What are the benefits of wine clubs?
The best wine clubs offer their members in several benefits: Selection, Access, Convenience & Customization, and Value
Selections Made for You
One of the best things about a wine club is that you don't have to figure out which wines to buy. The professionals have already figured it out for you.
For vineyard-run wine clubs, the wineries send their own wines, but most like to mix it up with some of their best wines which you might not try if they didn't just send them to you. Also, since you liked their wine enough to sign up for their club, you know you'll love what comes to your door via UPS.
For retailer-run wine clubs, they scour the market looking for great, sometimes rare wines, of a certain level of quality, balance, and taste. There are many clubs that you can choose around themes so the selections you get have some kind of relationship to each other. You can choose Red Wine Clubs, 90+ Pt Wine Clubs, International Wine Clubs, Collector's Wine Clubs, California Wine Clubs, Pinot Noir Wine Clubs, etc.
Top wine club for selection: Oriel Discovery Wine Club gathers specially-made wines from interesting winemakers around the world, and Teri Hatcher compared the club to having her own private sommelier who always chooses the right wines for her to serve to friends.
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Special Access to Wines & Wineries
Wine clubs often get access to unique and hard-to-get wines from winemakers and vineyards worldwide.
For vineyard-run wine clubs, being a member often gets you access to special reserve wines and library wines, not available to the general public. You also get access to members-only events (usually at the vineyards) and sometimes special pricing on larger wine events.
For retailer-run wine clubs, being a member usually gets you access to small-production runs, collector wines, boutique or handmade wines, and other special wines. Sometimes these clubs come with additional perks, too.
Top wine club for access: This is a pretty personal call. If you love a particular winery, we recommend joining their wine club because you'll get access to their best wines and special events for members-only. Retailer clubs are already giving you the best access they can by bringing you wines you can't get elsewhere. Oriel runs a unique Concierege Service where you can have them arrange private tours of some of the world's best vineyards and wineries.
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Super Convenience & Customization
We're all busy. And right about the time we want to sit down on the couch to unwind with a big happy glass of wine is when we realize we're out.
Wine clubs save you the time and (if you live in a big city) hassle of going to the grocery store or liquor store to buy wine and then having to carry it home. Having a monthly shipment of wine delivered is like getting a pleasant surprise sent to you every few weeks--preventing you from having to get out of your pajamas to go get it.
Since many wine clubs offer wines from a much wider assortment of winemakers than is available in your local liquor store, you also skip the hunting around for something new that inevitably begins after you've tried everything your grocery store carries.
Additionally, many wine clubs let you pick exactly when you want the shipments to arrive, how many bottles are in each shipment, and what type of wine will arrive (usually you can choose between Red & White mix or Red Only or White Only... some let you pick Bubbly!)
Top wine club for convenience and customization:: Gourmet Monthly Clubs Wine Club really understands convenience and customization. They've gone to great lengths to create three special wine clubs to suit your budget and your wine goals, but they also give you extreme flexibility in configuring that subscription to suit your delivery and billing preferences. You can select a specific number of months to subscribe (great for gifts!) or an ongoing monthly membership, you can choose to pay once or pay monthly, you can choose your start month (also great for gifts!), you can choose your shipping frequency (every month, every other month, every three months / quarterly), and of course you can choose Red only, White only, or Red and White.
The best part about Gourmet Monthly Clubs? They also have this truly incredible Whatever Whenever Program! If you're looking for the ultimate in customization, you must check this out. You can mix and match your subscription from any of their clubs (they have wine clubs but they also do clubs for cheese, beer, cigars, chocloate, and flowers), and choose a ship date for each selection. So maybe one month you want a couple Collector's series Reds as you head into the holidays, but the next month you just want some beer because you suddenly feel poor from all that holiday spending. Or maybe you know someone who loves wine, cheese, AND chocolate and you want to send them a gift of one each in consecutive months... or every other month... the possibilities are endless and we think it's fantastic!
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The Best Value
Value comes in a few forms. It comes in the relationship of the price for what you get for joining the club (introductory offers), for the wines you get each month (monthly subscription), and for future discounts on purchases of wine you've received in the club.
For vineyard-run wine clubs, they get the best price on the wines they're distributing via their clubs--because they made them! This is the equivalent of factory-direct purchasing and it's usually a good deal for the buyer. Most winery wine clubs also include big discounts on reorders based on the level of the club you belong to.
For retailer-run wine clubs, especially Wine.com and BevMo! because they buy such large volumes, they are generally able to negotiate the best per-bottle prices. Good wine clubs pass on much of these savings to their members. In order to close out what's left of the supply after all of the wine club
Top wine club for value: Oriel Discovery Wine Club is a particularly good deal in terms of discounts because they are both a wine distributor and wine club. Oriel can usually offer a 50% discount off of what the wine's retail value actually is (this means you can get a $40 bottle for $20). They also have an outstanding introductory offer and a fair price on their monthly wine shipments.
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