Don’t Join Outside Ontario
Wine Access clubs have some great wines, however don’t join is you live outside Ontario. They don’t handle shipping well and won’t take any responsibility for damage. I recently had a case of wine delivered frozen. Half the corks had been pushed out the case was a soggy mess held together in a ball by packing tape. Wine Access refused to refund or replace the case.
Date of experience:January 06, 2022
Wine Access Customer Return Policy
The folks at Wine Access are proud of their customer return policy.
They told me that if you dont like any bottle you buy, they will credit your account for that bottles purchase price.
Considering some of their wine club wine selections are pretty exclusive, I think thats a great customer-focused policy!
How Wine Access Works
Wine Access has 6 distinct wine clubs:
- Wine Access Connoisseurs and Discovery Clubs
- The MICHELIN Guide Wine Subscription
- The Sunset Wine Club
- WA Collectors Club
You can purchase any of their wine clubs or purchase bottles individually from their online wine store.
And like most wine clubs, someone 21 or over needs to be able to take delivery.
Now lets get into the detail about how each of the Wine Access wine clubs works and what they cost.
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Wine Access Wine Club: The Wine Selection
These guys get their wine from all around the world, whether its from esteemed winemakers or family-owned estates. The only big downside to their club is that its heavily biased towards red wines, so if youre a bigger fan of white, ordering some of their recommended choices individually wouldnt be a bad choice either.
You can also shop by experts, meaning each of their team has a compiled list of personal favorites that might get your interest, or grab some of their daily finds and wine sets. The set of people responsible for the scores you see on each bottle of the score is known to be quite strict, so if its rated high, you know its good.
What To Know About White
Many aggressively marketed, algorithm-based wine subscription services sell private- or white-label winesthat is, wines that are bought via the bulk wine market and relabeled or rebranded to be sold by the club . Though theres nothing wrong with drinking these wines, its nearly impossible to trace where the grapes came from or know what additives may have been used to make them. The quality of private- and white-label wines varies a lot, depending on where the grapes were grown. Some might be homogenized blends of grapes from a slew of vineyards, while others could be from prestigious appellations within a particular region. Some people may not care where their wine comes from or how its made, but we still think its important to know how the quality of these wines differs from that of other wines. Bottom line: We dont think you should pay too much for private- or white-label wines if you decide to join a club that sells them. See this article for a detailed look at how private- and white-label wines are made, as well as how they differ from other wines and how you can recognize them.
Why you might be overpaying for your wine club
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White- or private-label wines can offer a good value if you know what to buy. But often bottles sold through wine clubs arent the best quality and are overpriced.
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Wine Access Wine Club Review
Before this Wine Access review goes into each individual plan, lets outline some basic tenants of their program.
All Wine Access wine clubs products are shipped in climate-controlled packaging. That means your wines wont go rancid during their trips to your doorstep.
Additionally, every wine they select to include in one of their wine clubs has to pass testing from a crack group of wine experts so gifted in their wine knowledge that they could probably identify flavors we didnt even know existed.
Thats how you know youll be getting some of the best wine possible with each of Wine Access subscriptions.
Wine Access Connoisseurs and Discovery Clubs
The Wine Access Connoisseurs and Discovery Clubssend bottles of divine wines to you every quarter. The wines are selected by a panel of master sommeliers and wine progenitors.
This collection can send you wines you wouldve never thought to try for yourself, freeing you from the shackles of boredom. Why limit yourself to the basic red wine that youve been drinking for the past decade when you can try something new?
Youll be able to select whether you want to enroll in the discovery club, which sends you either 6 red wines or a 6-bottle mix of reds and whites, or the connoisseurs club. The latter delivers two bespoke bottles of red wine from across the world.
You can join this exclusive club for $150.
You can receive four bottles five times a year for $160 to $200.
The Club In A Nutshell
Ever found choosing wine a bit complicated? Tired of taking a gamble with every new bottle you buy? With Discovery Wine Club you get a regular supply of outstanding craft wines delivered direct to your door. Enjoy our premium wine club service, with bottles handpicked from some of the worlds top independent winemakers. Zero fuss. No risk.
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Southern Italys Top Wine 13 Years Running
Titolos accolades are too many to list. Vinous recently tasted through a complete retrospective of Titolo, and said wine lovers owe it to themselves to hunt down, this bottling. Simply put, no other wine captures the power, beauty, and detail of the ancient Aglianico grape better.
View the tasting video of Aglianico del Vulture on YouTube.
Why You Should Trust Us
Im a senior staff writer on the kitchen team at Wirecutter, and since 2016 Ive reviewed an array of kitchen gear and tablewareincluding wine glasses and the best barware for home cocktails. I was also a bartender in New York City for several years. And I took courses on wine and spirits during my time as an editor and later as a student at the International Culinary Center .
We enlisted Michele Thomas, a sommelier and general manager of The Greene Grape in Brooklyn, New York, to help us taste-test the wines . Thomass training as a sommelier allowed her to detect specific varietals of wineand sometimes even where they came fromwithout looking at the bottle, noting whether the wines were a good or poor representation of a particular style. Even if a wine wasnt to her personal liking, she could still objectively determine its production quality. I tasted each of the wines with Thomas, as well as with supervising editor Marilyn Ong and senior staff writer Lesley Stockton.
To learn more about what makes a great wine club, I spoke with Eric Asimov, wine critic for The New York Times, and Elizabeth Schneider, host of the Wine for Normal People podcast and a former taster for a now-defunct wine club.
For information on bulk- and private-label wine production, I spoke with Dwayne Bershaw, a lecturer in enology in the Department of Food Sciences at Cornell University.
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Whats Included With Each Wine Access Box
When you get a shipment from Wine Access its a pretty special thing. From the outside, the box looks like any other. But the collection of 6 wines packed inside the box has beat out thousands of others in terms of exceptional taste and value. Thats pretty remarkable. Each Wine Access shipment covers a variety of regions and styles but is centered around a theme to help you learn just a little more about the world of wine. But only if you want to.
Collectible wine tasting guides are paired up with each bottle to help you make the most of your tasting experience. They include details like wine characteristics, best food pairings, where theyre from, and the interesting stories behind the wines and how theyre created from vine to grape to glass. On the back of each card is a spot to rate your wine and take some tasting notes including the look, smell, and feel of the wine taste.
They even encourage you to add some details of your own story like who you shared your wine with and for what occasion so you can look back on how the story of the bottle intertwines with your own. At the very least its a great way to track which bottles you like best and maybe look back on your tasting notes over time to see how your palate develops or the wine changes from one year to the next.
Fort Berens Wine Club
We’re building a new wine region, and were inviting you to come explore with us.Our Discovery Club wine club provides you with prime access to our award-winning wines. Membership has some tasty privileges including special member pricing and access to coveted library wines. There is no membership fee, and its free to join.
Our winemaker will curate a selection of wines for each shipment, this may include red and white wines as well as rosé. You will receive an email one month prior to each shipment letting you know which wines will be included in your shipment. You always have the ability to customize your wine selection in your shipment.
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The Wine Access Connoisseurs And Discovery Clubs
These two clubs are labeled under the Wine Access brand.
When people speak of the Wine Access Wine Club, this is whats most likely being referred to.
You can think of Connoisseurs and Discovery as the two choices within the Wine Access Wine Club.
With the Connoisseurs Club, youll receive two bottles of red wine from well-known wine estates, four times per year.
With the Discovery Club, youll receive six bottles with an educational theme, four times per year.
Both clubs cost the same at $150.00 plus tax for each quarterly delivery. Shipping is included in the price.
As you might expect, the Connoisseurs Club delivers more prestigious wines and the Discovery Club gives you the opportunity to discover more types of wine for the same price.
The Michelin Guide Wine Subscription
Whats special about this wine club is that each shipment is curated by a sommelier from different MICHELIN-starred restaurants.
I found this to be really intriguing and I asked Wine Access to send me some selections from this club so I could taste and review them myself.
Youll see my personal review of each wine they sent me, later in this article.
Some other interesting benefits of this club are that you get detailed pairing recommendations from the chefs who pick out the wines AND you get invitations to private, special access events.
Ive never heard of a wine club offering invitations like that, so this sets Wine Access apart from other wine club companies.
Theres only one pricing level for the MICHELIN Guide Wine Subscription: $160 to $200, plus tax for four bottles delivered seasonally .
And like the other clubs, shipping is included.
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Wine Access Wine Club Review: Everything You Need To Know
With its discerning offering and client base, Wine Access is quickly gaining recognition as a destination for high-quality wines. One way of experiencing the entire Wine Access selection at a discount is through their wine club. If youre thinking of taking the plunge, heres everything you need to know about the Wine Access Wine Club.
The first thing to know about the Wine Access Wine Club is that its curation-based. That means every quarter, youll get six bottles hand-selected by the Wine Access team . Members wont know in advance what bottles they will receive its all about trust.
An example of a typical Wine Access wine and tasting notes. Photo credit: Wine Access
So how can you validate that Wine Access is indeed a trustworthy authority for selecting your wines? In evaluating curation-based wine clubs, weve found that a quality subscription must offer the following: accountability, a unique selection, and compelling pricing. . Countless wine clubs claim to be curated, but not all of them live up to this promise. The best will introduce us to exceptional wines, while others might seem more like a front for wineries to get rid of unsold inventory. So how does Wine Access stack up against these criteria?
Accountability
Wine Access Head of Wine Vanessa Conlin and Master Sommelier Sur Lucero discuss their latest wine club selections. Photo credit: Wine Access
Unique Selection
Compelling Pricing
The Verdict
Images courtesy of Wine Access.
Wine Access Vs Firstleaf
Firstleaf matches you with personalized wine selections. When you sign up, you take a quiz that helps pin down your preferences, and then Firstleaf picks out your bottles. As you rank the bottles and continue to provide feedback over time, your recommendations will become increasingly more accurate. Let’s see how these two subscriptions stack up:
- Shipment size: Just like the Wine Access Discovery Club, each shipment from Firstleaf contains 6 bottles of wine.
- Price: Firstleaf costs $39.00 with free shipping for the first box, and $79.00 + shipping for subsequent boxes. The Discovery Club costs $150 per shipment.
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Is A Wine Club For You
There are plenty of reasons why a wine club may or may not be a good fit for you. Here are some things to consider:
Reasons to join a club:
- Youre stuck in a rut of buying the same wines, and you want more variety.
- You get intimidated when buying wine in person, and/or youd rather have an expert choose for you.
- Youd like the convenience of having bottles delivered to your door.
- You dont live near a good wine shop that carries the bottles you like.
- You want to learn more about wine and prefer to have detailed information about the bottles youre drinking.
- Youre open to receiving different styles of wine from around the world.
- You want to get a wine subscription for someone as a gift.
Reasons not to join a club:
- You want to have more control over your selection.
- You don’t want to deal with the hassle or cost of delivery.
- You already have a good wine shop nearby, with knowledgeable staff members who can choose bottles for you based on your preferences.
See our section on how we picked wine clubs to learn about red flags you should watch out for when choosing a wine club.
How Is A Wine Access Delivery Packaged
Wine Access shipments are securely packed in a brown cardboard box. Bottles are held in place by molded styrofoam pieces that help prevent the bottles from bashing into one another during transport. The box is sturdy, and bottles are often packed with a cold pack to keep the internal temperature from reaching dangerous levels.
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After I’d Placed The Order: Change Request Acknowleged But Didn’t Happen
After I’d placed the order, but well before it was shipped, I asked that the delivery address be changed. Wine Access claimed that they did so.They didn’t. I stayed home all day to accept delivery on the new date nope. I had to chase it to find it. Finally achieved reception a week later, when I’d returned from my travels.Customer service is non-existent. Buy elsewhere. Anywhere else.
Date of experience:May 12, 2021
The Wine Access Team Of Experts Scours The Globe To Bring You The Wines Typically Reserved For Industry Insiders And Michelin
Shopping online has become the new norm, but when it comes to shopping for wine online, the task becomes a bit more daunting. Without a sommelier or retail salesperson there for guidance, how can you guarantee that it will deliver? What if you dont like it? And will it get to your home unscathed?
Not only does Wine Access remove any concerns over purchasing wine online, but it is the insiders secret to gaining access to the worlds best wineseven the ones that are traditionally out of reach. By scouring the globe and leveraging decades-long personal relationships with producers around the world, the Wine Access team curates a collection that ranges from the exciting up-and-comers to world wine legendsfrom artisans to watch to first-growth Bordeaux and Napa icons.
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Wine Access Wine Club: Is It For Me
We put this club in the category of “great wine pickers”. We group the wine clubs we review into a few different groups. There are bulk wine value clubs, great wine pickers, and Négociant style clubs. Based on our review of the Wine Access wine club, we feel they fall into the “great wine pickers” category. You, as the consumer, benefit from their skill at finding high-quality wines. These wines tend to be priced in the mid to high end of today’s wine market.
If youre looking for something more affordable, the Wine Access wine club might not be the best option, but if youre more of an experienced wine connoisseur, the quality and access to great wines is definitely there.
Domaine Eden Pinot Noir
Fun fact, the 2015 vintage of this wine was served at Prince Harry and Meghan Markles wedding.
In the glass, this wine poured red plum in color.
On the nose, it presented with notes of leather, cherry and florals.
On the palate, there were definite hints of fruit forward cherry and hibiscus tea, along with some crisp acidity.
Its mouthfeel was tart and juicy with soft round tannins and a finish that was long lasting and dutifully carried by the flavor.
Overall, I found this to be an elegant Pinot Noir that over-delivers in flavor and gets even better when allowed to breathe.
Fitting for a prince or princess! Or, for those of us who may not be quite as royal, or who choose not to be! -).
Pair with Petits Pois Francaise.
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