While they’re not really intended for the restaurateur to improve his or her wine cellar, a number of new companies have sprung up which can help you to stock your cellar with quality wines at significantly lower prices than you might otherwise be forced to pay when you buy quality wines for your diners.
There are dozens of sites which offer you (and your diners, though don’t tell them about it!), the chance to grab some excellent wines for as much as 70% off the standard prices. How does a nice Bordeaux which ordinarily retails for $250 sound when you can get it for $100? Even at wholesale prices that you might pay to buy such wines for your cellar, the odds are good that you couldn’t get those kinds of prices without buying massive amounts of wine, more than many restaurateurs would really care to purchase for their cellars, especially if you have limited space.
However, if you do want to stock up on some quality wines, you should probably get yourself in line in a hurry. Most analysts believe that the market may start to taper off in the next year or two as the wine makers decide to hide the fact that they have been offering such deep discounts on quality wines (maybe from restaurateurs, who after all purchase their wines by the case rather than by the bottle).
Some of the popular options for getting good wines at cheap prices include websites such as WineAccess, Wines Til Sold Out and Wines.Woot, which is run by Amazon.com’s Woot brand. If you do want to get some additional quality wines for your cellar, it’s important to have your sommelier checking on the offerings regularly as they often sell out quickly, especially if they happen to be offering particularly attractive prices.
Jim Balis' Blog 