An Introduction to Wine Clubs

Enjoying the delicious flavors of faraway wine regions, seasonal grape varieties, and specialized culinary pairings isn’t just for the world traveler anymore. Experience global wines from your own dining room table with a wine club membership. Here’s how it works:

A wine club membership, also commonly called a ‘wine subscription box,’ delivers wine bottles straight to your front door. Most wine clubs are fully customizable to your individual flavor preferences, order size, and delivery frequency.

The best wine clubs to join often provide personalization services from the get-go, with brief tasting quizzes and the ability to rate bottles you’ve previously tasted in order to more accurately curate your monthly wine delivery.

Pricing

Wine clubs are often a greater value than traditional in-store purchasing. These companies can buy bottles in bulk directly from winemakers, cutting out the middlemen and reducing the price per bottle so you pay less. What’s more, many clubs offer their members perks such as discounted bottles, free shipping, and seasonal gifts.

While every club will vary in price per shipment and delivery fees, the price averages around $16 per bottle + shipping. Additional fees can apply depending on the frequency, volume, and purpose of your delivery–such as wine clubs meant for gifting.

How a Wine Club Membership Works

As you browse our ‘Top Wine Clubs’ list, you might notice variations in pricing structure, bottle selection style, and delivery frequency. This is because there are two different types of wine clubs: traditional wine delivery (e-commerce websites) and wine club memberships.

Online Wine Delivery

The traditional wine delivery e-commerce website works the same as most other online purchases. With this type of delivery service, you have total control over every bottle you receive. Simply filter your preferences—such as color, flavor, batch size, organic, etc.—place bottles in your cart, checkout, and voilà–all you have to do is wait for your package to arrive.

Wine Club Subscription Box

The online wine club membership is similar but with a little added personalization and ease of use. To join, members make an account and share information about their individual wine preferences. Once this information is collected, the wine club experts can start creating your unique tasting profile.

You’ll either select your own bottles, or let the club choose for you. Then, these expert-picked or pre-selected bottles are delivered straight to your door. Unless you choose otherwise, most clubs follow a monthly wine subscription, delivering your box every 30 days or so. Though, individual membership can often be customized with delivery frequency more or less often than every 30 days.

If both options are appealing to you, be sure to check each company's website as many may offer both traditional wine delivery and wine subscription box options. (Many services also offer a ‘wine of the month club,’ where all members will receive the same vintage, small-batch, or otherwise exclusive wine to sample and talk about.)

The Best Wine Club for You

Joining a boozy book club? Hosting holiday parties? Just really enjoy wine? Online wine clubs are a great option for both wine connoisseurs and those that simply prefer a bit of expert guidance thanks to rotating inventories and new flavors each month.

If you’re having trouble deciding which style of wine club is right for you, you may want to begin by asking yourself: How well do I understand my wine preferences and am I interested in trying new flavors?

Wine lovers may have different requirements than their casually-interested or newly-curious counterparts. No matter how comfortable you are with your unique wine preferences or openness to expanding your palette, there’s sure to be a wine club that suits your needs.

Take some time to click through a few of the websites that catch your eye. It should be fairly obvious what style of wine enjoyer the club is best suited for. You may even find limited-time offers and seasonal deals for new joiners.