Firstleaf Wine Club Review
Firstleaf Wine Club is one of the best wine subscriptions we’ve reviewed, and it comes at a great price. With an industry-leading introductory offer that delivers 6 bottles of great wine for only $44.95, it’s hard to pass up! Subsequent deliveries cost about $15 per bottle, and the wines are excellent. It is simple to skip or cancel at any time.
Original price was: $165.00.$44.95Current price is: $44.95.
They use technology and a fun & quick "taste quiz" to determine your preferred wines. After your first delivery (which is heavily discounted and free shipping), you get to rate the wines they sent you. By giving their wine matching technology this feedback, your algorithm is refined and subsequent wine deliveries are consistently wonderful, ensuring you get the perfect wine ever time.
- Introductory offer: 6 bottles for just $44.95
- Order is shipped quickly, no waiting for wine
- Wines selections are customized for you
- Flexible shipping schedule and specific delivery dates
- Discounts on additional bottles
- Only available in 6 and 12 bottle deliveries
What is Firstleaf?
Firstleaf is an affordable wine subscription service that sends personalized premium wine selections to you based on their technology that essentially “learns what you like” to refine your algorithm. You always get high quality, personalized selections of wines delivered to you at your preferred date and at your preferred frequency. Every bottle of wine (six bottles per delivery) will be custom selected for you, based on your taste preferences. You'll rate the wines that you receive to help train their algorithm on your tastes. The longer you rate wines, the algorithm will get more refined and perfected for you.
They make it easy to skip, pause or cancel — so you're never “locked in” to anything.
Our first review of Firstleaf dates back to 2014 – so we're really familiar with this company, their wines and their service. (And if they have a great discount or deal, we'll post it here!)
This review post shows a delivery Todd received and really enjoyed!
How to buy Firstleaf:
Use our “buy now” links to get to Firstleaf's website where the quick and fun quiz will guide their algorithm to choose the perfect wine for your initial delivery. If you're new to wine, you'll find the quiz very appealing and approachable. They don't ask a bunch of snobby questions! You'll answer taste questions like “what kinds of chocolate do you like”, or “how do you feel about citrus flavors”, etc. NOTE: You can skip the quiz if you already know what wines you like, but it's actually pretty clever how it works — and IMHO, the few minutes with the fun quiz is enjoyable.
Their deals are really good, too! To entice you to try Firstleaf, they offer massive discounts on the first delivery. The hope is that you'll enjoy the experience, the wine and the incredible value so you'll stick around. Subsequent deliveries are about $90 and shipping should add another $19.95. Remember, each delivery comes with 6 bottles of wine (personalized for your tastes), so $90 translates to $15 per bottle. (add another $3 per bottle for shipping)
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Their introductory offer is too good to pass up. For $44.95 and free shipping, you'll get 6 bottles of good wine, personalized for your preferences delivered to your home or office.
How Firstleaf Wine is shipped to you:
You get to choose your delivery date. That's unique! Most companies require you to receive your deliveries on their schedule, not yours.
Your first delivery will be shipped quickly (within a couple of days) and you'll receive a custom, personalized welcome letter with details about the specific wines that were chosen for you. The packaging is sustainable, nicely branded and kept the bottles safe during delivery.
As always, an adult 21 years or older must be present to accept any wine delivery.
The 6 bottles are delivered in a nicely branded box using recycled material and includes a personalized product info and more
New feature: Have your wine delivered to a local business, where you can pick up at your convenience!
When you order from Firstleaf, you now have options! You can instruct them to deliver your wines directly to your home or work, like “normal” of course, but that has often been a challenge for wine delivery customers. Since the delivery of wine can't just be dropped off on your porch without an adult signing for the package, delivery logistics can be challenging. To solve this problem, they partnered with other businesses to accept your delivery for you! So when you select your delivery options, you can have your wine delivered to a local business instead of your home. Then, you just go pick it up when convenient for you. (See my post where I first experienced this by shipping my wine delivery to the local Walgreens, allowing me the freedom to NOT be home for several hours while waiting for my delivery of wine!)
What is the wine from Firstleaf like?
The wines I've received range in their retail prices, but the average was about $23 a bottle — although I just received bottles that retail for $38, $40 and $51. Regardless of their retail prices, Firstleaf offers 6 bottles for only $44.95 and free shipping!
We drank all the wine! (Yes, we loved them all.)
We've reviewed Firstleaf many times over the years (since 2014!) and have always been very happy with the wine received. Although they don't charge anywhere near retail prices, the wines have always felt premium. Every bottle has always impressed me — there has never been a bottle I didn't like. And, if Firstleaf hadn't disclosed their retail prices of the bottles, I would have assumed them to be higher. (I had assumed most bottles were in the $30+ price point.)
As for the selection of wine they send? Since the wine selected for each delivery was chosen for your tastes, you'll have high confidence that they will send you wine that you'll like! (Their 100% satisfaction guarantee ensures that you'll always be happy. Replacement wines or refund — they want you to be happy.)
As I've said many times before, I only like red wine — so Firstleaf only sent red wine to me!
Their full color, 4 page personalized insert shows their retail prices, plus tasting notes and pairing ideas. Notice the prices on these pages? I only paid $44.95 with Free Shipping, yet still, I received these high value wines!
The QR Codes for each wine make it easy for you to rate the wine. (Or make an extra purchase of wines you love.)
With their wine matching technology as a core differentiator, you are encouraged to rate the wines as you drink them, so you can feed their algorithm more preference data — which results in consistently getting wine you'll love in future deliveries. They have an app you can use to rate the wines, or simply log in to your account via their website.
Each delivery gets better and better with their technology selecting perfect wines for you. As for the first delivery: you tell Firstleaf what you like (or their quiz will figure it out for you) — so you'll get 6 bottles of wine that you'll actually like.
When I purchased my subscription, I was very clear that I like red wine and that I do not like white wine. I have been extremely impressed with the quality of the delicious red wines I have received in my shipments.
We started reviewing Firstleaf in 2014: Their wines have been consistently delicious through the years!
Their communications and website make everything simple!
My focus on deliveries of wine has always been the wine, and very rarely do I pay much attention to a company's website (or app). But with Firstleaf, I just felt compelled to log in! The personalized letter and wine brochure has QR codes taking me to the wines where I can easily rate them, and their notification emails have easy links to my preferences and settings area to skip or cancel.
Firstleaf notifies you in advance about your next delivery and how to make changes!
One of my favorite emails to receive!
They even make it easy to swap out upcoming wines. You'll get notified about 10 days in advance about your next delivery, including the exact bottles you'll be receiving. In the event you don't like what you see, you simply click the “swap” button to change it out for a different bottle.
If you don't like a bottle in your next delivery, you can swap it out in advance!
How to customize your Firstleaf preferences:
When you log in to your Firstleaf account, they show you a nice simple dashboard that quickly shows information about your next delivery (including a “one click skip” button) and links to update your preferences. You can easily set your delivery frequency from every 4 weeks up to every 12 weeks. You can upgrade your orders to 12 bottles instead of 6 (and they give you additional free wine, btw.)
My personal Firstleaf dashboard. (I covered my delivery address and payment preferences with our logo!)
You can skip a delivery with one click! And it's easy to change delivery frequency too.
They make it so easy to set your delivery preferences including frequency on the same app (and website) that you use to rate your wines. When I first purchased Firstleaf, I set my delivery schedule to “monthly”. I quickly realized that I couldn't keep up with that pace, so I changed it to “every 12 weeks” within their website.
Although the default is monthly deliveries (every 4 weeks) changing is easy.
How to schedule your Firstleaf deliveries:
The idea of “scheduling” your wine subscription deliveries is unique. Most companies have a set schedule that you must accept because they get their wines in bulk each month and distribute to their customers based on their inventory, not based on customers' preference.
Your initial order will be delivered within a couple of business days; it's always fast. When you order, you can specify your preference for when you'd like your deliveries to come in the month.
You can select the date of your deliveries!
How to cancel your Firstleaf subscription:
Pausing or cancelling deliveries after the initial deliver was super simple, too. You are never locked in to anything as you can change your delivery frequency to every month, every other month, every 3 months.
Skipping a delivery with Firstleaf is easy:
Regardless of your frequency selection, you can always skip a delivery, too. They send a reminder notification in advance so you can skip, pause, or change anything about the delivery by clicking on an email or text.
Skipping a delivery takes only one click!
How we feel about Firstleaf:
From our experience, Firstleaf is an impressive value, an excellent experience and very good wine. Highly recommended!
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Some photos of our recent deliveries from Firstleaf
Here are some photos from Todd's recent deliveries from Firstleaf.
Again, he chose all red wine because that is his preference. Your wine selections will be personalized to your preferences.
Everything about this delivery was personalized and customized for me. (Yours will be equally personalized for you!)
When unboxing our delivery from Firstleaf, the customized welcome letter is the first thing you see!
This cabernet from Chile was delicious
They use technology and a fun & quick "taste quiz" to determine your preferred wines. After your first delivery (which is heavily discounted and free shipping), you get to rate the wines they sent you. By giving their wine matching technology this feedback, your algorithm is refined and subsequent wine deliveries are consistently wonderful, ensuring you get the perfect wine ever time.
- Introductory offer: 6 bottles for just $44.95
- Order is shipped quickly, no waiting for wine
- Wines selections are customized for you
- Flexible shipping schedule and specific delivery dates
- Discounts on additional bottles
- Only available in 6 and 12 bottle deliveries
We've been a fan of FirstLeaf for years! We started reviewing shipments many years ago. In fact, here is our first review by Eric!
First shipment: 6 bottles for just $44.95
Eric received a shipment from the Firstleaf Wine Club, when they first launched. Promoted as “A new way to buy your favorite wine”, we ordered and checked out their process. Of course, we've seen this model before: answer a few questions about what type of chocolate you like and how you drink your coffee and the wine club will send you wines customized for you. But Firstleaf goes further, asking you to review the wines you receive at each shipment, customizing your next selection and refining their method for choosing the best wines for you.
Eric received a delivery from Firstleaf years ago. The box graphics have updated a little over the years, but they always has a festive feel!
Getting Started
Ordering firstleaf is a fun and quick process. They use an interactive quiz that guides you through the 15 seconds to answer these questions about your taste preferences. It's very well done.
You'll then be presented with 6 wines that their algorithm recommends for you. You can keep those wines or substitute out individual bottles. When you're ready to proceed, this order will only cost you $44.95 plus free shipping.
Even if you cancel after that first shipment, this is a great value ($7.50 per bottle, shipped to you) to get some new wines sent to your door, based on your own taste preferences. You can also replace up to 3 bottles for an extra $10 each if you want to upgrade to the Fine Wine Collection.
| What wines do you like? | Which regions? | How many bottles do you drink per month? |
|---|---|---|
| White | USA | 0-2 |
| Mix | Mix | 3-5 |
| Red | International | 6+ |
| Rose | ||
| Sparkling |
What's in the Box
When I was sent my shipment (shipping is FAST!), I received the Founder's Favorites: Paso Del Tiempo 2015 Old Vine Garnacha, Open Secret 2016 Pinot Noir and Whipstitch 2016 Chenin Blanc. The retail price of these three bottles is $81, but you can get these same wines delivered to you for under $20.
I'm always happy to see wines shipped in cardboard vs. styrofoam. I've never received a broken bottle, and would rather recycle the packaging instead of contributing to a landfill.
Upon opening the box, there was an envelope with tasting notes (my favorite part of receiving wine from a wine club). After all these years, I'm better at pairing wine with food and identifying the different flavors, but I like to compare my choices to what the experts say. Firstleaf disappointed me here, however, as I only received tasting notes for the Paso Del Tiempo 2015 Old Vine Garnacha. If I were a member of the club, I could have logged into my account and read the notes online, but I like to keep the hard copy with the bottle in my cellar.
The Wine
My wife and I were hosting Friendsgiving, so we opened the Open Secret 2016 Pinot Noir. Everyone tastes wine differently and we review wine clubs, not the wine sent in the club. But I will say this bottle did not disappoint. It went well with the meal and our guests were satisfied with it.
The Membership
As a club for yourself, this is a great value to get started and a great concept. The longer you stay a club member, the better job Firstleaf does matching their wines to your tastes. Ongoing shipments cost $90 plus shipping but that's for 6 bottles, so you're paying just $15 per bottle for wine chosen for you. When you choose the 12 bottle club, you get free shipping.
You can set the frequency of shipments to come every 2 to 12 weeks. So if you go through 6 bottles per month, get the shipment sent to you monthly. But if you're only opening 2 bottles per month, have your shipments sent every 3 months. Your first shipment after your introductory shipment will be scheduled for after 29 days.
Firstleaf as a Gift
Although Firstleaf did not offer a gift option when we first reviewed the club, we are happy to report that they do have gift options now!
First, you can send a Firstleaf Gift Card and let the recipient choose their own wines. Giftcards are sent digitally on the day of your choosing. A $100 card will cover a 6-bottle order of customized wines. You can choose any amount starting at $25 and they can use it to buy individual bottles in their Wine Store.
Second, you can send a Wine Bundle. These start at around $59.95 for 3 bottles. You can choose from Red, White, or Mixed Bundles. You can also choose their Fine Wines for something more upscale. Specialty bundles include Sparking Wines, Award-winning Red, Sweet Wines, and Rose'.
How to Cancel Firstleaf Wine Club
- Go to https://www.firstleaf.club/unsubscribe
- Login, if not already signed in
- Select your reason for cancelling, and then click “Cancel Subscription”
For other customer service requests, visit https://help.firstleaf.club/ or email service@firstleaf.club.
Summary
You can't miss on Firstleaf's introductory offer: 6 bottles of wine delivered to you for under $44.95. If you're looking for a club for yourself that customizes the selection based on your preferences, I recommend giving Firstleaf a try. We haven't tried their gift options ourselves yet, but we like the look of them for general gift giving as you can send your recipient a notification via email at a predetermined date and time, alerting them to your gift!
Specification: Firstleaf Wine Club Review
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