Online Wine Clubs

dizzy_blonde_2

Does anyone have any experience of online wine clubs? I've started to learn a bit about wine recently and would be interested in joining an online club to get away from the big branded wines on the supermarket shelves. I've looked at a few websites and noticed they all do introductory offers, but which club do you think is the best value once you've used up your introductory offer?

Nickygoat

dizzy_blonde wrote:

Does anyone have any experience of online wine clubs? I've started to learn a bit about wine recently and would be interested in joining an online club to get away from the big branded wines on the supermarket shelves. I've looked at a few websites and noticed they all do introductory offers, but which club do you think is the best value once you've used up your introductory offer?

Laithwaites are generally the best and if you search the forums or HUKD there are a few special offer codes floating around.
I'm not sure I would ever sign up to a wine club - they can be a bit limiting after a while but Laithwaites will send you offers every month (IIRC) that you can choose to take or not. The "Redheads" are excellent

My parents use Laithwaites but got a bit bored of them after a while, so tend only to go for the really good ones, and offer me half.

You might be better spending a bit of cash on some guide books and spending a few hours reading them.

Hugh Johnson, Malcolm Gluck, Oz Clarke and Matthew Jukes are the most popular and will generally break them down via store, price etc.

The better ones will give you recommendations for food so if you're relatively organised you can have some wine in stock for whatever you're going to eat.

I tend to use Oz Clarke in tandem with Tesco.com and the extra 1000 points offers that crop up regularly. Their online selection is far better than in store, as are most of the online supermarket stores.

Failing that go into your local Oddbins and ask -they're usually very good and will recommend something suitable.

A personal favourite is Tim Adams - IMHO the most complete winemaker on the planet - you can't go far wrong.

At least you'll have fun trying them all out - just remember to make a note of the good ones

HTH

dizzy_blonde_2

Thanks for the info, I've just Googled Tim Adams because I hadn't heard of him before. He gets a very good write-up so will look out for him.

Hmm, perhaps joining an online club isn't the best way to go after all. Will look at Tesco.com.

Twopints

I agree with all that Nickygoat has said, and have had great wines from Tesco aided and abetted by money-off vouchers, extra points etc.

It may be a bit hasty to write-off the wine-clubs as some of their introductory offers are quite good (e.g. Laithwaites, Sunday Times Wine Club [run by the same people], Virgin Wines) and worth doing. They give you the opportunity to try a variety of wines at a reasonable price and usually come with tasting notes. When you know what you like, go back to Mr T!

:beer:

madbazoo

I agree that Laithwaites are one of the best. They also trade as 'Sunday Times Wine Club' and have some very good special deals. Recently bought their 4 seasons pack which included 3 extra wines (15 in total) plus 6 tasting glasses and a wine stopper for £45 inc p&p. Also included full tasting notes and a binder to keep them in.

Have also tried Virgin wines in the past but was not as happy with the quality.

If you need help and advice on any wines including matching to food then you can do no better than visit your local Oddbins store as I find all their staff very helpful and knowledgeable

If you want to read more then I can also recommend Jancis Robinson's books which you can usually get on ebay at very good prices.

catt_2

Very interesting....

As Tesco is being recommended, and as they have just introduced a double-up voucher deal, does anyone have a view as to which is better, Tesco on-line or in store purchase?