Joining a Wine of the Month Club!

If you're trying to pick the best wine of the month club, you may be absolutely overwhelmed by all the choices out there.  From the California Wine Club to The International Wine of the Month Club to so many others that operate locally and online, a wine lover can easily be distracted by all the choices and feel tempted to throw in the towel and just go back to purchasing wine one bottle at a time.

But before you give up on a membership to a great wine of the month club, let us help you decide on what to look for and how to separate the good from the bad when it comes to clubs.

First, find out how long the club has been in business.  There's nothing to say that a new club won't do a great job in choosing your monthly wine, but it's usually best to entrust your membership with someone that has been doing this for some time.  There are many wine of the month clubs that have been around for ten years or more and these are the clubs that you probably want to stick with.

Also, what are you looking for in a wine of the month club?  Do you have a particular preference when it comes to wines such as red or white and would you like to be able to make your own choice in this regard or will you like anything that the club will send your way?  Some wine clubs allow you to enter some of your preferences while others simply choose what they feel is best and may just split their choices between red and white, or whatever they feel is best that particular month.  How many bottles of wine are delivered per month?  Can you opt to a lesser or higher numbers per month or are you limited to a specific numbers by the wine club?

Ask how the wine of the month club makes their options.  Far too many simply choose closeout options or mass produced wines.  Obviously they are just choosing whatever is cheapest and aren't giving much thought as to how the wine will actually taste.  Some other wine clubs personally hand-select each and every month's selection, and this means you'll be getting a higher quality wine every month.

Check out the past selections of the clubs.  Look up these selections in a separate guide and see how they are rated.  If you can find them in other guides and they are highly recommended then you know that this wine club is making their choices on flavor and quality.  If you cannot find an outside review of any of their choices, it may be a warning sign.

And you'll want to see about their policies to opt out of the club.  If you join and don't like the first few choices, then what?   If you find a wine of the month club that allows you to opt out after a few months then you know your choice will be much safer.  You never want to join any wine club that forces you to join for a long period of time.  If they do then it is usually because most of their members are not satisfied with the service, price or selections of wines that have been delivered.