Retailer Check: Invino.com

Anyone had relatively recent experience with Invino? I found a full older threads complaining about likely improperly stored wines from them, but those threads are from a few years ago. It seems like Invino has been part of LastBottle/FirstBottle since the beginning of the year. I’d like to know if conditions have changed there since being acquired by the LastBottle group.

Have not heard directly one way or the other. That said, I think with any wine club there are things to keep an eye on when evaluating. Esoteric bottles, lack of transparency, etc…

Coincidentally there’s a post floating on wine clubs in general with some recommendation and what to look out for.as a red flag. the latter being more important.

John’s post, the second in, is pretty much spot on.

Thanks, Rich. I think Invino may have been a wine club at some time in the past. Then, it seems to have morphed into Cellar Thief. Now it is offering wines that are similar to First Bottle /Last Bottle, but it is not a club. Or if it offers a club, that is no longer the main focus.

Sorry bout that, I misconstrued what you were getting at. I jumped at the low branch recalling invino being the “members-only” club with “exclusive” wines. Things that made me raise an eye brow.

I didn’t realize they updated their model to completely drop the club. Just popped over and its a whole smattering of things. Its a good question though on the storage given such. If they are the same group, I’d lump in their practices to be about the same as a starting barometer with what you get out of LastBottle, etc…

Thanks. I figured that. I’d still be happy to hear if anyone has recent experiences.

I had poor luck with them about a year and a half ago (bottles purchased in April 2019) - two bottles of 2010 Aurelien Verdet Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts that tasted like they had been questionably stored (with two more to go), and some 2011/2013 Domaine Matrot 1er white burgs that were premoxed and/or mediocre. I have another half case of assorted Aurelien Verdet I got from them that I’m apprehensive about opening now. The bottle of 2016 Walter Hansel Chardonnay Cuvee Alyce arrived in good shape and was tasty, so it wasn’t a total write-off, but I’ve had far more misses than hits. They also wouldn’t return my emails about the flawed bottles, so I won’t be buying from them again.

Thanks for the info. After I posted this thread, one of the owners of Invino contacted me privately. He confirmed what I assumed: that they are now. part of Last Bottle/ First Bottle Wines. He also told me that they have owned the site since Dec. 2019 and that almost all the inventory from the old Invino is gone (“95% or more” is new to the site). I’ll add that I am not getting anything from Invino for posting this and I can’t vouch for current quality, since I have not yet ordered, but I did appreciate the info from one of the proprietors.

That’s good to hear, and explains why they’re carrying so many of the same bottles I remember seeing in the Last Bottle marathons. I’ve had good luck with both Last Bottle and First Bottle.

Thanks. I am waiting on my first Last Bottle shipment and hope this means good things for Invino.