Monthly Subscription for Wine

Lemming82 thought this was worth mentioning said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 12:17pm ET

Has anyone tried wine based monthly subscription programs? The more I google different wines the more I see ads for them. Any worth the money or are well curated? I’ve seen WSJ, Winc, Wine Insiders, plus many more but I didn’t know if any were worth trying.

8 comments, 15 replies
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rjquillin said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 12:26pm ET:

I’ve not found any. Tried a few sampler packs (years ago) and, for me, they were all plonk. ymmv.

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- @rjquillin same experience. At best I got a table wine that I could stomach.
  
  vaaccess said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 1:22pm ET
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Winedavid49 said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 12:33pm ET:

i’m completely against them. seriously, they are first and foremost a marketing growth engine. Wine quality is usually average at best. most have a burn rate while seeking customer acquisition. the wine are almost always private label with no real history/story. Casemates will be the anti-club.

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Lemming82 said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 12:38pm ET:

That makes sense, Dave. I mean I had varying degrees of success with finding good wine when I attempted to go with Naked Wines( the Matt Parish Cab was delightful). But I figured there HAD to be at least one good subscription based service out there. While I bought many of wines through WW it was usually in 6+ min bottle orders. So if I didn’t like it I was stuck with 5+ bottles left over. I was just hoping one was decent so I could try new wines without committing to several bottles at a time.

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- I was just hoping one was decent so I could try new wines without committing to several bottles at a time.
  
  @Lemming82 With casemates, you will be able to do just that! you just need to find a nearby mate or two to split wine with!
  
  Twich22 said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 1:05pm ET
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- @Twich22 I noticed people doing that in WW forums. What does that usually entail generally? Exchange information and pay someone for the wine you split? I always browsed the forums in WW when the deals popped up but i never looked beyond the surface.
  
  Lemming82 said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 1:50pm ET
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- @Lemming82 Apparently Wine David has another angle on this which will be detailed when it is ready to use.
  
  Lighter said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 2:20pm ET
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- I figured there HAD to be at least one good subscription-based service
  out there.
  
  There are but not the ones heavily advertised which are come-ons like the record clubs of days long gone. When you find a wine you like from Casemates, then check to see if the vineyard has a club. Many do. The price is not likely to be as good as Casemates, but there will be other advantages.
  
  Lighter said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 2:26pm ET
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- @Lemming82 One of the biggest advantages Casemates is allegedly going to have over WW is that it will streamline the ability to share cases of wine with others around you, hence the name Case-Mates. To my knowledge, we do not yet know the details of how this will be accomplished. But, as the Kickstarter is ending tonight, hopefully we will get some juicy details tomorrow!
  
  Twich22 said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 2:59pm ET
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- @Lemming82 Many of us meet up periodically for drink and food and exchange bottles and payment then. Some we pay immediately and exchange later. Others run ledgers; I buy some, you buy some and we square up at some point. WW became a very close knit community and trust was, imo, never an issue. Some swaps happen sooner, some later. I’ve got some bottles I’ve been holding in a locker over a year for others, and others the same for me.
  
  rjquillin said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 3:04pm ET
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- @Lemming82 Here is the direct quote off the kickstarter campaign page
  
  we’ll be building tools to let you share by-the-case orders with other users near you for better deals than ever. Split an order with friends you never knew you had — and share the savings you get from shipping a whole case.
  
  There’s no more efficient way to ship wine, and no better way for the Casemates community to reap the benefit of their own numbers — and our logistical optimization know-how.
  
  Twich22 said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 3:12pm ET
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- @Twich22 Thanks for the information in regards to wine swapping and splitting. It will really help with some future purchases. I got so excited about the kickstarter and I went all in without actually reading the fine details! Thanks again for all of your help, Twitch.
  
  Lemming82 said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 3:25pm ET
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- @rjquillin @Lemming82
  
  I’ve got some bottles I’ve been holding in a locker over a year for others, and others the same for me.
  
  And some of us have floor space dedicated to others’ wine. And some of us are running a pool on whether the mythical bottles of 2006 Aglianico will ever surface!
  Snark aside, everything Ron said is 100% accurate.
  
  klezman said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 9:11pm ET
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- @klezman Those are a bit of a mystery, but will be well aged when I do find them.
  
  rjquillin said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 10:58pm ET
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- @rjquillin yes, a mystery like my case that disappeared a few years back after our gathering at the locker
  
  losthighwayz said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 11:42pm ET
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ScottW58 said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 2:53pm ET:

One club that I know used to be good The K&L wine club and I would bet that it is still good, especially if you are trying to learn about wines. My BIL is in their Champagne club and from the wines I have tried it is good.

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- @ScottW58 Thanks Scott. I’ll take a look!
  
  Lemming82 said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 3:25pm ET
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- @ScottW58 didnt know they had a club. Will have to take a look
  
  losthighwayz said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 11:43pm ET
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jmruru said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 4:01pm ET:

What about these wineries that are offering to add us to their list since wine.woot closed?

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- @jmruru I haven’t been contacted by any, must be from certain orders.
  
  markgm said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 8:59pm ET
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smartr said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 6:32pm ET:

IIRC, a few years back I tried the naked wines out. The whole promo deal was pretty nice, but I didn’t care for what it looked like after the promo deal when it then became the “club” wine. They sent twice the wine over what I ordered at no charge to me, but I wasn’t going to deal with returning wine through the mail, so… Thanks for the unbeatable promo value! Cancelled it immediately and went back to buying wine from the store as the Freddy’s and Safeway here are affordable, well stocked, and are far more convenient.

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Grabeck989 said Thu, Jan 11th 2018 at 6:38pm ET:

First Leaf is pretty reasonable - I’ve got a free shipping for a year deal with them and so far I’ve been happy at the price point they offer.

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AnnaB said Fri, Jan 12th 2018 at 1:02am ET:

I’ve only ever joined wine clubs from the wineries directly.

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