The 5 best wine clubs of 2023, tested and reviewed

As a new member at Winc, you start by taking a quick quiz that asks about your tastes and preferences. Then, you're matched up with wines that align with your "Palate Profile," and from there you can create your own cart of wine selections. In addition to those suggestions, you can browse by category. The shop features clear ratings from other members and easy-to-digest descriptions of each wine.

Winc works directly with vineyards and makes all the wines it sells, producing over 664 wines from 78 grape varieties and 97 regions across 12 different countries since launch. You may see some of these wines also sold at Whole Foods, Vons, and Kroger stores. Since Winc uses subscriber data and ratings to inform new wine production, the wine you see will line right up with emerging trends. 

On the downside, this rapid production model means it can be hard to re-purchase some of your favorites, so it's best not to get too attached to a particular bottle. 

I've tried Winc a few times over the last couple of years and always found something I liked while further developing my tastes and preferences. It's through Winc that I've grown to appreciate Chenin Blanc from South Africa and how I realized I'm not a fan of Touriga Nacional, a dry red wine popular in Portugal.

You can only see each wine's tasting notes and descriptions online, which is a bit inconvenient as you try out your monthly shipment. However, the online-first system ultimately works in your favor because you'll have your entire order history and personal notes all in one place to reference later.   

Since the wines are based on your preferences, there aren't any seasonal or holiday offerings.

Read our full review of Winc.

Like Winc, Firstleaf has you start out with a quiz so it can better understand your preferences.  When you're finished, it serves up six wines it thinks you'll like, and you can read about each one and decide whether you want to make any swaps. However, you only have six swaps per shipment. So, Firstleaf is that nice "Goldilocks" service where you have a bit of control, but you're still steered in the right direction. 

To draw you in, Firstleaf has a very competitive introductory offer of $39.95 for six wines, including shipping. Afterward, the price goes up to $80, plus $9.95 shipping, but you're still only paying $15 for each bottle, many of which are industry award winners.

After you've tried every wine in your monthly shipment, you can rate them online. This step is important because Firstleaf will use your ratings to become smarter and hone in on an even better curation for you next month. As your wine knowledge and tastes evolve, so too will the service. 

I've had the chance to try Firstleaf a few times in the last couple of years, and it's always been reliable. I appreciate that I don't have to do quite so much work in picking out the bottles and that the main effort only comes afterward, once I've tried everything. 

On top of the existing value of the service, there's a strong referral program: if you share Firstleaf with a friend, they'll get $40 and you'll get $40. Firstleaf has seasonal offerings, typically around the holidays, for wines that pair well with fall and winter foods. 

Check out our full Firstleaf review.

Plonk, which is British derogatory slang for cheap, low-quality wine, provides wines that are anything but. The online club focuses exclusively on natural wines that are grown with organic, biodynamic, and sustainable vineyard practices, meaning they don't contain pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, or commercial additives (like colorants or artificial sugars). There's also an impressive selection of sulfite-free and unfiltered bottles. 

If you're interested in the specific distinctions among the terms "natural," "organic," and "biodynamic," founder Etty Klein breaks them down here.

Plonk prides itself on selecting and importing wines from small, boutique winemakers and lesser-known wine regions, flouting big industry names to give you a carefully vetted selection. While other online wine subscriptions may offer natural and sustainable options, few can boast both the convenience and range of Plonk's one-stop natural shop. 

When you sign up, you have your choice of an all-red, all-white, or mixed variety box, with either four, six, or 12 bottles per shipment. What the included informational printout lacks in glitzy presentation, at least compared to other services, it makes up for in precise tasting notes and ultra-specific food pairings courtesy of Food52. For example, one of my favorite Plonk discoveries, a 2019 Pinot Noir from Margaret River, Western Australia, should be enjoyed with stuffed peppers with lamb, orzo, and halloumi cheese. 

Plonk has seasonal offerings throughout the year, including a Thanksgiving bundle and a sparkling wine sampler around the holidays. 

Mumm Napa has roots that go back to the 1800s with the French Champagne house G. H. Mumm & Cie. The parent company of Mumm Napa, Mumm is one of the largest producers of Champagne globally. Its Napa Valley vineyard continues to use traditional Champagne-making techniques to make its sparkling wines, the best of which are showcased in the Club Vivant subscriptions.

The Collector's Edition club ships quarterly and costs $200-$275 per shipment, depending on the bottle variety. It contains six full-sized bottles per shipment, including the winery's signature DVX annual release wine and limited production wines. You'll also get a detailed pamphlet of notes for each wine. 

I loved the sparkling Pinot Noir and the Brut Reserve, and the pairing suggestions (like truffle popcorn with the Brut Reserve) were helpful and spot-on. I also appreciated the general variety that the club provided, from the sparkling rosé to the sparkling chardonnay. I have more experience with still wines, but Mumm Napa's carefully produced assortment showed me that sparkling can be just as diverse and fun. It also gave me an excuse to celebrate exciting moments in my life, no matter how big or small. 

In addition to the actual wines, there are perks like 20% off Mumm Napa sparkling and still wines, 20% off gift shop purchases, and 30% off club selection re-orders. You'll also get access to exclusive wines and invitations to virtual events. The membership is even more worth it if you live close to Napa — once a month, you can enjoy a complimentary select tasting for up to four people.

I love Parcelle's Wine Drop because it has the feel of a cool and exclusive local club but it ships nationwide. Parcelle is based in New York City and enlists the curation and expertise of Michelin-starred sommeliers like the former wine directors of Eleven Madison Park and Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare. 

The experience indeed feels like you're asking for wine recs at a restaurant. It's arguably even better because your three wines also come with beautifully illustrated info cards and a copy of Parcelle Press, a mini journal that is, again, visually stunning. 

Founder Grant Reynolds told Insider Reviews, "The Wine Drop is our shortlist of our favorite wines to have around the house at that time of year. Nothing too fancy but always smart, a bit different, and from small producers focusing on making wines unique to the place they are from."

If you prefer more customization, you'll probably enjoy one of our other picks more, but if you want to leave it up to the pros, try Wine Drop. All three wines I received were hits, and they helped me realize a new love for orange wine. 

Depending on the wine, the total cost of the individual bottles could come out to less than $95. The Wine Drop I received in September 2020, for example, was $85. In other months, the total may be more. While fluctuating prices may be a dealbreaker for some, I found Wine Drop's tight curation and immersive experience to be compelling enough reasons to continue my subscription. 

Each month's Wine Drop has a different theme so the selection is curated and intentional. For example, April 2022's trio captured the vibrance and freshness of a new spring. 

What else we recommend and why

Picked by Wine.com: Long a reliable place to shop a huge variety of wines, Wine.com now has its own personalized club for the people who get instantly overwhelmed when they land on the site. I was impressed with the level of personal care by this service — my assigned sommelier personally reached out to me explaining why he couldn't include any sweet reds in my shipment and suggested how I could update my account for a better experience. My conversations with him were friendly and informational, making me feel comfortable enough to ask questions. Since the Picked program is fairly new, you might not get the variety you want, as I experienced, but the level of care and personalization alone makes it worth a try. 

Eater Wine Club: We always look to Eater to find local restaurants and bar recs, and now it's making use of its expertise and community connections to curate a monthly wine club. The new club, which launched in late 2020 and sends you four bottles of wine every month, has already featured cool, memorable themes like Greek wines and celebration-worthy wines that aren't Champagne. I loved that the roster of monthly curators and wine experts hailed from all over the country so that even in the midst of a pandemic, it felt like I was traveling to and exploring a new food and wine scene. As a member, you'll also be invited to a virtual tasting with each month's curator and receive an exclusive newsletter. 

SommSelect: An impressive roster of sommeliers picks out the wines in this Sonoma-based club. I've been trying The Explore 4, which is built around a monthly theme. The first box I received contained wines from all over the world: Swartland (South Africa), Northern Piedmont (Italy), Southern Rhône Valley (France), and the Finger Lakes (New York). The accompanying booklet was among the best produced and most helpful of all the clubs I've tried so far, filled with useful information about each wine and a glossary that instantly deepened my wine knowledge. 

What we do not recommend and why

Usual Wines: Usual Wines' single-serving beaker bottles are certainly eye-catching and memorable. However, the company only offers its subscriptions in red, rosé, and brut, and these wines don't change month-to-month. On the plus side, its wines contain no added sugars or sulfites, and the grapes come from sustainable farms. If you're looking for a straightforward subscription you don't really have to think about, Usual Wines is a good candidate. Otherwise, our picks above provide better opportunities for education and discovery. 

Acker Wines: Acker has wine clubs for a variety of budgets and levels of enthusiasm, from the $89/month Access Club to the $999/month JK Club for fine and rare wines. Acker's Access Club seems promising for wine amateurs, but it's geographically limited to New York City residents. The next club level up jumps to $299/quarter for three bottles, which may be inaccessible for many shoppers.  

Elicit Wine Project: Elicit Wine Project helps incubate and launch cool, innovative wine brands, so if you're tired of seeing the same stuffy labels, you'll like shopping here and putting together your own subscription box. The downside is that there aren't many varietals to choose from right now. Perhaps as the service grows, we'll see a better variety. 

David Hamburger, director of special events at Acker, the oldest wine shop in America said, "A good wine club should be somewhat instructive, sharing with members enough information about each wine to provide background, but also allow members the flexibility to enjoy it their own way — with a recipe, or food pairing suggestions." In order to test the best wine clubs, we took several factors into consideration:

Ordering process: We evaluated the ease of navigation, the layout of the site, and the ordering experience. Rather than have the wine club services ship wine directly to us, we requested press codes so we could go through the entire ordering process as a regular customer would. 

Speed and reliability of shipping: We noted shipping times, whether the service provided accurate and timely tracking updates, and how the wine was packaged. It's worth noting that all of the services we've tested so far have delivered packages that arrive intact and on time.

Wine taste and variety: Since everyone's wine tastes are personal, we evaluated whether the clubs offer enough variety to account for many different tastes and preferences. We tried the wines shipped to us and noted whether they fit our preferences and/or exposed us to or taught us something new about our tastes or knowledge of wine. 

Customer service and ease of cancellation: We spoke to customer service reps and noted the speed and usefulness of their service. We also looked at how easy it was to cancel the subscription.

How to store wine

Do: Lay the bottle on its side in a cool dark place, preferably in a cabinet lower to the floor. 

Don't: Stand it up on the counter or leave it in direct sunlight. 

Do: Store your opened bottle in a wine fridge so it can keep a little longer. 

Don't: Store wine in a regular refrigerator. "The same qualities that keep your food fresh will not have the same effect on your wine," says Price. See our guide to the best wine coolers and fridges. 

How to taste wine

Go slow and use your nose. "Make sure you stick your nose in the glass and really smell the wine. When you drink it, coat your entire palate. After you swallow, think about how long the flavors and textures linger in your mouth," said Price.

The sommelier and wine writer also recommended starting a tasting group with your friends or family. "Pick a theme and have everyone bring a bottle within that theme. For example, if you want to understand Syrah, the line-up should include a Northern Rhône (FR), Barossa Valley (AU), Stellenbosch (ZA), Paso Robles (US), and Tuscany (IT) bottling amongst others. Each person should bring their bottle wrapped so you can't see the label (don't forget to take the neck foil off, that one is an easy giveaway!), and put the wines out for everyone to taste and guess which wine is which. It's helpful to write your tasting notes down so you see how you progress over time. The entertainment value goes up even more when afterward you discuss your impressions as a group, enjoying the wines you brought with friends."

How to choose the perfect wine for a gift 

Make it personal. "The best way to gift a bottle of wine is to know a little piece about the recipient. Whether it's a birth year or wedding vintage, a favorite place, or just their personal taste, those small things will make a gifted bottle of wine far more special," says Hamburger. 

What's the difference between Champagne and sparkling wine? 

All Champagne is sparkling wine, but not all sparkling wine is Champagne. Champagne refers specifically to sparkling wine made in the Champagne region of France.

Because of this geographic distinction, that means there are only certain grapes — like Chardonnay and Pinot Noir — that can be used to make Champagne.