I came across Tanners by accident whilst searching for a particular Grand Cru Champagne. They were competitively priced. I've place a number of orders with them notably for the ampagne, Bas armagnac, and port. I have bought wine too. Yes, I agree they are very knowledgable. However, I was recently looking for a particular Rioja, their prices was about £26 per botle, but Waitrose had exactly the bottle for £18. No0 contest.
So I'd use Tanners for something not available elsewhere, but I would also do a general search.
Only one thing let them down once, when they substitued a wine with a different year without consulting me first. Their reasoning was that they were out of stock of the one I had ordered. However, they subsequently said they had some in the bonded warehouse. The exchange and delivery took be perilously close to the dinner party, for which it was needed. They were apologetic, and tried to resolve matters immediately. It is important to contact the customer; it is not as though I was ordering from Tesco!
Neverthess, I will still use them, but I will ensure that I caveat any order with "No substitutes".
There recent red Burgundies for 2008 are quite exgtensive. read more