It's been a tough job, but someone has to do it! We've decided hands down that Naked Wines is the best club for Californian wine lovers. Its range of bespoke wines made by super-cool winemakers is a prize for any oenophile, and you can join up from anywhere.
Naked Wines links independent winemakers with passionate lovers of the grape using membership subs to fund innovative projects.
In a relatively short time, Naked Wines has built up a subscription base of 300, 000 who get to call themselves angels. This cute name is for how their membership subs fund exciting winemaking projects that probably would never get off the ground otherwise.
And what winemaking projects! This club has its finger on the pulse in all the major regions collaborating with producers to make top quality, customized reds and whites that are unique in some way. This doesn't mean wacky - just very good stuff made by dedicated fledgling and veteran vintners.
There's a great selection of styles and varietals, plus Naked Wines has a line of organic products that don't harm nature in the vineyard or the winery.
Keep in touch with your favorite producers in dedicated chat sections where you can get geeky on tannins, acidity, and aging potential. In the same spot, you can compare notes with fellow Angels.
Fund fantastic wine and get first dibs on the results with Naked Wines.
When you join Winc, you do a quick palate profile test that takes no longer than pouring a glass of wine, with the results shaping your first shipment. As well as beautiful stills and bubbies from California, you can expect specially-made wines from ambitious vintners working in all the iconic regions. You get to rate each shipment as you go along shaping your next case to be even more tailored to your tastes.
In addition to its standard range of poplar varietals, you can opt for organics, vegan, low-sugar, and other healthy-friendly bottles from a 100-plus catalog. Winc updates its portfolio every month so things never get tired.
Winc is big on money-saving perks so you get $20 off your first shipment plus discounts when you increase your order. If you introduce a friend to Winc, you'll get up to $30 in credit for a mini-splurge on your favorite wine.
Enjoy top artisanal wines from California with Winc membership.
You take a quiz and, like a personal sommelier, a clever algorithm pins down your tastes which arrive in the form of fine bottles. You rate as you go ensuring the next case is as tailored as the one before. Even better every time you rank a wine you build up bonus points for more bottles.
The Chardonnay, Pinot Noirs, Malbecs, and Zinfandels themselves aren't bad either. Bright Cellars' tasting team sips its way around the globe handpicking the finest and the most expressive from boutique producers in classic regions. Only 1 out of 12 passes the taste bud test so you know you're getting something special in every delivery plus a regularly updated range means things are always fresh.
Advanced taste technology meets fine wines at Bright Cellars.
None of its products exceeds a 12.5% ABV level with many clocking in as low as 7%. Sugar levels are similarly super-low across all varietals and styles so you can enjoy a glass (or three!) with all the gain and no pain.
If your health consciousness extends to concern for the environment, Dry Farm Wines is a winner here as well. Its products are made to strict natural, organic, and biodynamic frameworks in the vineyard and the winery. Plenty are produced from old vines for increased intensity and dry farming meaning no wasteful irrigation and better wine. Aging rarely takes place in new oak to give the earth a breather.
The healthiest wines on the planet are yours when you join Dry Farm Wines.
First Leaf tries over 100,000 reds, whites, and rosés from all the renowned Old and New World regions with only 2% making the grade and ending up in your cases. This club's portfolio has garnered 1,000 awards and counting so you know that's some of the best you're swirling in your glass. As well as sipping the finest quality, you enjoy up to 60% off retail prices because there's no middleman meaning each bottle is no more than $13.
Every delivery from First Leaf is like your birthday with each bottle absolutely tailored to your palate courtesy of industry-leading technology that pairs your tastes with the club's top-notch inventory. As you sip your way through each bottle, you get to rate it updating your preferences and shaping your next shipment to perfection.
Whenever you want a change of direction and need expert tips, First Leaf's concierge team is available to point you in the right direction.
Firstleaf is possibly the most customer-centric club going with its advanced pairing tech resulting in shipments that fit your tastes to a T.
As a member of First Leaf, you'll enjoy super-tailored shipments every time.
Being a member of Wine Insiders is like having a personal sommelier you can check in with any time to hone the contents of your wine rack exactly to your tastes. Its range of international styles and varietals has garnered 1,250 awards from leading international critics and competitions, but you only pay a pittance for each fine bottle because Wine Insiders steers clear of markups and middlemen.
This club is big on offers and free goodies for loyal subscribers. When you start out, you enjoy an introductory offer of 15 bottles for $90 that includes three Bordeaux from the prestigious "Supérieur" designation. Your second shipment is accompanied by a complimentary Connoisseur's Deluxe 7-Piece Lever Pull Corkscrew Set and subsequent deliveries feature handy freebies that make serving that little bit more chic.
You're in full control of the contents of each case opting for full red, white or a mix of both.
With Wine Insiders you'll fill your shelves to the brim with bottles of the best at wallet-friendly prices.
With Wine Insiders membership, you enjoy excellent quality, good value, and plenty of "thank you gifts".
If you are super-serious about your vine, Vinebox is a club with your name on it. It knows that when you order a bottle you want to love every drop so has come up with a novel membership package that ensures this. It sends you tasting quantity samples for you to nose and swirl before you purchase a full bottle. It packages samples with advanced fractionating tech which basically means there'll be no oxidation and your wines will be as fresh as if they're just out of the bottle.
How this club works is every quarter nine beautifully packaged 100ml-sized portions of classic styles arrive on your doorstep and you try them out like how you would at a tasting event. When you discover one (or two!) you love, you can order a full bottle with credits you've built up through previous shipments, and Vinebox will arrange this.
If you're not interested in wasting time on wine you don't enjoy, Vinebox offers the ideal solution.
Lathwaites started life in the UK and expanded across the US and Australia, building a membership of 700,000 members who get the pick of the crop from all the major wine regions in the Old and New Worlds.
The large subscriber base gives it the fuel to send a tasting team around the world in its search for varietals and styles its members will love. Laitwaites keeps an eagle eye on the changing tastes of subscribers and strictly sticks to this as it picks and chooses unique, good quality bottles from its network of large and boutique vintners. You can expect superior expressions of grapes you admire with nothing weird and wacky finding its way into your shipments.
You can choose reds, whites, or a mix of both and enjoy them all the more deeply thanks to Laithwaites sending detailed tasting notes and fun food pairing tips with each bottle.
With a membership of Laithwaites, you'll enjoy hand-selected, high-quality vintages at prices that won't hurt your pocket.
This club is one of the originals and its experience shows. When you take a look at the range of membership packages Wine of the Month Club offers, you know you're onto something good. It boasts a handpicked selection of varietals in Old and New World styles all served up in ten 2-bottle clubs and 6 and 12 bottle cases.
Wine Of The Month Club fills member glasses with hand-selected classics in a great range of packages.
Wine of the Month Clubs literally tastes thousands of wines every year and only a small number get the stamp of approval. The benchmark is if club owner Paul Kalemkiarian would be happy having them in his personal cellar, they're fit for loyal members to enjoy.
Each case arrives with an elegant 14-page newsletter that covers interesting info about each of your bottles including the winery, regions, tasting notes, and food pairing ideas.
Furthermore, there are express shipping and overnight delivery options for a range of states including California.
Wine of the Month Club artful combines great quality with a great quantity of choice in every shipment.
If there's nothing you like more than relaxing and putting up your feet with a glass in hand, then the NPR Wine Club is right up your alley. Your membership helps support public radio programming while you sip the finest from iconic regions. You get great wine, and your favorite media gets a boost while your subs somehow remain amazingly low. What's not to like?
Every three months, you receive 6 or 12-bottle shipments filled with reds, whites, and rosés sourced from spots like Italy, France, Spain, and Argentina. For a bit of color, some bottles are labeled with much-loved NPR shows names that make sipping that bit more fun.
You get a discount on your first shipment and even though later deliveries are at normal prices, the per-bottle savings are still very impressive. Each bottle comes with its own tasting notes for enhanced enjoyment and delicious food pairing ideas.
Share your love of public radio while enjoying great classics with NPR Wine Club membership.
The chance to sample the best red wine doesn’t exactly come easy, or for cheap. Sure, you can get a bottle for around five bucks but to truly enjoy the greats, it’ll cost you a few more dollars than that. And that’s where red wine clubs come in.
Red wine clubs bring the world’s best to your doorstep. They’re what make sampling creations from different continents a possibility. And in most cases, they’re cheaper than retail.
Making red wine isn’t nearly as difficult as you might think. Grab a few grapes and you can even start making it at home if you want to. The process becomes a bit more complex when you’re running a world-renowned vineyard, though, as you can imagine. But the process hasn’t changed much in thousands of years.
Assuming the grapes have already been grown, picked, and primed, and that the wine will be bottled at the end, the steps are:
Barrels, steel tanks, even glass: these are just a handful of the ways that red wine can be put away to improve it. And each one affects flavor. For example, storing red wine in wooden barrels is what gives it its oaky - and, often vanilla - profiles.
When it comes to red, the larger the surface area the better. That’s because it needs much more space to breathe, allowing the harsh compounds to evaporate quicker.
Let’s say you’re drinking a nice full-bodied Syrah, the best one to use here would be what’s known as a “Bordeaux” glass. These are the taller glasses with a much wider bowl that pour straight to the back of your mouth. With what’s referred to as a “Burgundy” glass, the bowl is deeper, so the wine decorates the tip of your tongue first.
All wines can be decanted, but red benefits the most because it’s richer with sediments. One advantage every type of wine takes from decanting, though, even vegan, is the aeration. Allowing wine to breathe, if just for a few seconds, as it properly releases the beautiful aromas and lets it oxidize.
All wine changes with age. Where red wine loses its color, white’s boldens, for example. Most people argue that red wine’s flavor and aromas actually increase with age, but it can certainly be too ‘old’ to drink, or spoil as a result. That’s because a number of factors, such as how it’s stored, humidity, and if a natural cork is used can alter the contents of a bottle. Primary flavors and secondary notes, like fruitiness, can begin to deteriorate after just six months.
Most definitely. Where white wine pairs better with leaner proteins like chicken and fish, red wine goes much better with lamb and red meat. Hearty dishes like stews, tomato-heavy meals, and certain cheeses work great too. The beauty of red wine club subscriptions is that most of them will share recipes to make pairings easy.
You’re kind of on your own here. Let’s be honest, this answer really boils down to how well you know the giftee.
Some people prefer not to drink red - many actively dislike it - but that doesn’t mean you can’t show them the light. The best place to start is with your favorites, or maybe a bottle you’ve been meaning to try for yourself that you could share together. Either way, you can’t go wrong with a nice Malbec.
Picture this: the logs in your lounge fireplace are crackling, winter’s in full force, and you’ve got a glass of red in hand. Sounds perfect, right? Well, you’re not wrong. Red is perfect for the colder months.
The thing is, red wine is actually perfect all year round. You might find a nice glass of white to be the ideal choice in the summer heat, but it all boils down to what you’re pairing it with. Plus, a glass of Chianti in the beaming sun isn’t a bad thing - light-bodied reds are ideal for the hot months because they can be chilled slightly. Even full-bodied reds are great at these temperatures - you’re the master of your own destiny!
If you’re familiar with red wine, you’ll know that it’s not just the fruity aromas and flavors that are there to be enjoyed. That’s because, generally, there are three layers to every bottle you open: primary, secondary, and tertiary.
