When I tell people that I belong to a couple of wine clubs, they immediately assume that I must be spending hundreds of dollars a month. In fact, I don't even spend $100 a month total between my two favorite wine clubs. I like to always belong to one local wine club and one online wine club at a time because the perks and wines are completely different. How can you join or give wine clubs without breaking the bank?
Cheap Wine Clubs
Yes, there are cheap wine clubs that offer good quality wines. I don't love to use that word because you assume the wines are going to be junk. But they aren't! In fact, there are a few clubs that I consider “cheap” to get into that I have come back to a couple of times over the last 15 years I have been reviewing wine clubs.
- Firstleaf Wine Club is usually around $44.95 for 6 bottles and free shipping for your first delivery. This is a fantastic opportunity to try them out. They will also sometimes run deals where you get 7 bottles instead of 6 or even free shipping on multiple deliveries. We will list those on our Firstleaf Wine Club Review page when we find them.
- Naked Wines also runs an introductory offer where you can get 6 bottles of wine for around $39.99. You do need to have a special link or code to get that offer. Otherwise, it is $139.99. You can always visit our Naked Wines Review page for the most up-to-date deal link.
- Picked by Wine.com has some really great wines and we happen to have a coupon for your first box! Use our Picked by Wine.com Review link and code PICK50 to take $50 off your first box plus get free shipping. That makes it $70 for 6 bottles. A little more pricey than the others but a good name-brand selection and still just over $10 a bottle.
$40 a Month Wine Clubs
Believe it or not, some of our highest rated wine clubs are around the $40 a mark month. When you consider that you are getting 2 high quality bottles of wine plus various newsletters, tasting notes, and gifts with purchase for that price, it's a really good deal. For most of those clubs you can choose either 2 bottles of red or a bottle of red and a bottle of white. The wine is NOT white-labelled or overstock or anything like that. Rather, the wine clubs have done a lot of homework to find smaller wineries and make deals directly with them to get the wine at low prices.
What are some of the clubs that you can get for this price? Here are a few that we have consistently rated highly and tend to have exceptional feedback from their members:
- The California Wine Club Premier Series ($49 plus shipping)
- International Wine of the Month Club Premier Series ($43.95 plus shipping)
- Gold Medal Gold Series ($41.65 plus shipping)
We've tested at least 2-3 different clubs from every one of these wine clubs and have had nothing but positive experiences. Each of them also offers more expensive clubs if “affordable” to you means more like $50-100 a month.
Volume-Based Wine Clubs
On the other end of the spectrum from the clubs above are the clubs that do get their wine from overstocks or relabel the wine with private brand names. It doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with the wine. It just means that you can't expect it to be at the $15-20 a bottle quality range. If “affordable” to you means the most wine for your money, these are clubs that would be a good deal. Here are a couple of clubs that fall into that category:
- Wine Insiders offers a biger box of 15 bottles for $89 plus free shipping. They are a new one for me, so I haven't gotten through a full set of their wines yet. I'll update my Wine Insiders Review page as I make it through the 15 bottles!
- Swirl Wine Shop offers “bundles” that start at 8 bottles.
Based on the prices, you can expect the quality of the wines in these clubs to be in the $7 per bottle range.
Wine Club Discounts
Did you know that you can actually shop around for deals for wine clubs? Although you will not often find them listed directly on the Wine Club sites themselves, sites like ours are often given exclusive coupons and discounts to provide to our readers. We list these deals on the review pages themselves to make it easy for you to save.
Whether you are joining a wine club yourself or want to give one as a gift but get a good deal for your money, there are some really great alternatives out there.
