Could the wine world be headed for a renaissance of flash sales, private labels, and general deals to be had? In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and curtailing consumer wine budgets, the industry turned to flash sales, private labels, and sweeping price corrections to move a sudden glut of unsold wine. Today’s world is different in many ways, but suddenly declining consumer demand for alcohol writ large after the pandemic-fueled demand spike of a few years prior, along with the current state of economic uncertainty, may lead to a similar excess in supply. And for consumers that are still in the market for wine purchases–as I imagine that most readers of this publication are–this may just well create the same sort of deals that we saw a decade and a half ago.
Before we get to the current situation, let’s take a moment to look back at how the market handled the 2008 financial crisis and ensuing recession. Pre-2008, the frothy economy of the mid-aughts led to a boom in the wine industry–higher demand, higher prices, and expanded vineyard footprints, especially in the New World. Then, in 2008, everything changed. Suddenly, demand for high-end wines began shrinking and demand for value-oriented wine began to rise. Enter the flash sale and the private label.
While some wine flash sale sites and private labels can trace their origins to before the financial crisis, these parts of the industry hit their heyday in the post-2008 years. On the flash-sale front, the market was suddenly flooded with the likes of Cinderella Wine (an offshoot of Gary Vaynerchuk’s Wine Library), Wine Woot (an offshoot of the popular general flash sale site, Woot.com), The Wine Spies, Wine Access, Wineshopper, Lot 18, and Last Bottle. Wine Business Analytics published a market analysis showing these sites offering average discounts of 29% to 51% compared to retail prices as of December 2010, and even major publications, like Time and the New York Times, were writing about the great deals to be found on these sites.
At the same time, private label wines grew in prominence too, with offerings including Cameron Hughes Wine, 90+ Cellars, Costco’s Kirkland Signature Wines, Trader Joe’s various labels, and later Wine Access’s NDA wines and Last Bottle’s Sleeper label. While flash sales offered wine brands a way to move bulk product quickly, private labels offered something even more valuable to some brands: anonymity. Brands concerned with maintaining a high-end image could offload excess wine without associating their brand with discounted prices. For the consumer, the product of both the increase in flash sales and private labels was the same: great deals across the board.
But with time comes change. While many of these brands have survived over time, the market has changed significantly too. Wine demand continued to increase into the pandemic years, with demand for higher end wines increasing significantly as well. Unsurprisingly, the deals offered by flash sales and private labels felt less compelling during this time, as higher demand naturally means that wine brands have less need to move their top offerings through these channels. And at the same time, buying habits shifted toward subscription clubs and direct-to-consumer (DTC) allocations.
But could we be headed back to a time of deals to be had? The environment we find ourselves in looks eerily familiar. To begin, much like the time leading up to 2008, the recent pandemic years saw a spike in wine demand and demand for high-end wine. And while we aren’t in a 2008-style recession (at least not yet), the heightened demand that peaked during the pandemic is proving unsustainable. Champagne—a reliable proxy for premium demand—illustrates the pattern: For the years 2008 and 2009, Economics Observatory reports Champagne sales fell “around 5% and 13%,” respectively. And if we look at 2023 and 2024, we similarly see total Champagne shipments slipping by 8% and 9%, respectively. While the causes of the decline this time around may be different (a general public shift away from alcohol has no doubt played a part) the effects are likely to be similar: excess wine will need to be moved, and that should lead to better deals for consumers.
There’s some evidence supporting this theory already. Take a look at Liv-Ex’s latest report on the state of the fine wine market: Liv-Ex describes the state of the fine wine market in 2024 as “challenging,” showing steeply falling prices. Indeed, Liv-Ex concludes by noting “the downturn appears to have picked up pace over recent months [and] [i]f this continues into 2025, then it will hasten the point at which prices are low enough to truly reinvigorate demand and clear out excess stock.” And anecdotally, this is consistent with what I’ve been seeing at auction, with more wines appearing to go for lower prices and with fewer bids.
So, where should the savvy consumer be looking to get the best deals during this period? There are a number of options to serve any budget. For those looking at deals in the under $25 price point, start with the big flash players: WTSO (Wines ’Til Sold Out) and Last Bottle—both of which still post rotating offers under $25 and run free-shipping promotions. Keep an eye out for interesting offers from 90+ Cellars and Cameron Hughes, but recognize that these can be a bit more hit or miss. And don’t sleep on Costco’s Kirkland Signature bottlings, which include some solid options in this price point.
In the $25 – $40 price range, daily-deal sites can still offer good value. Wine Access offers curated limited-time discounts and its in-house NDA labels—often declassified Napa or Sonoma wines sold at a fraction of their original price. At the $40 to $75 tier, auction hunting becomes more fruitful too. For mature bottles, WineBid, Benchmark Wine Group (as well as their East Coast arm, Benchmark Wine & Spirits), and even K&L Wine all regularly have offerings in this price range, including some mature options.
Finally, at the $80-and-up price tier, auctions offer even more value. This opens up many more K&L Wine auction lots, and many of the blue-chip offerings from WineBid and the Benchmark sites. Benchmark has both auction sites and retail sites, and the retail site also holds regular sales with discounts that scale with total purchase price, with the steepest discounts often going to cart totals over $2000.
Whatever your budget, the best deals increasingly come from stacking shipping thresholds and buying in small clusters to offset shipping costs. Sign up for the major flash-site newsletters, seek out free shipping or at least seek to minimize the per-bottle shipping cost by consolidating orders instead of making one-off purchases. And don’t forget to keep an eye out for promising private labels. The flash-sale boom of the Great Recession was born out of necessity, and the needs of today may be the same, even if the underlying causes are different. For consumers, the outcome is the same: better access to good wine at saner prices. If history rhymes, 2025–26 could be a brief but glorious window when the market gives us some of the best wine deals in a long time.