Wine of the Month Clubs... Connoisseur Choices at Discount Prices
While most wine clubs fall under this category, a wine of the month club is best if you want to receive more regular wine recommendations. In fact, some very popular wine clubs deliver their wine selections only quarterly.
If you enjoy wine and want to start building your own wine collection, joining a monthly wine club can be a great
idea.
Basically, experts will select wines for you, relieving you from the pains, and the potential catastrophes, of buying
pricey bottles of wine at retail stores, to discover, only later, that you didn't get your money's worth.
In order to remain competitive, most wine of the month clubs offer much more than mere discounts for their members. Their
selected wines are quite often not available to the public, unless you order them directly from the wine-makers.
Plus, you won't have to leave home to get these quite special bottles of wine; they will be promptly delivered to your home or office.
How to Join
The way monthly wine clubs work is that they offer you a better discount on the first monthly selection you purchase, in order to lure in more new members. After that initial, typically 50%, discount; the benefits tend to vary in a range between 10 and 40%.
The most traditional wine clubs sometimes have a joining fee. In these cases, you should expect some valuable extra benefits for being a member. If they are asking for your money and not giving you anything special in return, then maybe it is not such a good idea to join.
Benefits and Goodies
A typical wine club of the month may have a hotline for wine-related advice at no additional cost for members. They may
include gifts, such as wine accessories, coolers, glasses, corkscrews, etc; which they will throw in with your order once in a while.
Some of them will send you a newsletter with recommendations, featured winery reviews, recipes of food suited to accompany
the wine, and the like. Wine-tastings and events are also rather common. These can be either free or closed for members,
charging a small fee.
Watch out for...
Good old delivery problems may occasionally stand between you and your wine orders. It is advisable to research the wine club's reputation with deliveries before, and not after, you give them your credit card info.
Sometimes joining a monthly wine club doesn't necessarily mean that you will get excellent, expert-proof wine at affordable prices. They might send you a lower quality bottle from time to time, and wine deals may not be that impressive after the initial period.
First of all, you need to look at a wine of the month club that will deliver to your area. Their range is usually
national. Thus, if you choose a wine club based in your country, you should be safe, though there are exceptions, so it is
better to check. Deliveries are usually offered at very affordable rates.
Then, look at their wine plans. If you don't care much for
Italian wines
and that is their main area of expertise, then maybe it's not a good idea to join. If they are planning to send you three cases of pricey wine a month, and buying it is the only way to access the bulk of their benefits, then maybe you should reconsider.
You must find a wine of the month club that will fit your budget and your taste.
It is also a good idea to look into the club's experts' track record. These are the people who will be selecting wine for you to buy, so you should make sure they know what they're doing.
At Last, the Holy Grail
It may seem like a load of work to find just the perfect wine of the month club, but, when you find it, the joys will be
endless.
Delicious wine will be at your table whenever you require it, you will have a couple of bottles of that extra
special stuff for important occasions, you will learn many tricks of the trade, and you will have a handsome number of
delightful wine-tastings under your belt.
