Red Wine of the Month Clubs

Overview: If you're ready to upgrade to a higher quality wine from California and explore what all of the artisanal buzz is about, this should be your first stop. These mostly red wines from the best small wineries typically retail in the $35-90 range but you pay a much lower price to have them delivered. Joining for yourself means variable shipment prices, but if you buy as a pre-paid gift subscription you'll know your price in advance. Hint: Buy yourself a pre-paid gift subscription instead of joining as an ongoing member.

What We Love: We spend a lot of time wine tasting in California and are personally familiar with many of the wineries shipped in Gold Medal's Platinum Series. They ship our favorites and must-try wines like Dilécta GSM from Paso Robles, Volker Eisele Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa, and Frank Family Petite Sirah from Napa to name a few.

Could Be Better: With such an amazing breadth of white wine being produced in California, we're sort of disappointed that all of the white wine in the Platinum series has been Chardonnay. We'd love to see some bold Rhone white selections from Paso Robles, some Sauvignon Blanc from Santa Barbara, and of course, surprise grapes.

Overview: Pinot Noir is one of the most beloved red wine grapes and this Pinot of the month club is the best one for discovering Pinot Noir from California. Discover boutique wineries producing world-class Pinot Noir in Santa Barbara, Sonoma, and other regions around California. Stunning Pinot from Joseph Jewell, Dragonette Cellars, and Kessler-Haak to name a few.

What We Love: We're big fans of California Pinot Noir in general, and we love how Gold Medal sources award-winning selections from small producers we may not have heard of or haven't had access to for purchasing. A membership with the Gold Medal Wine Club Pinot Noir Series takes Pinot lovers on a trip to California for wine tasting without leaving home. Check out their Pinot selection.

Could Be Better: As a general rule, we think Gold Medal Wine Club has little they can do to improve. Whether you're buying for yourself or as a gift, they've really done a lot to create a wine club worth joining.

Overview: We really enjoy this International wine club where each shipment contains six different wines from a single wine region somewhere in the world. Of the many clubs that offer an International selection, most aren't themed for additional wine discovery and education.

What We Love: We received shipments of this wine club for years because it always kept a good variety of food-friendly and affordable wines on hand, we never opened a bottle we were disappointed with, and we feel this club offers a good quality-to-price ratio.

Could Be Better: We'd love to see customers rewarded for buying bigger allotments. "Buy more save more" pricing would be a great addition to the line-up. We'd also really like to see the shipping costs come down dramatically.

Overview: Among other "journey around the wine world" clubs Wine Awesomness stands out for exceptional educational materials. This is a great wine club for you if you're not sure yet if you're a "wine club" person or if you're looking to give a gift to a young wine-lover who's just starting to discover the world of wine.

What We Love: The level of sophistication in both design and writing of their monthly magazine and how the wine isn't expensive but is a very good value.

Could Be Better: So many people love to give wine subscriptions as gifts, and we think a gift packaging option and customizable gift notifications would add to the subscription gift option.

Overview: Our favorite series offered by The International Wine of the Month Club, we really dig the interesting, high-end, European-focused wines that arrive at our door. We've been able to find Italian and French red wines we enjoy courtesy of this wine club, which helps us understand the wine from these countries in a more nuanced way.

What We Love: More than anything, we love surprise factor of these wines. Every time we open a box, we sort of grimace at the prospect of drinking a Rhone red or an Barolo (wines that we typically don't enjoy because of our own palate preferences), but we're always surprised at how the wines are enjoyable anyway, and usually much better than we were expecting.

Could Be Better: We'd love to see four-bottle shipments offered by this wine club as a way to help mitigate the cost. The company offers a reliable, quality-driven service, so you don't really get deals on the wine in the shipments. At the level of The Collectors Series (which we think has an over-inflated name), the discount aspect of the wine club is not a primary concern.

Overview: A 12-bottle personalized wine club that begins to get to know your preferences with a six mini-bottle wine tasting kit delivered for $6.95. By signing up for the tasting kit experience you are automatically enrolling in regular wine club shipments, 12 bottles delivered quarterly for $149 plus $19.99 shipping.

What We Love: Their best feature is total control of your account online without having to contact customer service — change the contents of your shipment, change your shipment size, have your next shipment sent exactly when you want it, or even cancel online.

Could Be Better: The wines offered in the $6.95 tasting kit have extreme profiles (likely the best way to identify the boundaries of your palate) but the experience is fun anyway. It's important to note: rating the wine triggers the first full-price case to be shipped.

Overview: The Bold Reds club features International red wines showcasing, yep, bigger and bolder flavors, that are more tannic and fruit forward. These are not your typical easy-drinking wines but they're perfect for pizza, grill nights, and all forms of meat.

What We Love: More than anything, we love surprise factor of these wines. Every time we open a box, we sort of grimace at the prospect of drinking a Rhone red or an Barolo (wines that we typically don't enjoy because of our own palate preferences), but we're always surprised at how the wines are enjoyable anyway, and usually much better than we were expecting.

Could Be Better: We'd love to see four-bottle shipments offered by this wine club as a way to help mitigate the cost. The company offers a reliable, quality-driven service, so you don't really get deals on the wine in the shipments. Given its specialty nature, the discount aspect of the wine club is not a primary concern.

Overview: A personalized wine club that gets to know what kind of wine you like through a wine-preference quiz and the ratings you give for wines from previous shipments. Sends four bottles of wine that match your preferences, monthly.

What We Love: Bright Cellars has amazing customer service and offers a cheese-pairing option as an add-on. We've liked each shipment better than the last, and this corresponds to seeing our Bright Points (accuracy of matching) increase, too.

Could Be Better: While the wine is fine, we'd like to see a more focused adherance to selecting wines that resemble the grapes on the bottle. Typicity is a hallmark of quality wine. At $15 a bottle, great quality is rarely achievable, but better typicity would certainly increase the value being offered here.

Overview: This is the entry-level wine club from the International Wine of the Month Club, but unlike some other wine clubs in this price range you'll always receive Estate-bottled wines. Also for a wine club in this price range you get excellent tasting notes and winery information for every wine that's shipped.

What We Love: Unlike some other wine clubs which focus on acquiring closeout wines to ship to their members, this wine club cares a great deal about coming up with consistent selections befitting their reputation of 25 years in the business. Their tasting panel includes proprietor Kris Calef, wine professionals, and everyday wine drinkers, so they excel at finding palate-friendly wines with wide appeal.

Could Be Better: We'd love to see four-bottle shipments offered by this wine club as a way to help mitigate the cost. The company offers a reliable, quality-driven service, so you don't really get deals on the wine in the shipments. While we'd probably pass on this particular subscription for ourselves, we think it makes a terrific wine club gift — especially if you mix it up with some of their other cool monthly clubs.

Overview: A six or 12-bottle wine subscription geared toward occasional drinkers who don't want to spend a lot on their wine. An International selection with a good variety of wines and wine regions.

What We Love: There isn't anything Martha Stewart does that isn't beautiful, and the branding and experience of this wine subscription program are no exception to that rule.

Could Be Better: While we really enjoyed the white wines we received, the reds left much to be desired.