WineBid.com: How to Get Rare Wines for a Great Price!

I discovered WineBid in 2003 when I was looking for a way to sell a bottle of Bordeaux online. I ended up drinking that bottle instead (smart), but I quickly became hooked on WineBid as a way to find and bid on rare and library bottles for myself that often aren’t even available from the producer.

I’m very skeptical of ‘flash sale’ or any other sites that claim to have old or rare bottles for great prices. Most of the time these sites are complete shams and the wines advertised do not even exist when you click on them. WineBid is 100% legit and a site I use monthly to get my hands on cool, foreign and domestic bottles.

I particularly like the fact that WineBid independently ‘grades’ and takes photos of each bottle they acquire to ensure you know exactly what you are bidding on before you pledge your funds. They also show a multi-year price history of what the bottles have sold for in the past, so you know whether you’re getting a good price. Often, bottles go for a fraction of their current market value!

*Hot tip: sometimes you can get better pricing on wines that have scuffed up or stained labels.

Because sharing wine is what truly makes it great, here are my tips for buying wine on WineBid. It’s super easy:

• Create an account and then search for wines by varietal, region, price point, rating, etc.

• Then simply ‘bid’ on the wines you want. *Note: you can opt to have WineBid email you if you’re outbid on a specific wine, so you have the chance to up your bid.

• Auctions are held weekly and end every Sunday at 7pm Pacific Time.

• Once auctions end, you’ll receive an email showing the bids you won and an invoice outlining the prices paid for the wines.

• You can choose to pick up the wine from their Napa warehouse or have them shipped directly.

• An added bonus is that WineBid keeps a list of all the wines you’ve acquired from them right in your profile so you can see what’s in your virtual ‘cellar’.

From here, the rest is up to you…pop and pour or age for years to come. Happy bidding!