BUYING WINE ON THE

web might not seem like the greatest of ideas. After all, your local wine merchant might also be able to give you creative wine suggestions for that curry chicken dinner you're cooking up this evening. Online merchants probably won't.

But people who regularly pick up wine at the local Costco or supermarket are often perfectly willing to go with old standbys or else wing it as long as the price is right.

If that describes you, then you might be pleasantly surprised by the online wine-buying experience. Here, you can read wine reviews and get wines at discounts of 30% or more (often with free shipping, to boot). Here's how.

Browsing the Virtual Aisles
Before you peruse a site's wine selection, check out its shipping restrictions. Wine-shipping regulations are complex; you need to consider where the wine is being shipped from, as well as its destination. Costco.com, for example, ships wine to only six states, while Wine.com ships to 25. You might check out The Wine Web, which sells wines directly from the vineyards, and lets you narrow your search to wines that can be shipped to your state.

Other advice:

• Consider buying a case.

  Depending on the vendor, you can easily get 10% to 20% off your order by buying wine in half cases (six bottles) or full cases (12 bottles). Buying a case doesn't mean you have to buy a dozen of the same vintage many companies let you mix and match.

• Don't forget web coupons.

  You can find e-coupons for just about anything online, and wine is no exception. Before you start browsing, check web sites like e-Deal Finder, WOW Coupons or dealcatcher. (See chart below for select promotions.)

Not All Cheap Wines Are Special
Some online wines are cheap because they aren't very good.

To separate the good from the bad, be sure to read the reviews. There aren't any tastings in cyberspace, so before you compare prices, find out what others think of the wine. Check out Wine Spectator and Wine Anthology for expert reviews. Want to know what the average drinker thinks? Look for the wine on The Wine Ratings Database for consumer recommendations. If you're looking for wines that were meant to be inexpensive, scour wine web sites for lists like Wine.com's "90+ point wines under $20," or The Wine Buyer's "Under $9.99."

Then, make sure you're getting the best price by typing the name and vintage of your chosen wine into a price searcher like Froogle or Shopping.com. To compare the price with what you'd pay in stores, check out Wine-Searcher.com. The site lets you search for wines by name and vintage.

We searched for 2002 Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which was sold at the winery for $23, but currently retails elsewhere for about $25 to $30. Using Wine-Searcher.com, we found it in retail stores for as much as $31.99 (at The Wine Specialist in D.C.), and as little as $16.99 (Gary's Wine & Marketplace in New Jersey).

Online prices varied by more than $8. Some of the best deals came from individual sellers (usually retail shops that have ventured online) at WineAccess.com and WineCommune.com.