New Year’s magic is slowly, but surely reaching its fever pitch. Preparations for huge celebrations, as well as enjoying friends and family gatherings with a glass of wine are taking place all over the world. This is also the time when you should think about stocking your cellar with alcohol for the period to come; wine in the first place. Red and white, no winter should go by without a good amount of wine. Whether it is for dinners, gifts or just to sip it in your glass while sitting by the window – festivities are coming and together with all the euphoria they bring – wine is a must!

No worries, you do not need to spend a fortune to make your cellar a stop-by place to get a bottle of wine; you just need to be smart enough and find cheap wine online. Keep in mind, getting it from stores is always more expensive. First things first – make a strategy:

1. Period of Buying

This time, from mid November to mid January, is the time when most wine sales happen. Every bottle you always wanted to try and have on your wine shelf is now going to be more than affordable. Moreover, this is the time when you should do extensive online research; almost all wine sites are filled with cheap wine online deals just waiting for you to make the order and enter your credit card number. It would be a shame to miss it.

2. Make Consumer Reports Your Guide

For those of you that did not know, Consumer Reports has a wine buying guide that is very simple, detailed and offers amazing guidelines for buying wine. If you are new in the wine buying spree and do not want to end up with a bunch of fancy bottles and trashy wine, read it. After all, you do want to like what you are drinking, right? Another thing we all need to thank Consumer Reports for, is their listing of holiday wine bargains: buying cheap wine online has never been more convenient!

3. Do Your Homework

Impulsive buying is not the ideal way to choose wine. Unless you know the wine world so good it is impossible for you to make a mistake. If the other way around, you will end up buying something you do not even like but you got it just because it was so cheap! Do not make this stupid mistake and do your homework: go to a wine tasting event, or taste a few varieties at home with a few friends; write down what you like and then go wine shopping. You’ll be done in no time.

4. Online Bargains

There’s no better way of saving money than looking for bargains online. When bargain season hits, the best way to stock your cellar with wine bottles is to do the following:

• Buy in bulk – you can get a discount up to 25% if you buy a box of about 6 bottles of wine. How great is that?
• Order by case – when you order a case of wine, you automatically pay less. It is a sales policy, nothing to bang your head about. Order cases every time you can. If discount is not specified, ask if there is any.
• Warehouse clubs are a goldmine – shop at warehouse clubs every time you have the chance. They offer everything at lower prices from those in stores.