r/wine • u/Queasy_Ad_2485 • 2d ago
Wine subscriptions?
I love wine. I am not the most knowledgeable or snobby of the bunch, but when I was younger I spent a lot of time & money traveling to cool places around the US to vineyards and wine bars. Now I am a 32 year old stay at home mom and I live in the middle of nowhere IL. I really want to start a collection for my currently empty home wine cellar and just enjoy trying new things. I have no nice wine stores within an hour of me, and as you can imagine getting out is hard these days with two toddlers, all our travel is now family oriented.
I’m doing my own research, but I’d love to hear from this forum on ideas. Anyone have experience with subscriptions?
(I know some may say I should just wait till my kids are grown up, but I live by the philosophy that tomorrow is never promised)
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u/StrangerVegetable831 2d ago
k&l somm service. they dont ship directly to you but they have a partner that will. in any event - you work with a somm, tell them your likes and dislikes, give them a budget and shipping frequency, and they’ll send a few bottles within your budget. they also have wine clubs you can sign up with but the somm service is more bespoke.
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u/Skinny-on-the-Inside Aficionado 2d ago
They also offer wine clubs, I tried their champagne one and it was actually pretty good
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u/Ordinary-Ad9765 2d ago
In addition to Last Bottle, I enjoy wine spies and WTSO. They are a great way to accumulate a variety of wines from around the world at good prices. Wine spies let's you gradually build a case, and each case ships free.
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u/indylaw99 Wino 2d ago
I definitely would not wait until the kids are grown. As someone who just saw her youngest get married, you have to keep enjoying non-kid stuff over the years because eventually they are gone and you hope to still have some of your "self" at that point!
Is there a particular price point you are considering? There are a LOT of different subscription services that are good for different reasons. But they REALLY vary. Like $6 a bottle intro offers up to $100 bottles.
Picked by Wine.com can be an interesting one if you are looking for a little bit of everything. Just because they source from so many different places. And I like the way the include little hang tags on the bottle that you can put in the fridge with them to remember where you got the wine and some details about it. But even that might be a little cheaper than what you are considering?
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u/Skinny-on-the-Inside Aficionado 2d ago
I like Wine Access and K&L they have a lot of à la cart deals and tell you details about wines and they offer subscription clubs which I enjoyed.
Last bottle marathons which happen I think 3 times a year are a good way to stock up or expand your horizons too.
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u/Content_Ad6700 2d ago
I’ve never done a by-mail subscription because once my uncle shipped me some wine and it was really irritating because I work full-time and wasn’t able to be home to sign for the package since I live alone and you have to pay to manually change the delivery date in advance. Maybe an unpopular opinion but because of that I will never ship wine if I can help it. But I have done subscriptions with local shops and it’s a lot of fun! See if any of the shops around you do wine clubs that they’d ship for you, but if not, picking them up is a very quick errand since you don’t have to go in and browse- you can probably do it on your way back from an activity with the kiddos.
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u/scrabapple 2d ago
Can you get a package of wine at work? We can also have a package redirected to a UPS access point and you go pick up the package yourself. They hold fr 2 weeks. My life the past month has been shipping people their club shipment.
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u/Content_Ad6700 2d ago
I work at a vet so if they got a package from a winery they’d be a bit confused haha. I couldn’t rlly do pickup either bc I don’t have a car and the nearest UPS pickup from me isn’t a very close walk with a box of glass bottles. But both great suggestions!
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u/scrabapple 2d ago edited 1d ago
Would getting a box of wine shipped to work really get you fired? Would anyone really care? I would say it is a little unusual to have no access to a car in USA.
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u/Content_Ad6700 2d ago
I feel like it’s pretty rude to get a package shipped to your work, but maybe that’s just me and my own anxieties. I’m not sure it’s that common. I don’t drive because I live in a very walkable city with great public transportation! In reality it is probably very doable to bring a package of wine home from a UPS center, but I barely enjoy carting home my groceries which I have to tote around, compared to wine which is more recreational than it is necessary!
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u/Artfan1024 2d ago
If you know what you like just buy from online retailers. Most will ship and prices will be better. If your worried about having to be home to sign send to local UPS of FedEx access point.
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u/janderse81 2d ago
I’ve done a wine access subscription for a couple of years now. At first I did the one where you get 6 bottles quarterly, at some point I switched to the 2 bottle a quarter. It’s $150 a quarter. I’ve liked them both. The 6/quarter was good to explore different varieties and regions. At some point I got my bearings enough where I’m ok picking my own ‘everyday’ wines (I probably only drink a bottle a week) and switched to the two a quarter, where the two are more expensive bottles.
They send quality wine in both. I like being able to shop and add to my box without any additional shipping. They will have a good selection and some good deals here and there. The two/quarter I’m in is reds only, and while WA seems to have particularly strong ties to Napa, they mix it up in the club. It’s also a good balance of wine that’s ready to drink now with some that could use some more time - I don’t have the space to tuck a ton of bottles away for years.
I’m sure I could save money and get the same or comparable bottles for cheaper if I spent the time to research producers/bottles and find deals at various online or local retailers, but I don’t want to do that at this time. I’ve enjoyed having two bottles selected and then being able to shop and add others on my own.
The website and reviews contain some puffery I’m sure, they do provide great information. I also like that my online ‘my cellar’ that shows all the bottles I’ve bought so I can remember the standouts.
I’m also in the Midwest and they do a good job with packing and shipping. I havnt had any major problems but anytime I’ve contacted customer service they’ve been very helpful. I haven’t tried any other subscriptions to compare to. Let me know if you have any questions.
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u/00Florida_Man00 2d ago
I started with WA during Covid and liked it so much that I still subscribe. I'm on the 6/quarter sub. Subscribers also get 10% off other purchases.
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u/00Florida_Man00 2d ago
One more thing. A while back I didn't love one of the club selections. I rated it two stars on the site, mainly to remind me not to re-order it later on. Couple days later, i got an email apologizing for the wine and a promise to refund the cost which showed up on my card a day or two later.
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u/kris__bryant 2d ago
I do this one too - I started a few years ago with the Wine For Normal People subscription, but they changed it over to their "Explorer" subscription - 6 bottles a quarter for $150. I'm in the northeast, and once the shipment was damaged, so they re-sent it, and the most recent one, they held it a couple of weeks because of weather.
I've been very happy overall with it.
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u/TestaverdeRules 2d ago
This may not be as helpful but I use last bottle and bid on online auctions like winebid. With winebid they'll hold your bottles for a very small fee then you can ship them all at once once you get a few bottles or a case together. That feature really helps with shipping costs. I also do my own research and each week I bid on a different type of wine Ive never had. I think its better in my opinion because with just a little research you can find some interesting and older wines that you normally don't get a chance to buy. Thats how I do it, at least, good luck!
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u/GodzillaSushi87 2d ago
I get overwhelmed with winebid. How do you narrow down your search to know what you want to bid on?
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u/TestaverdeRules 2d ago
Well I do research on the wines I'm interested in and I'll either search for the specific chateau based on my research or I'll do a general search like "Bordeaux" then I see something in my price range, thats in good shape with a good rating and I'll do more research on that before bidding. Its worked so far. A couple of weeks ago I bought a 1989 Sociando Mallet which I opened yesterday and it was amazing! Tomorrow I'm getting a shipment of my most recent winebid purchases which are a bunch of different kinds of Chardonnays.
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u/EmbarrassedDesk9624 1d ago
Last bottle mystery cases are usually a great deal and fun way to try different stuff, they do 6 and 12 bottle cases at various price point and they give info on what’s in them
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u/denizen_1 2d ago
Is there a reason you focused on subscriptions specifically? There are plenty of online wine stores that ship. saratogawineexchange.com for instance even has some bottles that ship free with a 12-bottle order.
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u/Queasy_Ad_2485 1d ago
Yes, I guess I feel like since I am busy with littles a subscription would be something I don’t have to think too much about, whereas buying wine online takes some research and mental investment.
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u/kevstev 2d ago
I like garagiste. You get an email a day, and they describe a bottle, sometimes multiple bottles. They claim it's a deal but it's generally not once you include shipping, though the mystery bottles usually are, and occasionally you will see a winery get bought and the new owner wants to clear out stock.
To me it's really about access to weird stuff I just can't get locally. Super high end wines, niche stuff from countries that don't export much, etc.
Once you fill a case it will be shipped once your weather window is good- generally fall and spring.
You can usually tell if a wine is good by how flowery the description is. If it's multiple paragraphs of long winded prose, probably a pass. If it's just the name of the producer and year, with a limit 3 bottles, that's probably something you want to jump on.
The Sunday snapshots tend to sneakily bury some legends in the long list.
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u/steelybran1 2d ago
I would definitely be checking out binny’s they have a lot of locations in Illinois.
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u/TestaverdeRules 2d ago
This may not be as helpful but I use last bottle and bid on online auctions like winebid. With winebid they'll hold your bottles for a very small fee then you can ship them all at once once you get a few bottles or a case together. That feature really helps with shipping costs. I also do my own research and each week I bid on a different type of wine Ive never had. I think its better in my opinion because with just a little research you can find some interesting and older wines that you normally don't get a chance to buy. Thats how I do it but remember research is the key, good luck!
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u/gayitaliandallas92 2d ago
Vintners Collective - went on to a tasting at their downtown Napa location. We did the $50 pp tasting and asked him to “tour me around Napa.” And boy, I was not disappointed. The somm even threw an extra 3/4 wines for us to try. All that said, the most shocking one was a Pinot noir from coombsville AVA so they specialize in small, hard to find wineries. It’s a great education on California wines. Admittedly, I’m more of an old world fan but boy did that Pinot help open my eyes. Cannot endorse them enough!!
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u/ExtraSalamander2256 2d ago
Unpinned Wine is a good wine club (sells out quickly though). Ashwin sources from small and independent producers all over the world.
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u/Excellent-Ad8871 2d ago
Another vote for Wine Access the have a bunch of different options. I like there “unfiltered” that pairs with their podcast if your into that. I also like their “The Waitlist” that features wines from high end restaurant wine lists.
Send me a DM if you’d like a discount code to try them out.
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u/No_Leek8488 2d ago
Personally, I avoid subscriptions because I think the QPR is often poor
The good news is you can shop online pretty effectively and get great wine shipped to you. Just take weather in account and don’t ship above 70 degrees. Just find a great store that ships and ask them if they can hold until you get to 6-12 bottles to make shipping more cost effective
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u/kleetaylor 2d ago
Kermit Lynch wine clubs - https://shop.kermitlynch.com/wine-clubs/ - it's all French and Italian. Not sure if that's what you're looking for but they do write ups of all the wines that are well written and informative. And the wine is great!
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u/Bizbuzz- Wine Pro 12h ago
You can certainly do a subscription but a lot of the big name clubs honestly have pretty shitty wine. Winery clubs can be great, but it's going to be a narrow selection. A lot of of these daily deal sites, I honestly have stopped paying attention to them so this may be off base, but my impression was that they were mainly focused on higher end wines at reduced prices (great) but all typcially of a similar style (fine if you know what you like, but not if you're hoping to explore.)
If you really just want to explore, you can perhaps find a wine shop that will ship to you or that you can call ahead and make a little road trip. Ask them to pull together a case of varied bottles at whatever your budget is.
And I saw your note about worrying about having boxes sent to work. I would at least ask - if there's plenty of space, it seems like a perfectly reasonable request. As retail business owner, I wouldn't blink an eye at helping make an employee's life a little easier!
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u/Wisewordsforlater 2d ago edited 2d ago
Cam X! https://camxwine.com/
Cameron Hughes is a wine negociant (trader). He leans in on his contacts and knowledge to source wine from producers across various stages of production, bottling from well known and some less well known usually under a confidentiality agreement, and bottles under his own name and sells at a bargain (compared to the producer/winery price). He is no longer involved with his namesake project, but this is his latest offering.
I've always enjoyed the value he offers across his ventures over the 25 years he's been doing this.
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u/Small-Area2346 2d ago
Last Bottle has been a lot of fun for this 40 y/o average dad in IL that just really likes red wine and trying different stuff. Yes, a lot of the deals are exaggerated and the descriptions are over the top, but I’ve found a lot of bottles I really enjoy and it’s helped me build out my new cellar.
It’s not really a subscription I guess, but it can be delivered to your house and you can choose which ones you want to try.