Sam's Club - The last place you'd think about for wine..

...but that would be a mistake. We have two Sam's Club's (like a Costco or BJ's elsewhere) nearby, one can sell wine and liquor and one cannot, so I guess it depends on the local availability of licenses.

We go to Sam's pretty regularly, but I usually only buy wine about once every three or four months. The typical purchase is about 3 or 4 cases, and unless I find a real steal, it tends to be no more than 2 or 3 bottles of the same wine. As I mentioned in my first post, I love finding good-to-very good wines for $20 and under, and Sam's Club is an absolute smorgasbord of inexpensive wines. The big challenge in purchasing en-masse at Sam's in that you'll never know if the same wine will be there when you return. Since I suppose they purchase what they can get their hands on, the wines change pretty frequently, but I consider that a good thing.

I've had some friends worry about the way the wines might be handled, but I've never had a problem that I can attribute to mishandling at the retailer. I have gotten home and found some bad corks under the foil, which they happily replaced, but that could happen anywhere, and with the number I've purchased, it's no more frequent than anyplace else I purchase from.

So, the next time you looking to re-stock the cellar, check out your local warehouse store - you may be able to find some big savings and big selection in the same place.