experienced.

I ordered eight stemless Reidel wine glasses and a corkscrew for a Christmas present. I paid $6.95 per item for gift wrapping. When it arrived, none of the items were wrapped and the corkscrew was missing. I spent 15 minutes listening to a recorded message that someone would be right with me and then e-mailed customer service. I received an automated response from customer service that I would be contacted within 24 hours. I still haven't heard from them and Christmas is right around the corner.I'll post a more positive response if they rectify the situation in a timely manner.

I've made a number of purchases from the Wine Enthusiast mostly, Riedel glasses, and just went to buy some replacements.  Their website says FREE & FAST shipping on Riedel. When I went to checkout I was being charged for shipping. I contacted  customer service and was told it was only free for orders over $95.  Informed her that the website says simply - free.  I was told they would correct the website but they will not offer free shipping. I've exchanged 3 emails and they still will not honor what they advertised.They have lost a long time customer over their inability to stand behind their advertisement.