Choosing wine that’s just right for you can be an overwhelming experience! Especially when you want to try something new or are afraid of buying something that you may not like. One of the benefits of signing up for a wine club or subscription service is the opportunity to explore different wines. Even if all you know about wine is that there is red and white, the best wine clubs make it easy to sample new varietals and educate yourself from the comfort of your living room.
With so many options, we’re giving you the 4-1-1 on six of the most popular wine clubs (listed in no particular order) to help you find the best wine club for you, whether you’re a beginner or a weekly drinker looking to learn more about the beverage!
1. Wine Access
From Master Sommeliers to chefs, Wine Access uses industry experts and storytelling to curate five different wine subscription options, each with its own unique focus.
Discovery Club: The box includes classic and new-wave bottlings with an educational theme each quarter.
The MICHELIN Guide Wine Subscription: This subscription is like opening the door to the world’s best restaurant wine lists. Curated in tandem with sommeliers from Michelin-starred temples of cuisine, then delivered to you.
The Sunset Wine Club: Each wine chosen in this package brings the best of California, Oregon, and Washington straight to your house. Each wine is curated to highlight the history and terroir of the region as well as the winemakers and farmers who brought the wine to life.
Decanter: Curated by Wine Access and Decanter’s globally renowned team, these are the tasting-panel all-stars, the critic favorites whose ratings will send collectors clamoring. Consider this your inside track to top-scoring wines from Decanter’s latest issues.
WA Collector’s Club: This subscription club is dedicated to some of the most prestigious wines from the world’s blue-chip wine estates. These hard-to-get wines are shipped directly from each cellar straight to your door.
- Pros: With five different options, there is a box to satisfy your want. They have beginner-friendly options for the person who doesn’t know where to start and expertly-curated boxes filled with critic-favorites, fine wine, and selections from both small-producers and well-known estates.
- Cons: A beginner can be overwhelmed with the multitude of choices.
2. Winc
Winc is a personalized wine club that uses your preferred food flavors, favorite regions, and ratings from other members.
To get started, Winc has you take a short quiz that will help the system pick wines you might like. Winc then selects wines for you based on answers to your questions. While this offers you an excellent opportunity to discover and try new ones, Winc also allows you to swap out your wine picks during the checkout process.
Winc is also a winery with complete control over the production of all the wines they offer to their club members, which allows them to offer many of their bottles at less than $15 each.
- Pros: It allows you to discover new wines at an approachable price point.
- Cons: Members have reported that it can be difficult to navigate their website and to re-purchase something you liked.
3. Sippd
Sippd is a wine app that takes your unique taste profile and ratings into account to provide you with wine recommendations for your palate. While Sippd doesn’t have a wine club just yet, the app is a great option for beginners or those who are looking to get out of their comfort zone without breaking the bank.
You tell the app a bit about your current wine preferences then rate three bottles you’d had in the past on a 5-star scale to unlock a personalized wine score (what they call Taste Match) to each bottle. The higher the 1-100% Taste Match score is to 100%, the more likely you are to enjoy the wine.
You can use their search filters to narrow down your top matches by food pairing, region, style, and price point to custom curate a case of wines you know you’ll love.
Sippd connects to wine.com to fulfill your order, so if you have a wine.com Stewardship Membership (it’s $59/year), you don’t have to pay shipping for your order. Big pro tip here.
- Pros: Because they’re not a wine club, you have complete flexibility with the number of bottles you order, the price per bottle and shipment, and frequency of your purchases. They also have well-known brands in their app along with small-producers, Black-owned wineries, and long-tail wines.
- Cons: If you don’t have the wine.com Stewardship Membership, you will have to pay for shipping from wine.com and their other connected retail partners, Wine Spies and Calvert Woodley.
4. First Leaf
Firstleaf’s wine subscription boxes are similar to Winc and Sippd. They are algorithmically curated, with user ratings significantly impacting the further tailoring of each month’s picks. As with Winc, the Firstleaf experience begins with a quick-but-thorough quiz, and you can easily customize and “edit” your mix, choosing between whites and reds, picking specific regions you’d like to try, and more. Introductory orders of six wines are $39.95 (with free shipping), but will then be $90/month.
- Pros: It’s relatively affordable for the beginner wine drinker to discover new wines.
- Cons: Members have reported delayed shipping times with their first-month trial box and issues with the rating system not improving the selections they receive in their next shipment.
5. Parcelle
Based in New York City, Parcelle Wine Drop is a wine subscription service that enlists the curation and expertise of Michelin-starred sommeliers. The user experience aims to make you feel like you’re asking for wine recs at a restaurant. Each month’s Wine Drop consists of three bottles and has a different theme so the selection is curated and intentional. Prices start at $95 or $150 a month for 3 wines and include shipping.
- Pros: You can expect unique varieties and wines, and beautifully-designed educational info cards for each bottle.
- Cons: Not personalized for each member, which means you may not like a few of the bottles sent your way. The monthly wine club cost is steep for some, and you may be able to find each bottle in another store at a lower price.
6. Eater
Eater is as obsessive and dedicated to great food and drinks as anyone we know. The Eater Wine Club subscription is basically the mail-order version of a trusted restaurant sommelier asking you to try their new favorite bottles each month.
Every month they choose a new wine expert from a restaurant or shop they love to put together a box of restaurant-quality wine from small producers they’re excited about. Subscriptions, which start at $70 for two bottles, also come with newsletters that provide more information about the wines you receive and invites to virtual wine parties with experts.
- Pros: A wonderful selection of unique wine styles, grapes, and regions along with information-filled newsletters allow for easy, but in-depth learning. They also focus on organic and natural wines within their curations.
- Cons: Like Parcelle Wine Drop, Eater Wine Club’s subscription model is not personalized, which means there may be some bottles you dislike.
Which is the best wine club for you?
