Thoughts on SommSelect?

Hi all,

I’ve been looking into the myriad of daily wine offerings and have been looking at SommSelect the last few days.

What are some of your thoughts about their price and quality of offerings? It seems like they deal with small producers as it’s tough to find reviews and ratings on their wines.

Thanks in advance

I’ve been buying from them for a while. Don’t expect them to be the cheapest offering out there. That’s not their thing. What they do well is find interesting, small producers that you’re unlikely to ever try otherwise. I haven’t loved everything I’ve bought from them, but pretty much without fail I can see why they chose each wine (the difference between taste preference and quality). Their service has been top notch. You’re right that you won’t easily find reviews on the wines - you have to be okay trusting that a couple of master somms think the wine is a good quality for the price.

+1 to what Brandon said.

I have really enjoyed their service. I have found their prices for things you can get elsewhere are competitive but never the best. Where they shine is in picking out stuff that you wouldn’t come across otherwise. Small producers or well preserved older wines for reasonable deals (I have picked up 2005, 2008, and 2010 bordeaux for inexpensive for example). They also have a build a case program where you can buy 1 or 2 bottles from their offerings and still get free shipping if you accumulate a case over time.

A couple of gems (or flops!) I am expecting to show up soon:
1992 Kemetner, “Ried Karl” Grüner Veltliner Kamptal, Austria
1990 Weingut Christoffel-Berres, “Ürziger Würzgarten” Riesling Kabinett

For each of these I am tracking down a more modern wine from the same vineyard/style to go side by side. Should be a learning experience!

January 27th will be your day my friend.

Berserkerday is like sommselect on steroids.

Not sure what the point of SommSelect is. They seem like another flash site that offers a wine for a day or so? From what I’ve seen, they’re not bad but not special either. I suppose for someone just starting to explore they’re OK, but I’ve know a number of the wines they’ve offered and they’re not really at great prices.

Lots of hyperbole and spin to ensure high prices.

Great all the way around. Highly recommended, especially for cool, small producer stuff. Detailed write-ups and an insider somm perspective make the purchase decisions very easy. Yes, the prices are not the lowest on the market for some of their offerings but when you throw in the free shipping with reasonable quantity purchases (in some cases only a few bottles), they are pretty competitive.

I used their Blind 6 service for a year or so as I was getting acquainted with classic wines. Agree that customer service is excellent. I personally think the copy on their offers is a little overwrought but I get it!

I’ve thought about trying their blind six to see what it’s like. However, I’ve often thought that I could trust a friend of mine to pick out classic wines and blind me on them for less money. I too have been curious about the blind six.

Guidance is a great thing if you think you need it - and these guys, though a bit hyperbolic, do a very good job with what they offer. Could you do ‘as well’ hitting up a local shop, getting to know the owners or those on the floor, and taking suggestions from them? Perhaps - but they do make it pretty easy . . .

Cheers.

I was thinking of pulling the trigger on this recently as something fun to do. Can you give a quick review of your experience with it? Would you recommend?

I would highly recommend. Typically what we would do was pick out a wine based on color to (at an extremely high level) pair with our dinner. This often fails to yield a good pairing but we learn along the way. Also not necessarily the best way to blind taste, but we supplement with a weekly blind flight of six at our local wine bar. Sometimes we also would open up 2-3 bottles when friends were over to blind them alongside us. Cost for SommSelect is relatively high and you could could get a friend to do the same but that assumes you have a knowledgeable enough friend who could set this up for you. Only other downside for us was that, as we are doing our own service at home, we can still see bottle shape which can really bias the analysis. After a year we canceled not because it wasn’t useful but because our local wine bar/retailer now puts together a monthly box for us (same cost but we want to support our friends). Overall, SommSelect was great, as was the customer service (e.g., they helped out when we got a corked bottle).

Hope that helps.

an insider somm perspective

No idea what that is. And would never ask someone to select wine for me. This seems like it’s for people who really don’t know much and would follow someone like Gary V. But there are lots of wine stores that would do this if you ask and you can also go in and have conversations with them.

Haha yes I am absolutely looking forward to it. Will be fun!

Thanks to everyone for their responses. I’ll keep an eye on their emails

Mever heard of them until this post.

2012 Carmelo Patti, Cabernet Sauvignon $39 they want but the cellar tracker average is $32. Maybe some deals on there but this is not one of them.

Try 4 bottles a month over a year and we’ll show you the world.

Huge red flag on this above statement. How are they going to get you 4 bottles over the summer?

$200 a bottle

Can get it for $142
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/domaine+georges+mugneret-gibourg+nuits+st.+georges+1er+cru+les+chaignots/2014

Sounds like a huge pass for me!

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I highly recommend. Sure, you may find it cheaper, but they are supplying you with wines you are unfamiliar. We often get a wine that we love only to realize it no longer can be purchased. It would be impossible for me to curate wines of this caliber on my own.

but they are supplying you with wines you are unfamiliar

I guess that was my point. Unfamiliar for some does not mean unfamiliar for others.

And for the first group, I suppose they’re as good as any other guys, although I’d still check their pricing.