Wine Club Insider back with a little side topic today…

We’ve done quite a bit of talking about wine clubs, but I just realized that we hadn’t really spent much time in talking about HOW to choose a wine club, so let’s look at a few of the key things to consider.

Many of you may have made the excellent choice to buy a friend or family member a wine club gift for the holidays, (or for yourself!). As a gift, it’s almost ideal - the lucky recipient can learn about wine each month, the gift goes on for the entire year (or perhaps a half year, or some other combination) and usually the price is divided up monthly, or better yet, by someone else. Hey, what could be better?

As you may have noticed, there are a huge range of wine clubs out there - some offer starting wines for people just learning about wine, while others offer selections of the finest wines available in the world, at hundreds of dollars a bottle. And, of course, there are many options in between, so how do you know which to choose?

Choose your price

Likely the first thing you should do in selecting your wine club is to examine your budget. Would you rather just spend $20 or less a month on a single bottle so you can learn about wines in an inexpensive manner? Do you have a bit more to spend? Choose how much you want to spend, and start narrowing down your choices.

What kind of wine do you like?

There are wine clubs on (literally!) every type of wine under the sun. There are California-only wine clubs, white wine clubs, red wine clubs, sweet wine clubs, port wine clubs, sparkling wine clubs… There are international, “around the world” wine clubs,  boutique (read: tiny) wine clubs you can’t find anywhere else, and mixtures of many of the above.

Before you choose a wine club, decide what you’re trying to learn. Are you trying to learn more about a particular region? To develop an appreciation of wine in general? To have fun tasting exotic red wines you can’t find in the store? To build a cellar? After you’ve got your budget, try to narrow down what kind of wine cliub program suits your wants.

Start looking at your choises

With the above criteria in mind, you’ve got enough ammunition to start examining the wine club choices out there, and believe me, there are a bunch! One thing that might work is to make a chart of some of your possible wine club selections, and compare what they have to offer (hey… maybe I’ll take a crack at this for you in the weeks to come! You can start with the list of wine clubs from a week or so ago) 

A few things to watch for

Get the bottom line ahead of time. Make sure you understand all costs before you sign up. Though most wine clubs don’t have sign up fees, some do. Ask about these and any other possible charges, such as extra shipping costs. Do they have certain allotments that you must purchase to remain a member? (This is pretty common in upper end single winery clubs)

If you’re going month to month, check and see if there’s a minimum commitment. Also, check on the cancellation and return policy.

Another thing I like to check is on is how long the average member stays with the club. Do many members leave after a year? What percentage are long-timers? This gives you an idea of how well the club tends to please its clients.

One of the other key things to get a handle on are any possible side benefits to belonging to a wine club, such as being able to reorder favorites at a discount.

Now, you’re ready to make a good start with an educated purchase, so get ready to sit back and enjoy your wines!

Wine Club Insider out!

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