FreshDirect Unveils New Wine Vendor
Yes, I’m still drinking wine. Yes, those reviews will make their way to the site, but this week I’d like to focus on the big changes over at FreshDirect. Today, the veil was raised on FreshDirect’s new wine-selling bride. After a month of anticipation, Union Square Wines (or USQ as it is abbreviated, for reasons I am unsure of) was announced as the shop of choice.
Union Square Wines at FreshDirect
I had a bit of time to poke around the new interface on FreshDirect, order a few bottles and see what is available. So, for the readers of AmericanMadness, I present the first review of FreshDirect’s new wine selection.
The Good
More selection. Like a baby polar bear feeding on iceblocks filled with fish, the selection is growing. FreshDirect does not tell us exactly how many wines are available, but by my back of the envelope tabulation it comes in to 170 bottles. This is about 20 more bottles than was previously available through Best Cellars.
But unlike Best Cellars, USQ has a much larger pool to pull from, so it is likely the original 170 will grow quickly as the FreshDirect and USQ logistics and storage people pow-wow on these things.
Also, for those of you who think alcohol should be distilled before consumption, USQ will offer FreshDirect shoppers access to liquor. This was previously unattainable.
More Available Bottles. The expanded selection means more bottles with wide distribution. So for the AmericanMadness readers outside of FreshDirect’s delivery area, you will most likely be able to find some of the bottles which were previously distributed in a narrow band.
More local selection. Mrs. Hazard in particular will be very happy to have more New York vino in the FreshDirect boxes. I’ll being really focusing on New York in the coming months as I look to resume a more regular wine review posting regime.
Idiot-Proof Pairings. Most questions I receive are of the “what wine goes with what food” variety. I try to provide a useful guide to these questions, but I’m not always right. That is why the new site’s Perfect Pairs is a great addition. They provide a number of cheese and light hors d’ouvers selections paired with a complimentary wine.
Wine Ratings. For those unnecessarily obsessed with league tables and rankings (like investment bankers), FreshDirect now offers wine ratings from a variety of sources, including Daniel Rogov, International Wine Cellar, Wine Advocate, Wine Enthusiast, Wine Spectator.
Request a Wine. There is a handy button at the bottom allowing folks to request a wine which may be missing from the USQ list. Just for grins, I made a request based upon a wine I enjoyed previously: Domaine Michel Brock Sancerre “Le Coteau” 2006. We’ll see if they make it available.
The Bad
Where Are the Cheap Wines? I’m sure this is a slight hiccup, but as the wines are currently grouped, it is very difficult to find wines in the sub-$15 range. Yes, you can sort by price but only after you click through by region. The problem is there are 14 regions to choose from. So, if you are looking for an affordable option, the navigation can be a tad tricky.
All My Work, Gone. I was unhappy about this before, and now I’m really unhappy about it. When I started writing reviews for WineHazard, and here at AmericanMadness, I linked to the FreshDirect page where one could buy the particular bottle. I spent a lot of time doing this, and no doubt I drove a lot of wine-buying traffic to FreshDirect’s site. Well, all of those links are dead now, which means I’ll have to spend a lot of time undoing all of this hard work. I’m not happy.
The Uncertain
What about Discounts? USQ has nice discounts. Will those same promotions be passed on to FreshDirect shoppers? From time-to-time, I receive postcards in the mail telling me about discount wine shopping events, where the purchase of a case nets up to a 30% discount. Speaking for myself, if I’m going to purchase 12 bottles of wine, where I get a percentage off at USQ’s Web site, but I wouldn’t at FreshDirect, I’m going to purchase at USQ.
The Supply Chain. With Best Cellars, FreshDirect did a terrible job keeping wines in stock. Often times, I’d make a recommendation and then *poof* next week it was unavailable. I’d like to see the stock is maintained much more effectively through USQ.
Price arbitrage. I did a quick comparison of the prices for the French selection now available on FreshDirect and the French selection available on USQ’s Web site. It seems about even, a lot of the bottles were priced identical, while some were lower priced on FreshDirect’s site, and some were lower on USQ. In short, not enough to get bent out of shape about.
Enough Already, Get To the Wines
I’m willing to give it a go. This week I added five bottles to my cart. They were selections pointed out to me via the Summer Top 10 on the new wine interface.
• Channing Daughters Scuttlehole Chardonnay
• Château de Fesles Anjou Rouge
• Huber Hugo Grüner Veltliner
• Monte Arcos Red Wine
• Steenberg Estate Sauvignon Blanc
As you can see, I still have questions, but I think it is more good than bad. It’ll be interesting to see how the new shop operates.
