Recently, sitting on top of a delivery from Macy’s was a $160 voucher to purchase 15 bottles of wine for $89.99 and free shipping. Two days later, out of the blue, Alaskan Airlines sent a voucher for $130 for 15 bottles of wine. But it included 2,000 bonus miles, and the cost was $69.99 with a shipping fee of $19.99.
Clearly, somebody sensed my wine cellar was shrinking.
But before I could decide what to do, my United Airlines card hit me with an offer of 5,000 bonus miles with a purchase of 6 bottles for $41.94, plus 1 cent shipping. Possibly sensing my dilemma and weakness at basic math, it explained that these “hand-picked wines” would save me $117.
Flush with 3 potential savings opportunities, I did something unusual: I read the fine print and did heavy-duty research based upon what I read. I then checked out 20 other wine clubs.
Happy to share what I learned.
First of all, these are introductory offers, teasers of sorts, and enticements to get us to join a wine club. Typically, wines are shipped to members’ door several times a year, depending upon your preference. And of course, the per bottle price is 2-3 times higher than that of the introductory offer. Shipping can be another major expense.
Knowing that, it becomes important to be able to cancel your membership anytime. Of the two dozen wine clubs I researched, they all had a cancellation clause. However, some, as you discover from the Yelps, are easier to drop out of the others.
What I soon discovered is that the key point to all of these tempting, money-saving offers is the actual source of the wines.
hat turned out to be far less complicated than it sounds because there are three major suppliers used by most of the airlines, most corporations, major newspapers, and most organizations from AARP to the NRA offering a wine club.
This suggests that many companies presenting a wine club basically outsource to another company to supply and service their wine clubs.
The three primary suppliers are Laithwaiteswine.com, vinesse.com and tastingroom.com also known as Lot 18.
Over the past year, I’ve reviewed all three in great detail on my website and follow them on a daily basis. Go to http://www.robywine.com for more details
Spoiler alert: the best offers are Alaskan if you want the bonus miles and Macy’s if you don’t and prefer free shipping.
Why the tie? Well, they both use Laithwaites and the wines offered are basically the same. Sure there are some minor differences if you select all reds, or whites, or a mix. But the deals are the same.
The more important answer: of the big three, Laithwaite simply has better quality wines and a much wider selection for those who remain members. It is strong in French, Spanish and Italian wines, and shows some depth in its California selections.
Except for a few California wines, Laithwaites wine selections are real wines made by real producers, be they wineries, châteaux, or co-operatives. Behind the wines are people and a history.
Call me crazy, but I prefer wines from real producers, not brands made up by marketing types.
Laithwaites also supplies wines to other wine clubs such as Virgin and also the Wall Street Journal. The Journal currently has an introductory offer of 15 “superb” bottles for just $69.99.
Several airlines like Delta, American, and United use www.vinesse.com. It has been in business for many years and also goes by the name of American Cellars Wine Club. Its stock is limited and only has about 200 wines at any one time.
For vinesse members, the prices are a little steep, many starting around $19.99 a bottle. An average case will cost $125-$140, plus shipping.The inventory includes a smattering of real wines; Beltane Ranch, Volker Eisele Estate come to mind. Shipping, after you join, is very high at $72-$120 a case.
But many wines are custom-made, private labels, probably assembled at custom winemaking facilities. In a review of vinesse by “thepointsguy.com, “ the editor said, “ I discovered that the wines were not from any “real” wineries. They were all bottled by separate wine branding and bottling companies and aren’t available on the shelves of your local supermarket. If you wanted to reorder any of the wines, you’d have to do it through Vinesse.” He and his panel of tasters concluded, “all the wines stunk.”
The NRA is another club using vinesse, and recently a reporter asked a panel of winemakers to review the wines from the NRA Club and concluded all but one sucked. They remarked the wines were unknown labels.
(Though difficult, I’m not making any comment about the NRA as a wine drinking organization.)
Overall, the wines supplied by vinesse are not exclusives, nor are they original in any sense of the word. But that doesn’t stop vinesse from laying it on a little thick:
“These hard-to-find wines aren’t ones the average wine lover would find anywhere else — unless, of course, you happened to stumble across the winery itself or were a close, personal friend of the winemaker.”
The third significant supplier is www.tastingroom, aka Lot18. It is behind the New York Times’ Wine Club as well as Forbes Wine Club. Tastingroom offers about 120 wines for sale, including several that are packaged and organized by a theme. There’s the Saturday Night Live quartet, a Portlandia group, and Lord of the Rings package. You can bet there is a April Fool’s package and, of course, a Mother’s Day package.
Most of tastingroom’s current wines are private labels, custom-made but with rather artsy labels. Even the imported wines are custom brands; the Cabernet from Chile is “El Barrio,” the Merlot from France is “Le Concierge,” and the Prosecco is “Anti-Gravity.”
Tastingroom.com is proud of its special label designs and the names that it makes up for the wines. It is one of several websites claiming to develop a taste profile for its members.
It also doesn’t hide the fact that all wines, including the imports are shipped into and bottled in California at some custom facility.
The NY Times works directly with Tastingroom and selects from its available wines and packages
But the Times’ promo make it sound so personal:
“We’ve scrutinized, judged and debated every wine. We’ve made it our mission to share the stories behind every bottle. Join the Wine Club today to sip, share and celebrate with exclusive, world-class wine.”
“Exclusive, world-class,” right? And the ace NYT reporters are all involved in the wine selection, of course.
But none of these clubs has an exclusive on phony baloney. Remember, they want you to sign up and will really stretch the truth way beyond normal hype to clinch the deal.
“American Cellars Wine Club is Vinesse’s flagship wine club, showcasing hand-crafted wines produced by small boutique, lesser-known wineries or in very limited quantities.
The Wall Street Journal, on its web page, says,
“By specializing in outstanding small estates and convenient home delivery, WSJwine is changing the way people buy wine. This opens a lot of doors. Winemakers give us their best wines. And customers love the quality and variety.”
Wow! Winemakers give you their best wines? Probably not any winemakers I’ve meet.
But let’s return to those 15 bottles dangled in front of you with the money-saving messages and agree that regardless of quality, they are down and dirty, as in dirt cheap.
Offers change quickly. So if you don’t get the 3 bonus bottles in the 15 pack, wait.
Whichever club you explore by way of an introductory offer, I suggest when you pull the cork on the first few wines, and unless you are totally thrilled, cancel the membership.
And then drink (or cook with) the rest of the wines, reminding yourself they averaged about $5 a bottle.
Norm Roby's Unfiltered Guide to Savvy Wine Shopping 