International Wine Clubs

The Thrill of the Exotic...
With International Wine Clubs

Because there are so many restrictions regarding alcoholic beverage sales, wine clubs run mostly local operations, in the sense that they are not allowed to ship wines outside their own countries.

International wine clubs bridge this gap by bringing into their selections an assortment of foreign wines.

While the major wine regions in the world tend to be represented in most large wine club catalogues, it is harder to find a truly international wine club devoted to finding the best wines from around the world; one that will be out to discover the next hot region or winery, wherever they may be.

Scouting the Earth for Great Wines

Most international wine clubs simply have a choice of international wine plans, like the Gourmet Monthly Wine Club or the Gold Medal Wine Club

These wine plans may be devoted to one single region or they may be (my favorite kind) open to wines from all over the world.

For the best international selection in the UK, you can check out the Sunday Times Wine Club

Obviously, finding the best vintage or varietal from an unheard of family winery lost in the Pampas requires work, knowledge, time, and money. And not all international wine of the month clubs can necessarily measure up to this task.

In fact, many of them will simply pick the safe well-known varietals: an Argentinean Malbec, an Australian Shiraz, or a Spanish Rioja; and always from well-known brands.

Focus Region Clubs

If you want an international wine club that really cherishes the selection process, I recommend you try one of the most unusual ones: the ones exclusively dedicated to a certain region or portion of the globe.

The American Southern Hemisphere Wine Center is a prominent example of this, providing wines from any country below the Equator, an area that includes some of the fastest growing and more relevant wine regions of today, such as New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Argentina, South Africa, and Uruguay.

The Pacific Wine Club deals in all wines from the Pacific coast and the Chicago-based African Tradition Wine Club brings South African wines to America.

As rarities go, the Swedish Australian Wine Club is at the top of my list.

Other than these regional wine clubs, the large international wine of the month clubs won't necessarily take the care and time needed for a good selection of unique and interesting wines of the world. (In truth, the task is almost impossible.)

Quality or Variety?

In a way, the question of choosing one of the numerous "wine clubs international" in the market boils down to a choice between the risk of losing quality and that of losing variety.

The New York Times Wine Club is one club that promises to bring these risks to a minimum with their two international wine plans, carrying careful selections from both foreign and local wines.

I can also recommend the Cellars Wine Club and Wine Express for both their international selection and customer service.

Wine clubs offering international selections will have their ups and downs. Some might disappoint you with repetition and others may sacrifice quality for the benefit of variety.

One thing that they will all do though is take you away on voyages through the four corners of the Earth, in the flight of great exotic wines, whose scent and taste will bring to you a hint of the mystery of unknown worlds.