Reviews of Wine Club Gift Packaging

Overall, this was our favorite gift package of the shipments we reviewed. Beyond the wine, which was a very good value, we liked the quality of the items included in the shipment. All of the Wine of the Month Club wine clubs (whether you're buying as a gift or for yourself) come with a neat plastic binder with helpful information pre-printed inside.

Each shipment is accompained by a booklet (not your average, wimpy, two-page newsletter) that comes three-hole punched for easy storage in the plastic binder. The September booklet included a personal note from the cellarmaster, Paul Kalemkiarian, an explanation of the shipment, including geographic information and special reorder pricing, a members-only Q&A section, recipes, and a page for tasting notes at the back, so you'll always remember what you thought of a particular wine.

Your first gift shipment arrives in a wine-colored linen box (seen in the photos above). This box is a nice quality for presenting your gift, the nicest of all the shipments we reviewed because the gift recipient can keep it as a memento of the experience.

We also like that Wine of the Month Club works hard to reduce their shipping costs (and they pass 100% that savings along to you), as well as keeping the amount of packaging to a minimum. Paul also works hard to add personal touches wherever possible. With each shipment you also get to read about the story of how Wine of the Month Club came to be, 39 years ago... he asks you to send back your review of the shipment (postage pre-paid) and if you'd like to be notified when he finds one of his infamous good deals on one of your favorite varietals

The gift notice itself is nice, personalized, but not extravagant. True for all of the shipments we received, we'd prefer not to get a packing slip in the box, or at least have it prettied up a bit. Especially in a gift shipment. If you're sending a last-minute gift, like so many of us do, this is an excellent choice. Your gift notification choices are great!

Overall, we're really pleased with California Wine Club as a gift for the holidays this year. They offer your gift recipient a $25 credit on reorders (which are already marked down to 50% below retail), changed up the gift packaging to be festive for the holidays, and have a nice presentation in general.

Each shipment is accompained by a full-color magazine called Uncorked which included great content like recipes, a full review of this special winery, a recap of all the great things they did in wine country this year, and other helpful tips. Aside from getting introduced to teeny tiny boutique wineries around California, we like The California Wine Club because their emphasis on high-quality wines and generous member discounts make it a great club to belong to.

What we didn't love about the shipment was that the wine comes in styrofoam. While it reduces the box size necessary to ship two bottles (a little), styrofoam is not an environmentally friendly packing material. We prefer wine clubs to use molded fiber-board which is typically made from 100% recycled material and is itself 100% recyclable. Additionally, the jazzy gift packaging was mylar... another unrecyclable product. A paper-based tissue would be a better choice.

The gift notice/packing slip was printed in full color with a decent looking note on it. It didn't wow us. If you're sending a last-minute gift, like so many of us do, this is an excellent choice because of their nice-looking online e-card delivery options.

Overall, we think WineTasting.com does a nice job of presenting a gift to your recipient. The packaging is festive and fun (if not laborious to get all the way through) and the quality of the items included in the box makes the experience fun. A free gift of a Built NY 2-bottle wine tote just makes it all that much fun!

Each shipment is accompained by a catalog, a full-color newsletter with a recipe and wine-country updates. You also get a 1-page, double-sided tasting notes sheet with both WineTasting.com's tasting notes and a place to put yours.

What we didn't love about the shipment was how much packaging was used. We noted that all of the packaging is recyclable (and possibly made from recycled materials) but wish they could have done it with less.

The gift notice itself was, um, missing. A little note on the packing slip really doesn't scream "gift" and it's surprising they dropped the ball on this part considering how much effort they went through to get the presentation so pretty. True for all of the shipments we received, we'd prefer not to get a packing slip in the box, or at least have it prettied up a bit. Especially in a gift shipment. If you're sending a last-minute gift, like so many of us do, this is not a good choice. We couldn't find an online notification tool.

Overall, we think MyWinesDirect makes a nice gift delivering great wines to your recipient and delivering great value to you. Unfortunately, for a company that specializes in wine gifts, the packaging was a little ho-hum. Really, it was regular packaging with a gift note included.

In addition to the lackluster packing slip, you get a one-page, black-and-white print-out of the tasting notes for the three wines included in the shipment. Since this article is about gift packaging we're being a little harsh. The wines have been excellent and an excellent value.

The gift notice itself was the nicest of all the packages we received. It comes in an envelope on stationery with a personal message inside. It didn't need all of the tracking data on it, but still, the act of removing something from an envelope is always a nice touch. True for all of the shipments we received, we'd prefer not to get a packing slip in the box, or at least have it prettied up a bit. Especially in a gift shipment. If you're sending a last-minute gift, like so many of us do, this is not a good choice. We couldn't find an online notification tool.