Articles | Qualities of the Best Discount Wine Clubs

If you are a wine connoisseur on a budget, why not become a member of discount wine clubs? These clubs allow you to purchase fine wines at affordable prices since they negotiate special bulk purchases directly with suppliers, allowing them to cut out the middleman markups and passing on the savings to members. When you buy wine from a wine club, you are assured that you are getting the best quality bottles since they have been certified by experts. Being a member of a wine club may also provide you with benefits such as invitations to wine tasting parties and visits to vineyards where the finest wines are made.

When you sign up with discount wine clubs, however, you should not lose sight of your goal of tasting premium wines. There may be clubs that offer you temptingly low prices but then sell you low quality wine. Make sure you check out the various clubs that you are interested in joining to ensure that you won t get cheated. Keep in mind that membership in many of these clubs requires you to commit to receiving a certain number of shipments before you can cancel your membership; if the wine is not good then you may end up actually losing money in the long run.

The best way to check the reputation of discount wine clubs is to go online and do a search for them. There are specialized websites that provide specialized reviews of wine clubs that you can visit to check out what users say about them. You can also check out their past wine selections as well as what tasters have said about them and what prices they charged. In particular, clubs that are associated with large corporations or retailers can offer you the best prices as they have the strongest bargaining power when dealing with suppliers, but the smaller family owned wine clubs can offer you unique wines that you would not normally enjoy.

Once you have made a list of trustworthy discount wine clubs you can narrow the list down by looking at the types of wines they specialize in. For example there are clubs that concentrate on wine produced in a certain region, such as California or New Zealand. There are also clubs that center on a certain type of wine, i.e. red wine clubs or sparkling wine clubs. Decide on what your particular wine interests are so that you can find the club that best meets them.

Finally, look at the terms of service of the club. For example, how many shipments are you required to buy as a member before you can quit? How much does an annual membership cost? What other benefits come with membership? How much of a discount will you enjoy per bottle or case bought? Do they offer free shipping? If not, how much will shipping charges set you back? What about options for pick up if you happen to live in the area? Once you have considered all these factors, you can choose which discount wine clubs you can join with confidence, knowing that you are getting the best wines at the most affordable prices.