Premier Series Wine Club Review
Our Qualitative Review
Overall a solid club with good-quality wines, despite the fact that it is a bit confusing to order month-to-month (you can, but their form is not super easy to use).What we love about Gourmet Monthly's wine club is their Whatever, Whenever program which lets you design your own wine club and also lets you mix your wine with other types of clubs from Gourmet Monthly. They offer beer, chocolate, cheese, cigars, and flowers, too. They have done a good job of setting up the gifting process so you can buy a club as a gift easily.
Gourmet Monthly has by far the most flexible/customizable wine club of all the clubs. You can choose almost every aspect of how and when you pay for shipments, and how and when you receive shipments.
This club
Wine Club Shipment Reviews
Review of Wine Club shipment received in December of 2009
As usual, we were delighted to here the professional knock of the UPS delivery man at the door. This almost always means more wine has arrived! Getting a shipment of wine in the mail is like getting a present (even when you paid for it) because you typically purchased it months (or even years) ago and you kind of "forget" it's coming.
When the shipment arrived, we carefully unpacked it and it looked like this:
When all is said and done, inside the box are tasting notes, some promotional materials, and two bottles of wine just waiting to be opened and enjoyed. Here's what they looked like artfully arranged in our offices:
The Gourmet Monthly Premier Series shipment in December 2009 included these two wines:
2008 Palazzone Umbria Dubini Bianco
An Italian white wine made from Orvieto grapes near Umbria.
2007 Emilio Moro Finca Resalso Ribera del Duero
A Spanish red wine made from Tempranillo grapes in Rioja.
Here's what we thought of the wine shipment from Gourmet Monthly in December 2009:
The wines arrived in perfect condition, neatly arranged in the box.
The wine tasting notes helped us learn about wines from Umbria and Rioja
The wine tasting notes told us about flavor profiles we might detect in the wines, but these are subjective and marketing-oriented.
We felt each bottle was appropriately-priced at $15. Both were well-balanced wines that were enjoyable to drink.
At our wine blog you can find a detailed review of the wines within the shipment. Since liking any particular wine is a completely subjective matter, Wine Club Reviews doesn't discuss the taste of the wine. What we offer is an evaluation of whether or not the shipment was worth its price, and hopefully worth more than its price. We look for unique wine experiences (lesser-known varietals and regions we didn't know much about) and most importantly, well-balanced wines. We also check to see whether the wine tasting notes and other information provided by the wine club is relevant and useful.
What Gourmet Monthly Clubs Says
Experience a wide variety of exciting, professionally-selected wines from acclaimed international wineries. Each month you'll receive two distinct wine styles from two different wineries, traditionally one red and one white wine, however you may choose to receive reds only in each series, and whites only in The Premier Series. Each shipment is accompanied by our professionally produced newsletter discussing each featured wine, the history of the winemakers, qualities to take note of as you taste them, suggested food pairings, and more!The Premier Series - Our original offering and most popular club, the Premier Series has delivered outstanding selections at exceptional values since 1994. Our longstanding relationships in the Industry and high purchasing volume enable us to bring you featured wines that retail in the $15-$25 per bottle range at unbeatable prices. You may choose two red wines, two whites, or one of each.
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