This is the offer Wine Insiders was running on Christmas 2021. Yours will be different, but by checking it out you will get on the mailing list. Or use our refer-a-friend link to save $100 on a $200 order.
As we were settling in to the winter wave of COVID in November 2020, we got an email from Wine Insiders: join us for a virtual wine tasting with Martha Stewart plus get 6 wines appropriate for holiday meals for as I recall $50 shipped. It was hard to scroll past and ultimately we took the bait. And guess what: the wines were quite acceptable, on the high end of under-$20 bottles, and Martha did a stellar job of engaging and sharing with us during the Zoom session.
Is Wine Insiders the best wine club? That would be hard to judge from a Google search; I’ve never seen so many ads and so much clickbait around a simple query. Also, Wine Insiders does not fit the definition of a “club” because they do not ship until you ask them to. Yes, your inbox will swell with promotions but you can regard them lightly till you see the one that strikes your fancy. By contrast, Winc enrolls you subtly and automatically when you place your initial order. You have to choose wines for future shipments based on their algorithm but if you don’t choose they will simply bill your credit card at the appropriate interval; a family member found she had to order a case or more of wines on a deadline or see her “credits” (which she had paid for) disappear.
Recently, we decided to order again from Wine Insiders. It is possible, but difficult, to order direct from the website and pay a marked up “retail” price. Instead, we opted for a case highlighting French regionals, and we added a couple of chardonnays to qualify for a bonus of a deluxe fancy wine opener (more on that in a moment). The average price per bottle was again under $10, shipping included. The wines arrived with breathtaking speed, maybe 2-3 days from order to arrival. The case is so heavy that the person receiving the wine may need to unpack it at the front door rather than lifting it and carrying it inside.
How are they (or any mail order wine shipper) making money with these deals? A continuity program like Winc or Wine Insiders’ sister operation, the Martha Stewart Wine Club, relies on inertia: you will continue to get the wines unless you cancel and there may be a higher price for subsequent shipments. Wine Insiders’ under-$10 pricing for voluntary purchases is a real outlier. You’re not going to find these bottles in your local store; they’re more likely surplus production from wineries that also bottle wine under their own labels. But still.
If there’s a negative to Wine Insiders, it’s the customer service. Due to some computer issues, the promised corkscrew did not actually get attached to our order. We contacted customer service, they promised to send it separately, it never arrived. We were then offered a $15 credit to a future order which seemed miserly since the stated value of the premium was $50. They responded by raising the offer to $25. We replied we would rather wait for the item we had been promised and we pointed out that, even though they said it was out of stock, it continues to be included in current promotions. No response to that.
A case of Wine Insiders wines was too heavy to make it into the house and was offloaded on the front steps.
Also, you are not going to get any romancing (such as a guide with room for your tasting notes) with your order; the only materials enclosed with our shipments were brochures for other promotions. You need to save the URL of the promotion you ordered from, which will include descriptions of the wines, so you can refer back when you open them.
In conclusion, we are satisfied with the wines, love the pricing, but are concerned that the corner-cutting means Wine Insiders may be operating on a dangerously thin profit margin. Be sure to keep track of your credit card billing (or, better yet, pay with PayPal which protects you if something goes wrong).
Update: turns out Wine Insiders DOES have a wine club. It’s called the Wine Insiders Club Experience, and from the FAQ it appears to operate like other continuity programs in the industry. Not sure how we escaped this with our initial order and got placed into the non-club bucket; if you buy please check the fine print.
Also, if you decide to order from Wine Insiders and want to support this blog, here’s a refer-a-friend link that will give you $100 off a $200 order. (The actual web address is http://fbuy.me/v/chef_47 ) Not sure if it will work with the other discounts, so caveat emptor.
