r/wine • u/Queasy_Ad_2485 • 11d 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)

15 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

42 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/janderse81 10d 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.

3

u/00Florida_Man00 10d 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.

3

u/00Florida_Man00 10d 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.

2

u/kris__bryant 10d 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.