I’ve ordered from them several times with no issues. It’s a legit operation - affiliated with one of the celebrity somms from the movie Somm - and they have some great wines.
It is a web-only operation. The address is most likely listed in DC because they use Domaine Wine Storage for some of their warehousing and ship some orders out of the Domaine DC location.
A nearby (S. Florida) friend of mine placed an order with them earlier this year and was very happy with the service, and wines were received in perfect shape.
I placed an order with them a few weeks ago, and need them to hold it until the winter - their customer service was fast, and so far no issues (I made it a point to use my Amex).
I had another instance in which I ordered a wine whose price was “too good to be true”, they emailed me right away to inform me the price was a mistake (I figured) and the processed the CC refund the very same day.
Not sure if that helps, but it’s some experience with them… they seem to have a really nice selection and pretty good pricing.
I agree about the having to give an email first practice - I just don’t get how any online retailer thinks it’s good for business, but it is what it is.
he is actually based in nyc. previously it was listed as nj instead of dc on wine-searcher. the wines are in fact delivered by domain. i think it is some type of legal loop hole to avoid proper licensure. prices can be good but surprisingly not always the best. i have had mostly good experiences but the stock list and pricing is not nearly as good as it was in the past.
Oh, you’re right. Mixed up the Somm****. Regardless, Sommpicks is the one I’ve ordered from and they have great stuff. Not sure what sounds dodgy here - it’s an online business with a warehouse like any other online business.
I’ve been on their mailing list from early on and have been tempted many times. If I hadn’t been trying to severely restrict my wine buying I would have bit on a number of occasions.
I have placed eight orders with Sommpicks, going back to August of last year.
Most of those orders were full cases, so a decent amount of wine. I’ve never had a problem. They are always very quick to reply over email, often Mike Zima himself.
They used to have incredible deals. The prices aren’t always as competitive now, but they still have a wide selection of hard-to-find wines at good prices.
Mike is great. I have ordered many, many times from him with no problem whatsoever. He is also good at finding wines or letting you know a certain producer list of releases are coming out. Quite a few times I have read about wines on this forum, looked at WS and found none only to ask Mike to see of he has access. Sometimes he does. As for providing him your email, I didn’t like that initially and I told him so. I have since found that he uses it to distribute a message infrequently. The only thing I have brought to his attention is that all orders have a shipping fee at the time of order. The others I use don’t charge if you are consolidating to ship later. Not a big deal as I see the credit come through when shipped.
Yes, I had a similarly negative experience when he first started out. I ordered online and the following week was told the wine was not available. (I hate when that happens and it seems to me most often it happens in NYC wine stores. I had a well priced Roumier Chambolle disappear that way three weeks after being ordered online, when I called about delivery.) I asked for an equivalent bottle (it was a metayage deal–I think I had ordered a Chezeaux that was Ponsot and he had the latter at a higher price.)
But he refused, gruffly. Just merely one more data point of course.
Thanks everyone. I did not mean to insinuate that Mike is a bad person, only that the combination of (a) no last name; (b) a “DC” business with no address and a SF phone number and (c) a required email before even being able to see the site was highly unusual and, absent comfort from the community, was enough to cause me to pass. Now that I have all of your info, I will probably call him tomorrow.
I couldn’t quite tell where listed wines were in stock, the fine print read as though they are listing from other sellers, i.e. “Along with our retailers, we scour…”. There is a fairly brief shipping window where I am located and I always like to know when things can go out within a day or so, especially this time of year.
