Vinesse Wine Club Review
Vinesse Wine Club offers multiple affordable clubs highlighting small batch and boutique wines. Like many clubs, they cultivate relationships in the wine world so that they may deliver excellent, affordable wines in their shipments. Whether you're looking for only one varietal or like a specific region, or if you want a grab bag of everything and anything, Vinesse has an option. Keep reading this Vinesse Wine Club Review for more info.
Vinesse offers many different "clubs", or options. Members select the club, how often it arrives, quantity and with some clubs can choose the makeup (whites and reds). Payment is due when the club ships. Prices are not static but instead fall within a range and shipping is applied as a flat rate that is different depending on the number of bottles in the shipment.
Vinesse is a great club for those with a flexible budget who don't mind dealing with lots of choices. And there are lots of choices. We'll look at the different options, what we love and don't love about the club, and offer our insights to help you decide whether or not Vinesse is the right wine club for you!
About Vinesse Wine Club
Vinesse Wine Club is another that has been flying under the radar. This could be that it's a little tricky to navigate (just look at that chart!) and explain in a simple way making it less marketable on social media. This is a club for people with a flexible budget whether big or small, and those who want to make a LOT of choices when it comes to wine club choices. Members choose one of 15 levels (or can mix and match multiple levels), frequency of deliveries (depends on the level), makeup of batches (depends on the level), and quantity of bottles per shipment. Levels are based on varietal (Malbec, Pinot Noir), Region (California Treasures, Pacific Northwest) or any number of other categories including one with seasonal selections, earth friendly wines, and even a sparkling option.
There isn't a survey or sampler to taste - some levels are based on taste preference (ie. varietal).
Wines are from all regions of the world although there is definitely a good chance to expose yourself to American wines.
Vinesse packs information related to each bottle in the box.
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What Does Membership Get Me?
- A huge amount of choice: there are 15 levels of the club that are categorized by region, varietal, earth-friendly and many more. There is also a grab bag option for those who want to be surprised.
- Enclosures that match each bottle with everything from recipes and pairing suggestions to tasting notes, regional and varietal information, and vineyard notes.
- Sliding scale flat rate shipping - the cost is determined by the number of bottles.
- No membership or cancellation fees.
Take Note: We would like to point out that there is a sparkling option - something hard to find in the wine club world. No matter what, it's an option worth checking out even as an add on to another Vinesse club or a different one altogether.
Show Me The Money!
We at Wine Turtle have certain things we look for in pricing and for all that Vinesse has to offer, we're less than thrilled with their pricing. While we have a little room for flexibility, the fact that we could have a swing of upwards of $100 with no notice is a little more of a bargain than we're willing to take. Even a swing of $25 is a little much. This is a deterrent, in our opinion, from Vinesse. Another complaint? Tucked away on the site is the fact that members are charged an addition $2.50 for delivery to a residence over a workplace. We're not sure of the logic and we're also not sure how we feel about this - not everyone wants their boss to see twelve bottles of wine being shipped to them monthly!
Prices are lower based, even with higher shipping costs, when purchased in large quantities - that's always a plus.
Read The Fine Print: No matter what club you're considering, be sure to scour the site - some clubs have information in one place only - and when that can have an impact on price it's very frustrating. Remember that online club reviews are not written by the clubs themselves and details are sometimes not made readily available.
Detailed Review of Vinesse Wine Club
Club W
Price
Quality
Support
Educational Value
We liked
- A sparkling option!
- This goes in both columns, but we do like the choice. For experienced drinkers this is a major plus.
- Quality website
- Lower prices when ordering more wine
- No hidden fees.
We didn't like
- Lack of transparency around pricing and fees.
- No list of where Vinesse is available.
Summary: Vinesse Wine Club offers a significant amount of choice but it comes at a price. Namely, an unknown price. While the offerings are great as far as club levels, frequency, and makeup of bottles and while we are fans of their lowering the price per bottle when more bottles are ordered and using flat rate shipping, the range of prices is hard to get used to. That said, there are options with very little disparity between prices (California Treasures, World of Wine (3 bottle option), Sparkling (3 bottle option), Elevant Society (2 bottle option), Light and Sweet (6 bottle option), and American Cellars (all options), and we would recommend those over the others. The club offers exposure to varietals, regions, and more and is an excellent offering when you ignore the price differences.
Things We Like
Bring On The Bubbles! - You really can't go wrong with sparkling wine. It comes in a variety of styles and colors, pairs with everything, and, let's face it, is awesome. Vinesse is one of very few wine clubs that offers a sparkling option.
The Choice - Sure it's daunting and yes, we'd like fewer choices (we love that there are 15 clubs, but could we have a choice of 3 frequencies and quantities rather than so many individualized ones?) - but you have to give it to them for coming up with 15 options, all of which sound great.
Website - Despite all of the options, the Vinesse website is one of the best wine club website's with information clear and easy to access.
More for Less - Going with a larger quantity shipment brings down the price per bottle.
No hidden fees - We think we've found them all, anyway!
Things We Don't Like
The Lack of Transparency - If we're going to invest in something, we want to know what we're going to pay. Exactly what we're going to pay. We've beaten this horse a few times but the range pricing just doesn't feel right - especially where the swings are significant. Additionally, the site should clearly list that residential shipping is an extra $2.50 since many people will have the wine shipped to their home.
Where Can I Get My Wine? - Despite the changing laws, it would be nice to have a list, even if only updated monthly, showing which states Vinesse can deliver to. There is absolutely NO rhyme or reason to this (ie. Pennsylvania and Utah have very strict alcohol laws yet there are clubs that deliver to Pennsylvania!) so each club offering information on whether or not they are currently available is great. Just include a note that even if you're NOT on the list, you should call.
The Verdict
If you sit down, look at the offerings, and read through the whole site this is one of the best clubs out there. But make sure you know exactly what you're getting in to so that the charge doesn't surprise you. Our advice? Stick with one of the options that doesn't have such a huge price difference.
