Wine Clubs vary in cost from approximately $40 to over $150 per month.
Many clubs will give you a special introductory rate, such as 3 bottles for just $15 from Firstleaf Wine Club. Obviously the company loses money on this first shipment but they hope to keep you as a customer and will profit on subsequent shipments.
The cost of wine clubs vary based on a few factors:
- The quality of the wine – wine clubs typically ship decent wine. I can't say the best wine I've ever had was from a wine club, but rarely do I dump out a bottle that I receive from wine clubs. Some clubs definitely ship higher quality wines than others but if they only shipped cheap wine they'd lose the customer and the goal of a wine club business is to keep the customer as long as possible.
- The number of bottles – wine clubs can include anywhere from 1 to 15 bottles of wine per shipment. As you'd expect, if you're receiving 1 bottle it's going to be high quality wine whereas if you're receiving a case of 15 (case + 3), some of the bottles will be what I call “2nd bottle wines” (then you and your friends have polished off the first bottle, and are drunk enough to not care what the second bottle tastes like).
- Extra stuff – wine clubs can include glasses, bottle openers, newsletters, sustainability causes, etc. None of that is free – you're paying for it.
When asking, “how much do wine clubs cost?” it's important to understand how these elements affect the price you pay.
