Wine Club Guide

A Wine Club Guide...
To Finding the Wine Club of Your Dreams

There are a lot of different kinds of wine clubs to choose from. The first constraint is location: It is no good if you find the perfect wine club but it is located in a different country, because they will most likely be unable to deliver to your location.

Among the wine clubs that do deliver to your area, you might find a great variety. I will presently try to organize the general wine club information into a wine club guide of sorts, to simplify your task.

Online Wine Clubs

Today, most of the major wine clubs function online. This has countless advantages: you can browse through wine varieties and selection offers, you can log in to make your orders online, etc. After you are registered and you have become a member, everything will be very simple; all you'll have to do is say yes or no to their periodical offers.

Some online wine clubs can be a little too much like a supermarket. The care of selecting the wines and going to wineries to talk to the owners, that makes some wine clubs so special, is sometimes lost (that's why we have written this wine club guide).

Boutique or Supermarket?

As with supermarkets, the larger wine clubs tend to have a more comprehensive selection. Now, sometimes quantity is not quality, as my grandma used to say (She wasn't in the wine business, though I recall having stepped on a couple of grapes from the lovely vines in her backyard; unfortunately, I was too young to try the wine...)

Sometimes you are better off choosing the fantastic local wine from a small family-owned boutique winery no one has ever heard of. A wine club selection of 1,000 different choices sounds great, but if the wine club is too big to give you any attention or assistance with your choices, then it will probably just overwhelm and confuse you.

For some help though, see our wine club selection tips to reduce this potential overwhelm.

What is the Best Wine of the Month Club?

Personally, I am all about exploring, so to find what is the best wine of the month club I would try to find balance. I'd choose a wine club offering enough variety (specially in the sense of origin, as this is one of the greater differentiating factors), but which still take the time to choose their wine carefully, and even lovingly.

Other than that, you should make sure that deliveries are timely, prices are competitive, and that you are under no obligation to buy every month's selection if you don't particularly care for it.

Aiming Higher

Premium wine clubs are supposed to be A: for the bigger budget and B: for the more seasoned wine enthusiast. However, many a wine club will add "premium" to their name, in order to claim a kind of higher status. Don't be deceived by a name. After all, as Shakespeare said, "what's in a name?"

See our premium wine club tips if you are really looking for a premium wine club because you'll need to look at their wine selection and credentials. Are they offering internationally acclaimed wines? Are their experts well-known and respected? Are their wines limited editions, chosen according to the year of harvest? How many gold medals (won at the main international wine events) do you see listed there?

If you find a true premium wine club, they will take your money, but you will get the best; a win-win situation, by all means.

In Love and War

Whatever the choice, your relationship with your wine club is like a love affair. It may take a while to find the one, but once you do, you will fall head over heels. I hope this wine club guide will help you do just that.