Crowdsourced wine company launches home delivery service

You could call it the adults-only version of old-fashioned milkman service: a same-day wine delivery for tipplers.

NakedWines.com is piloting the service in San Francisco, where subscribers can place their order and receive a case of wine delivered in time for their dinner party.

If successful, the service could also roll out to Chicago, Los Angeles, London, New York and Sydney.

Like Amazon and monthly wine clubs, the service is pitched towards time-crunched oenophiles and aims to spare consumers a trip to the liquor store and the grunt work of carrying cases of wine home.

But what also makes the service unique is that the wines on offer are from independent winemakers as part of the company’s crowdsourcing model.

Here’s how NakedWines works: Subscribers, or Angel investors, as they’re called, contribute $40 a month. The money is distributed among independent winemakers around the world.

In return, subscribers pay wholesale prices and get up to 60 percent off retail price of wines.

Deliveries would be for cases of six, 12 or 15 bottles. Delivery is free for purchases of $100 or more.

Details are available at http://www.nakedwines.com/.