| The Wall Street Journal Wine Club Review | |
| Highlights | Vast array of wines from regions across the globe with options to please any palate |
| How Much/How Often | 12 bottles quarterly |
| Price | Introductory offer of $69.99 for the Discovery Club and then $159.99 quarterly thereafter Or Premier Club 259.99 quarterly *both clubs offer introductory free bottles of wine |
| Wine Choices | Reds, Whites or mixed cases |
| Does NOT ship to | Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont |
How it works:
Discovery Club
The Discovery Club has an introductory offer of $69.99 for your first delivery of 12 bottles with the addition of 2 bonus bottles and 2 wine glasses. You will then be billed quarterly $159.99 (plus $19.99 shipping & applicable tax). With every delivery you will also receive tasting note cards with serving tips to go with each bottle of wine. Discovery Club members also earn credits for free bottles, upgrades to a 1.5-liter magnum and a luxury bottle (worth $40+), plus exclusive offers throughout the year.
Premier Club
The Premier Club is $259.99 quarterly with free shipping. The initial case will have the addition of 3 bonus bottles of a rich, barrel-aged Napa Cabernet (worth $149.97) from winemaker Reed Renaudin. With every delivery you will also receive tasting note cards with serving tips to go with each bottle of wine.
What they have and where is it from
In addition to the wine club options, they boast over 600 wines from leading estates and regions around the globe. Anyone can purchase from the site, you do not need to be a wine club member.
Single bottles or collections in varying sizes are also available for purchase. Red, White, Rose, Sparkling and Champagne or any combination you prefer can be found. Several collections, such as the “Hall of Fame WSJwine Legends” can be purchased in a mixed case with the offer of free shipping. Wines on the site represent a vast array of regions including Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain and the USA.
Under the monthly specials you can find all sorts of holiday offerings. For Halloween they are offering Wicked Good Wines, a case of deep reds with FUN titles such as, “Rocky Horror Picture Show Zinfandel”, “Hollow Tree” and “The Waxed Bat”. All for $12.49 a bottle! Coming soon there are wine advent calendars and beautiful bottles in festive holiday boxes paired with gift items such as crystal decanters.
They have also chosen a handful of wines they describe as giftable, ranging in price from $13.99 – $49.99 per bottle and you are able to purchase 1, 6 or 12 bottles of each type.
What Stands Out about the Wall Street Journal Wine Club
One of the things that stood out to us was how in depth they help you keep your profile. One of the menu items is Cellar Summary and within that summary you will see: My Wine Cellar, Wines I’ve Purchased, My Favorite Wines, My Top-Rated Wines and Not For Me List. This way you never have to wonder what was that wonderful Cab you had last March called? Or that Pino that you never want to purchase again. You can go straight to your profile to keep all of that information.
Also, if you are new to the world of wine, there is an entire section called Your Guide dedicated to wine education. You can take a tour through the major wine regions and read a spotlight article on a winemaker from each region. You can learn about all of the major wine varietals, what grapes they come from and with what foods they pair well. Followed by some very practical tips related to corking your bottle, different corkscrews and how they work, as well as how to taste and store wines and at what temperature they should be served.
Summary
Upon initial entry to the website, you are offered a drop down list of states to which the wine club will ship. We are based in Colorado, so when we chose that option we were redirected to The Wine Cellar at LoDo, a Colorado licensed retailer who can legally accept, fulfill and ship orders in the state of Colorado. Your state will likely have a different distributor and so you may find different deals or offers each month.
The website itself is a bit overwhelming with many different purchasing options aside from the club options. They have a myriad of wine collections, at different price points from different regions. They are grouped in different ways such as holiday specials and sweet treats as well as reds, whites or bubblies. In fact at the top of the sight in bold red letters it states that there are dozens of festive new offers. The wine clubs are almost buried amongst the other options. At the very least, they do not seem to be a priority. However, the site is incredibly robust and can be helpful and attractive to newbies and seasoned wine connoisseurs alike.
