ClassicWines.com 2.0
Written By: Mark Shay on Mon, Jun 8th 2009
Personal virtual cellars and social networking tools for the modern wine enthusiast added to the largest search engine devoted to wines available online.
Chester, PA (PRWEB) February 24, 2009. ClassicWines.com unveiled a significant upgrade to its popular wine search web site. Dubbed ClassicWines 2.0 the new site brings social networking and community tools to ClassicWines, the leading online wine search engine and Internet guide for wine, and brings new meaning to company’s slogan of “Drink. Learn. Share.”
“People with a desire to learn and experiment with wine now have a new place to gather, interact and meet with people who are passionate about wine and wine lifestyles” explained Mark Shay, Founder of ClassicWines.com. “The goal of this upgrade was to help our audience learn from each other, not just the experts.”
One of the major new enhancements Shay is referring to is the ‘personal virtual cellar’, a free service to registered users that allows the storage of wine tasting notes, reviews and social networking tools. Through social networking users share their opinions with others and in return see the comments of fellow wine enthusiasts. As with other Internet social network sites like Facebook and MySpace, ClassicWines.com now allows its members to publish updates as to their experiences and pursuits, but here they focus strictly on wine and their wine related experiences.
“We are hoping to take some of the elitism out of wine by empowering a community voice to wine reviews and ratings” explained Shay. “The wine industry has become too dependent on super reviewers which has kept some really great wines from getting the notoriety they deserve. We see the new features of ClassicWines.com as a democratization of wine rating and reviews.”
The new user-focused tools are a new layer atop the already popular wine search engine, columns, videos and how to guides that ClassicWines.com has become known for. Launched in 2006, the site boasts that it is home to the largest search engine devoted to wines available online. Nearly 600 merchants and producers provide ClassicWines.com with data feeds of bottles available for direct shipment to consumers. In addition to tying to personal recommendations, the ClassicWines.com Search Engine allows people to directly search for wine using a wide variety of search options. “When browsing for a particular wine bottle, online consumers see a list of retailers who carry that bottle, and its price. Shoppers can then click through to the desired retailer, and purchase it from their online store. It’s free market at its best!”
While not all states allow the online purchases of wine, most do and 75% of the nations population can legally purchase wine online. More than 350,000 different bottles are now listed on ClassicWines.com with many listing prices from multiple merchants. According to Scott Kastin of LiquidDiscount.com, an online merchant in New York, “connecting my inventory to the personal virtual cellars is one of the reasons we provide our data feeds to ClassicWines.com”
ClassicWines.com offers its wine lifestyle tools free of charge to people 21 years and older and is committed to providing a community open to all with an interest in wine. The company is based in suburban Philadelphia and draws revenue from advertising and sponsorships. According to Alexa.com, ClassicWines.com is one of the top 100,000 web sites on the Internet and one of the highest trafficked wine guide websites.
