Attention oenophiles! A new website has launched that offers great wines from around the world at discounts of up to 70% off the retail price. Called Vitis, it is a daily sale wine site that sells a single type of wine at a time until it is sold out.

Unlike other wine retail sites, Vitis also offers the option of storing your purchases in a climate-controlled facility until you are ready to receive them. This is a wonderful service for anyone short on space or lacking good wine storage facilities of their own. Customers are able to build and manage their own collection with Vitis and have it shipped upon request. This is the only site that offers this service.


All wines sold by Vitis are first tasted and approved by an esteemed panel of accredited wine experts including two Masters of Wine: Christy Canterbury and Mary Gorman-McAdams. Canterbury was formerly the National Wine Director for Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group as well as the Corporate Beverage Director for Culinary Concepts by Jean-Georges. Gorman-McAdams is an educator at the International Wine Center in New York and a wine judge and wine writer. Also sitting on the panel is WSET diploma-holder Scott Rosenbaum, wine buyer for DrinkUpNY.com and judge for the New York International Wine Competition.

If the panel doesn't like a wine, it isn't put up for sale. Once a wine gets past this committee, it is posted for a price lower than anywhere else. The price is guaranteed to be the lowest (and includes shipping). After you've made your purchase, you can keep it cellared in Vitis' temperature-controlled facility until you're ready to receive it.

The deal on December 15 featured Dei "Sancta Catharina," a 2008 Montepulciano that received a 90 point rating from Wine Advocate. A blend of sangiovese syrah, cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot, this wine can be enjoyed now or aged through 2017. Though shipping is always included, each offer requires a minimum number of bottles be purchased, and the minimum amount varies from offer to offer.

The Dei "Sancta Catharina," for example, requires a 3-bottle minimum order. The price, which includes shipping, is $24 per bottle, compared to a suggested retail price of $40. The best online price offered by a competitor, such as Wine-Searcher, is $34.66. Past deals have featured all sorts of wines, including champagne. A Gonet-Medeville Blanc de Noirs Premier Cru Brut was recently offered by Vitis for $23 a bottle, with a savings of 68% from the suggested retail price, with a four bottle minimum order.

For each daily deal that Vitis offers, a recipe that will pair well with the wine will be given, as well as a cheese suggestion. For example, they suggest a Scharfe Maxx (Swiss cow's milk cheese) for the 2008 Sancta Catharina mentioned earlier. The site also features a handy "discover section" which offers educational information about such things as different wine regions and best vintages.


While other wine sale sites bombard customers with email blasts, Vitis allows its registered users to customize the emails they receive by enabling them to control the frequency and type of deals they are most interested in. Customers can set wine preferences by price, region or grape, and Vitis will only send deal notifications that match these requirements.

Customers are further rewarded for referring a friend by earning points toward Riedel stemware. The referral gets points, too, after their first purchase. Visit Vitis.com to learn more.