How to choose the right wine club

By Catalogs Editorial Staff

How to choose the right wine club to enjoy both the wine and your investment

There is something to be said for joining a club or subscribing to a service that is set up to deliver a product or benefit to people who all have the same interest you do. There is something to be said for having the peace of mind in knowing that the people who manage the club share your interests and will be able to help you make your choices on a particular topic that much easier.

Of course, in order to subscribe to a club that actually makes your choices and your decisions that much easier, you have to find the right kind of club.

If you are looking to join a book club, you don’t want to join the first one you run across. It’s possible that all the books that club will send you are books you have zero interest in reading. The same goes for joining a wine club. You don’t want to just join the first one you come across because you are a newbie to the topic – whether it is British mysteries or California reds.

Let’s say that you are looking to expand your knowledge of wines by subscribing to a club that delivers a certain set number of bottles to your home every month. Do you know how to choose the right wine club? There are a couple of things you should be on the lookout for when making that final choice.

A “wine club” is actually quite a bit different than a book club or a wine-tasting club. While it may sound like you are going to be sitting around with a whole bunch of other people drinking wine, a wine club is just about placing a long-standing order – 3 months, six months or a year – to have the right kind of wine for your tastes delivered to your door.

You won’t get to discuss the kind of wine you like the most with other people. A club works to get you the best assortment of reds, whites or a combination, that it deems should be included in a particular “collection” to appeal to a specific type of consumer. The company you sign a contract with will be picking out the vintages and sending them to you.

If you want to have a wine tasting party or get together to share the bottles that you receive from your club membership, that is going to be your doing and yours alone!

Unless you already know what your taste in reds, whites and specialty vintages is, each shipment will be a adventure. Some people select a plan that sends them bottles they already know and enjoy. Others are more adventuresome and select a club with the intention of being introduced to new vintages with every shipment. Remember that you do run the risk on not liking are particular bottle, or not having enough on another that you truly enjoy. This experience is generally about “sampling,” not about purchasing enough bottles of the same vintage for a large dinner party.

Another aspect of choosing the right wine club is the price. That doesn’t mean if should be the determining factor for you. If price is playing a large role in your decision then you probably shouldn’t be in a wine club in the first place. One good rule of thumb when it comes to making the choice is to figure out what kinds of wine you like and find a company that deals largely in those vintages and growers.

You also want to make sure that the bottles you have a taste for are included in the selections. This means that if you are more of a fan of the Napa Valley vintages than you are traditional French wines, you should find a club that highlights wines from California.

You should also never allow pre-conceived notions to get in the way. Along this vein, you can find a subscription plan that offers a variety of different options, whether that means different parts of the globe or just different kinds of wine. If you can find a plan that will allow you more of a choice on the types of wine you can get, or that allows you change your selection from month to month, you have probably found yourself a pretty good club.

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How to choose the right wine club

By Catalogs Editorial Staff