Don't we all secretly want to be wine experts? Become familiar with our tastes, and have the ability to confidently recommend wines to our friends and family. Absolutely. That's why wine clubs are outrageously popular these days.
There are obvious benefits to wine clubs, like getting cases delivered right to your doorstep instead of making trips to the liquor store. But the best thing is the chance to try exclusive, new wines.
Our editors narrowed it down to the top two wine clubs: Tasting Room and Winc. We tried them both and compared them to see which is our favorite.
Key Similarities:
- Both are subscription wine clubs that ship wine to your door
- You can cancel your subscription at any time
- You can choose between reds, whites, or a mix of both in your shipments
Key Difference:
- Tasting Room sends 6-bottle or 12-bottle cases per shipment | Winc allows you to use credits on 4-bottles every month
- Tasting Room orders can ship every 1,2, or 3 months | Winc's shipments are monthly
- Tasting Room's first shipment is $52.50, after that a shipment costs $75 (6-bottles) or $150 (12-bottles)
- Tasting Room's bottles cost only $8.75 each in the first shipment - And $12.50 per bottle in subsequent shipments
- With Winc, you deposit $59.95 in your account which can be used as credit each month
- Winc's bottles cost between $13 and $20
- Tasting Room's shipments are curated and hand-picked by our team of experts | With Winc you make selections yourself
- With Tasting Room you have access to a personal wine concierge (Monday - Friday, 10 am - 6 pm EST)
Tasting Room Overview:
Tasting Room's website is refreshingly simple – no quizzes or algorithms necessary. To sign up, choose whether you want reds, whites, or a mix, and let the experts do their magic! The first shipment cost us only $52.50 for 6-bottles – normally $210 in value! – and arrived promptly.
We took advantage of our access to a personal concierge and reached out to discuss our next shipment. We're so pleased by how easy it is to talk to a real human instead of receiving the same old automated recommendations list we'd gotten from other wine clubs.
After trying a wide variety of Tasting Room's wines, we were thoroughly impressed. We'll be honest, for such an affordable price we didn't expect the wines to be of such high-quality. But the wines are delicious and ourTasting Room concierge is truly an expert.
Our concierge is super insightful and so informative about wines and how we can broaden our wine palate with carefully selected bottles tailored just for us. It felt wonderfully personal. We could tell by the content of our next shipment how they really listen to us and continue to calibrate our preferences. The following case was even better than the first but still affordable, each bottle coming to just $12.50 ($75 overall)!
Winc Overview:
When signing up to Winc, there's a 6-question quiz on your taste preferences – salty, sweet, citrus, etc. Winc's $20-off offer on your 1st 4-bottle shipment can cost as little as $34. If you like, you can remove or add more bottles from their wine selection.
Some of their bottles are recently added, but others have been around for a bit so have plenty of reviews. Most wines fall between 3 and 4 stars in ratings. We went with their recommendations and added another bottle based on its 4-star rating.
We loved one of the chardonnays from our shipment but felt that the other bottles were basically mediocre. After the initial shipment, Winc charges $59.95 on the 8th of every month. It posts to your account and can be used on 4 bottles of wine of your choice. Winc's bottles cost between $13 and $20 but retail between $15 and $28. Any unused credits can be carried over to the following month.
Final thoughts:
After trying both, our final pick is definitely Tasting Room. We wanted a wine club to help us discover new wines based on their expert recommendations, not to have to select them on our own.
We appreciate the effortlessness of Tasting Room. With every shipment, we receive high-quality wines that never disappoint without having to lift a finger. And if we want we can always talk one-on-one with our concierge.
Over time, Tasting Room's experts get to know you and continually curate their choices based on that knowledge. Tasting Room feels like an exclusive service, whereas Winc is like shopping at an online liquor store.
Both are affordable, but Tasting Room's cost-per-bottle is a real deal - a lower price for wine that retails anywhere from $25-$40 per bottle. Also, we prefer the wines from Tasting Room. Not only do they taste great, they make us feel like we have great taste.
If you'd like to get wines hand-picked by your very own concierge at an excellent price, we'd highly recommend Tasting Room.