Wine Journey: Beginner · Enthusiast · Connoisseur
There are two basic groups of people buying fine wine online, and I differentiate between them based on whether they want to have the wine selected for them or they want to research their wine purchases themselves.
Luxury wine clubs are perfect for the former and there are some great online buying opportunities for the latter. And either option can lead you to a great wine gift for your favorite wine lover with expensive taste.
FYI: I find great wine deals so you don’t have to. To keep me on the hunt, I earn a commission when you buy wine based on my recommendations.
Price is subjective. I recently asked the r/Wine redditors about the industry standard terms for price ranges like Premium and Luxury. Have the ranges moved since inflation kicked in? Have buyer’s preferences changed?
Consensus seldom occurs on this sub, but one thing was clear, those pricing tiers have moved upward, and not insignificantly. The proposed ranges felt right, and so I think we can break “high-end” into several standard categories for wines over $25: $25-35 = Premium; $35-50 = Super Premium; $50-80 = Ultra Premium; $80-150 = Luxury; $150-350 = Super Luxury; $350+ = Icon
On this page, I’m focused on the top three tiers because if this is the wine you want to drink, a wine subscription is a compelling way to buy (at least some of) it.
This wine never comes from the secondary market, it’s always winery- or importer-direct. The price tag implies these high-quality wines are generally rare and hard to find, however sometimes a broadly-available gem pops up.
If this price range is too steep for you, please check out my list of the Best High-End Wine Clubs ($25-80) or Best Overall Wine Clubs (prices are typically below $40 a bottle).
I’ve reviewed wine clubs for 15 years, including super expensive, luxury-level wine clubs. In addition to knowing which companies offer fine wine clubs, I also know which subscription services will treat you right.
When I updated this list in April 2024, I removed several clubs from it. My standards have changed and I only want to recommend the very best wine subscriptions for serious wine drinkers here. If you’re just dipping your toe into the waters of hard to find wine, these subscriptions are a great way to test your preferences.
Note: these retail wine clubs can’t ship to every state. We have arcane alcohol shipping laws in this country and apparently a wine drinker’s freedom of choice takes a back seat to the entrenched wine distributors’ desire to control everything.
Except for Roscioli. They can ship everywhere, even Utah, Pennsylvania, and Alabama.
One-bottle shipments range $250-400. Shipping is included.
Wine Access is known for superlative descriptions of the wines they carry. I work pretty closely with them and as I’ve gotten to know both their staff and their inventory, I can honestly say that when they describe the wines in this club as “Rare and Coveted Showpiece Selections,” and “Truly prestigious wines from the world's bluechip wine estates” they mean it. They stake their reputation on such claims.
They wouldn’t like me saying it this way, but this is my site and I want you to know they put their money where their mouth is. If you don’t like any bottle you receive from Wine Access, they’ll credit it or replace it. At any time. Even for this wine club (and other iconic wines they sell, too).
This used to be a private, invitation-only wine club. What they later realized is that only a certain number of people would even opt in to such a club, so they opened it up to the public.
Exclusive discount: Save $25 on each of your first two shipments when you sign up for an ongoing subscription. No coupon code needed, discount automatically applied at checkout when you use my links.
I haven’t tried this club so I can’t send you to my review. Shop it or give it
Two-bottle shipments are $150. Shipping is included.
At this moment you might be saying, “Hey Jessyca, you said these are $80 a bottle and up. I can do math and this one doesn’t belong here.” And… you’d sort of be right.
It’s unusual you’d get to $75 bottles of wine from the Connoisseurs Club at Wine Access. What’s much more likely is that you’ll get one in the $50-60 range and the other one will be $90-100. And, that’s how the math works out.
Now… if you’re thinking about getting into pricier wine but aren’t quite sure about blowing a huge wad on it, this is a great luxury wine club to check out.
I received two wonderful red wines in my shipment which was an old-world vs new-world comparison of high-end Bordeaux blends — 2015 Château Prieuré-Lichine Margaux Grand Cru Classé and 2016 Melka Mekerra Merlot Knights Valley (Sonoma).
Both wines would have benefited from cellaring, this was a few years ago, so this is another example of why it’s a good idea to double up on wine orders in this price range — you could drink them young and understand their youthful expression, and then drink them again later at peak maturity to understand why people age wine in the first place.
It comes with the Wine Access 100% satisfaction guarantee, you get something more affordable to drinker sooner, and you get something to hang on to for a little while (if you want to). It’s a risk-free way to explore higher-end wines and that’s why it’s a must-consider for luxury wine clubs.
Exclusive discount: Save $25 on each of your first two shipments when you sign up for an ongoing subscription. No coupon code needed, discount automatically applied at checkout when you use my links.
Read my Connoisseurs Club review, shop it, or give it
Six-bottle shipments from 500€. Shipping is included.
I wax poetic about Roscioli’s Italian Wine Clubs on my high-end wine clubs list, but those wines aren’t luxury-level. Roscioli also offers two unique and icon-level wine clubs.
Their Collectors Club is 500€ per six-bottle shipment and contains mostly Italian cellar champions like Barolo and Barbaresco from the best communes and producers, alongside less known regions and producers.
Their Legends Club is 1000€ per six-bottle shipment and contains a mix of legendary [naturally] Italian and iconic French wines.
As you might imagine, the logistics of shipping directly from Rome to your door are a little different than a standard wine club. You get two 12-bottle shipments per year, but they sell them as six-bottle shipments which you get two at a time. At least one shipment arrived in the US via sailboat!
Roscioli opened their first US location in NYC in 2023. If you happen to live there (or nearby), you can experience Roscioli’s food and wine firsthand. If you join their wine club, there are extra perks both in NYC and in Rome — including free, in-person wine classes.
Roscioli does not offer a Satisfaction Guarantee but will replace damaged inventory (if possible) or offer a refund/credit for those bottles.
A parting thought… Roscioli pays me every time your credit card gets charged, not just on the first shipment. This has given me a close look at how often club members leave. This club’s attrition rates are very low.
Read my Roscioli Italian Wine Club or shop it
Two-bottle shipments from $220. Shipping is extra.
Gold Medal Wine Club’s most expensive club is aptly named Diamond Club. They’re a little less specific about what kind of wine you’ll receive, but it’s always highly-rated (92-99 points or equivalent), red, and from California.
This is an exclusive wine club limited to 500 members.
The wines come in a varying degree of agedness, some are fresh releases (usually at least a few years after harvest) and some are pre-aged at the winery. They say that their wines are ready to drink or would hold up to additional hang-time in the cellar.
If you plan to age them, I strongly recommend getting at least a 4-bottle subscription (make sure you tell them you want two of each), so you can drink one soon after you get it (don’t forget to decant it) and lay the other one down based on your own assessment of the wine. This way you’ll get the maximum value (and education) out of your purchase.
I recommend this club with some caveats:
First: personally, I don’t consider 92 points a good rating for wines over $100 (I’m not sure I’d pay more than $25 for a wine that only scored 92 points and it really depends who gave it that score).
As is typical of wine clubs in this price range, you don’t necessarily get two $110 wines, you might get a $70 wine and a $150 wine. This explains the point spread, but I wouldn’t use this stat to judge the kind of wine you’ll get (a lot of superlative wine never gets rated by a critic).
Second: I’ve only received one shipment from the Gold Medal Diamond Club and it was many years ago. They sent Patel Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (typically retails around $180) and Oakville East’s Core Stone wine (typically retails around $110, the vineyard is next door to Dalla Valle and across Silverado Trail from Rudd Estate). We aged them before we drank them, but sadly I didn’t keep wine tasting notes in those days.
Third: Gold Medal recently changed ownership (twice) and it’s not clear to me who’s buying the wine for this club or how it might change over time. You can look in their store to see what kinds of wine they’ve shipped recently enough to have extras still in inventory to see if this is a good fit for you.
Fourth: they now offer a satisfaction guarantee, but since you’re probably laying the wines down, it’s unlikely they’ll offer a refund or credit when you finally get around to opening it.
This exclusive wine club’s existence is an open secret. You can’t join unless you’re a Vinovest subscriber and they don’t mention it on their public-facing website. I know about it because Wine Access posts the Vinovest tasting videos on their YouTube channel.
If you don’t know about Vinovest, it’s a way for ordinary investors to benefit from the extraordinary gains enjoyed by serious wine collectors.
You invest a minimum balance (the more you invest, the lower your annual fee is) and each tier gets you access to increasingly rare wines to invest in, as well as tasting events and personalized service.
You own all the wines in your portfolio, 100%. You can buy or sell bottles whenever you like. They handle the insurance and storage. You can get your wine shipped to you at any time.
They also offer their investors a wine club subscription, exclusive to the Vinovest community. You might know the club existed if they didn’t post video tasting notes to the Wine Access YouTube channel!
I picked a shipment video to watch at random and it happens to feature one of my absolutely most favorite wines from critically-acclaimed winery Dragonette Cellars, the Radian Vineyard Pinot Noir.
I’ve been a wine club member at Dragonette for 14 years and have tasted nearly every wine from every vintage they’ve made since 2009. It’s the one wine club I can’t imagine ever leaving because, as we frequently remark while drinking their aged Sauvignon Blanc, these guys are wizards.
I haven’t tried this club so I can’t send you to my review. Join Vinovest