International Selections Wine Club Review

Wine Club Overview & Details

Wine Club Rating:

This wine club is...

• #7 Best International Wine Clubs

Summary

This wine subscription focuses on high-end, limited-production wines from small family wineries outside the US. It is perfect to give as a gift or to join yourself.

What I Like

They only work with small family wineries, so nearly every wine they ship typically wouldn’t be distributed inside the US.

Improvements

This club doesn’t have a 5-star rating. It doesn’t ship ultra-premium wine and the price isn’t amazing for what you get. Superlatives aside, the quality to price ratio is correct.

Benefits

• Small family wineries around the world
• Great gift presentation and deals
• 100% satisfaction guarantee
• Eclectic selection

Drawbacks

• Shipping is extra

International Selections Wine Club delivers to

AK AZ CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS LA ME MD MA MN MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC TN TX VT VA WA WV WI WY

Don't see your state? The California Wine Club does not ship there. Browse wine clubs by state.

Join International Selections Wine Club

FYI: I find great wine deals so you don’t have to. To keep me on the hunt, I earn a commission when you buy wine based on my recommendations.

• Mixed Red & White - Ongoing for $77.00
• Mixed Red & White - Three-Month Gift for $210.00
• Mixed Red & White - Six-Month Gift for $402.00
• Mixed Red & White - Twelve-Month Gift for $732.00
• Red Only - Ongoing for $88.00
• Red Only - Three-Month Gift for $255.00
• Red Only - Six-Month Gift for $492.00
• Red Only - Twelve-Month Gift for $912.00

Coupons & Promo Codes

Deal Save 50% on membership
Save 50% on your first shipment. Until Dec 31. Use code WCRHALF at checkout.

Deal Save 10%
Save 10% on wine club gifts. Until Jul 31. Use code YES10 at checkout.

International Selections Wine Club Review

In this review

• What is International Series?
• What does International Series cost?
• Membership Benefits
• Wine Review
• Compare International Series
• Gift Review
• Why Trust this Review

What is the International Series from The California Wine Club?

Founded in 1990, The California Wine Club is a California company which sells artisanal wines from small family wineries. Their International Series focuses on those artisanal wineries elsewhere in the world than the US. It is available as an ongoing subscription or as a gift membership (you choose the length of the gift). International Series, like all of their subscriptions, comes with an industry-leading satisfaction guarantee and a host of other membership benefits.

Ways to Customize Your International Series Membership

The International Series wine club is a minimally customizable, two-bottle subscription:

• Wine selection: You can choose one red and one white wine, or two of the same red wine in each shipment.
• Delivery frequency: This membership can be delivered monthly, every other month, or quarterly.

The California Wine Club kindly offers my readers a generous discount. Save 50% on the wine portion of your first shipment with code WCRHALF at checkout (ongoing subscriptions only, not for gifts). Shipping and handling will still be $21.

Current International Series Deals

Deal Save 50% on membership
Save 50% on your first shipment. Until Dec 31. Use code WCRHALF at checkout.

Deal Save 10%
Save 10% on wine club gifts. Until Jul 31. Use code YES10 at checkout.

International Series membership benefits

Any time you become a subscriber to a company’s services, there should be a benefit to you for loyalty. Sometimes that benefit is discounted members-only pricing and sometimes that benefit is extra perks. Here are the membership benefits for joining or gifting Pacific Northwest Series.

• A full-color magazine each month called Uncorked. The magazine is both entertaining and informative. It details each wine shipped each month and also covers a particular wine topic, like fermentation vessels.
• The “Love It” Guarantee - they’ll refund any bottle a customer isn’t happy with. The California Wine Club is among very few wine clubs with this level of a guarantee, and they definitely offer the best wines of any company that offers a top tier guarantee.
• Free access to personal wine consultants - these helpful staff members can get to know your wine preferences and needs to make sure you’re getting the most of your membership.
• Members-only discounts - save 10% on wine club gifts (can’t be combined with other offers) you purchase for others; enjoy $1 shipping on supplemental orders of six or twelve bottles.
• Access to VIP Tours at the wineries they feature. Heading to wine country? Call The California Wine Club and tell them which wineries you’ve tried that you want to visit. They’ll get you set up with a VIP tour and tasting at the winery, often complimentary.
• See all membership benefits

Unboxing Pacific Northwest Series shipment

Uncorked International Series example

International Series Wine Review

The California Wine Club specializes in small-batch wines from family wineries producing less than 15,000 cases per year. Small production wines typically offer the most character as the grapes are farmed for optimal taste, not optimal yield. Learn more about why these small producers are so important.

I’ve received a few shipments of wine for review from the International Series at The California Wine Club since 2015. Despite not featuring their namesake wine region, I really enjoy this subscription at The California Wine Club. I live in California and frequently travel to small wineries throughout the state, so I don't get the full benefit of their core product as much as someone outside California would.

Through the International Series, I get to experience and understand the benefits of membership at The California Wine Club like an outsider. I don’t travel internationally for wine tasting often (though I’ve tasted in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Provence, and the Niagara Peninsula in Canada) and without The California Wine Club I wouldn’t get to try all of these hidden gems.

Here is the selection of wines I’ve received from the International Series over the years.

Groom Family wines from different parts of Australia I received in 2015

Becker Family wines from Pfalz, Germany I received in 2016

Les Bonnes wines from the South of France I received in 2019

Camaraderie Cellars wines from different parts of Washington I received in 2022

Here is a review of my latest shipment of wine from October 2022. The shipment contained one Sauvignon Blanc and one Zweigelt from Austrian winery Michi Lorenz.

Michi Lorenz isn’t just the winery’s name, he’s the winemaker, too. His family has been growing wine grapes in this area of Austria (Sausal, a small, hilly part of southern Styria in the Südsteiermark region) for more than 500 years — and in 1524 the winemaker paid his taxes with wine! The vineyard is biodynamically farmed and is Demeter certified. And as far as I can tell, there’s pretty much nowhere in the US to buy this wine, except from The California Wine Club and the wine’s importer Vero Vino.

Styria (known as Steiermark in Austria) is having a moment in the wine world. The region is becoming well-known among natural wine enthusiasts, a group known for coveting anything unusual in addition to wines that adhere to the loose principles of what it means to be natural wine.

One of the reasons Styria is getting popular is that importers, restaurants, and retailers all want to get the attention (and serve) those natural wine customers. According to natural wine importer Jenny Francois, “These growers are very serious about how they work their vines: the level of attention to detail, to nature, to winemaking — their precision and the way they push themselves to do better every year.”

This particular Sauvignon Blanc was not super complex, but it was bright and food-friendly — a stated goal for Michi Lorenz, who wishes to make wine “not to be loud, and to fascinate people at the same time.”

I always enjoy trying wine from a new region, especially when it’s a grape I’m quite familiar with. The Austrian expression of Sauvignon Blanc is quite different from most others, especially its region of origin, the Loire Valley in France. Austrian wines are typically tart (acidic) and Steiermark plantings are roughly 55% Sauvignon Blanc.

My full review of: Michi Lorenz Sauvignon Blanc Klassik

This was not my first Zweigelt and I was excited to see it appear in this shipment. I love Pinot Noir and Zweigelt has similar characteristics, but is more acidic. It was as expected. The palate was “fruity with blackberry, cherry,” and a hint of vanilla from the oak.

When I think about an acidic red, I immediately think of Italian food, particularly the types with a lot of tomatoes. It was perfect with my homemade pasta sauce, but if you’re more casual, it might have gone well with a red-sauce pizza, too.

My full review of: Michi Lorenz Sausaler Klassik Zweigelt

Here are my top reasons to recommend The California Wine Club above all other clubs for gifts:

• The bottles in the first box come hand-wrapped in festive tissue paper.
• Gift recipients get a $25 credit toward a wine purchase in the wine store, and enjoy all member benefits while their gift membership is active.
• Buy more, save more pricing. Discounts start with three-month shipments.
  • 3-month gifts are $318 ($276 + $42 shipping and handling)
  • 6-month gifts are $618 ($534 + $84 shipping and handling)
  • 12-month gifts are $1,164 ($996 + $168 shipping and handling)

• They make it easy to get your shopping done early.
• The Love It guarantee helps ensure your gift recipient is satisfied.
• You can choose the Gift+ option and send them a small package in advance to let them know the wine is coming. The package, seen above, includes a corkscrew, a stainless bottle stopper, and a personalized gift note. This can be added on to any gift for $22 (includes shipping via USPS).
  
  Why Gift+? Delivery services being what they are, it’s hard to predict which day a wine club shipment might arrive, but you can order the Gift+ option and have it sent either to yourself to present in person on the big day or have it sent directly to the recipient to let them know the gift is on its way. This is a unique feature that no other wine club offers.

Gift-wrapped bottles in first shipment

Gift+ send-ahead gift