The Eater wine club is the go-to club for the world’s finest wines curated by different sommeliers and beverage directors each month. The wine club is sophisticated with each month providing different wine bottles from exotic wine countries like Croatia, France, and Greece.
The wine club is a branch of the Eater food and beverage website, a dining and food network of Vox Media. It was acquired by Vox Media in late 2013 and has grown to serve as a local restaurant guide. With this in mind, Eater came up with the Eater Wine Club to provide you with a variety of surprising and highly drinkable wines straight to your doorstep.
The Eater Wine Club hires a professional to curate two or four unique bottles each month. These professionals usually come from Eater’s beloved bars, restaurants, and bottle shops. They draw inspiration from various flavors in different regions and mix it up with current trends to provide an amazing experience.
We are going to dive into the background history of the wine club to show you its roots and heritage. Moreover, we will showcase a few of their wine collections to give you a taste of what you will pay for. It is also important for us to rate their club plans, gift options, and membership to let you know if you should join the club.
What is Eater Wine Club and How Did it Start?
As mentioned earlier, Eater Wine Club is a branch of the Eater website and it was started by Vox Media in October of 2020. The wine club is new and has not had enough exposure to increase its clientele. Despite that, it has been able to offer its subscribers unmatched access to a variety of industry insiders from all over the United States.
The purpose of its creation by Vox Media was to offer wine lovers and enthusiasts the opportunity to enjoy amazing wines from Eater’s high-end establishments across the country. Currently, Eater has 23 domestic markets that it uses to investigate the current trends in the wine space. This helps them curate a monthly package for you to enjoy in the comfort of your home.
The inspiration behind its creation was the company’s need to create a wine club that could offer a unique experience to taste local trends and amazing wines.
The Editor-in-Chief and SVP of Eater, Amanda Kludt, put forward Eater Wine Club’s mission in an interview with Vox Media, “Eater has long celebrated future leaders of the restaurant world and our new wine club carries on that tradition by tapping some of our favorite emerging and established talents in the wine industry. We have developed a truly unique way to experience local trends and exciting wines no matter where you live. It is the wine club, we, at Eater, always wished we could join. So, we went ahead and built it ourselves.”
Its first month packages were curated by the renowned Zwann Grays, the Beverage Director at Brooklyn’s Olmsted and Maison Yaki restaurants. Zwann Grays offered Eater wine club subscribers a taste of Greece wines during the club’s November 2020 launch. The package featured Domaine Tatsis Roditis Alepou 2018, Papras Bio Wines ‘Melanthia’ 2019, Oenogenesis Mataroa Orange 2018, and Oenogenesis Mataroa Red 2018.
Eater Wine Club’s Wine Collections and Regions of Production
At the foot of it, the Eater Wine Club is run by MYSA Natural Wine – a small team of wine lovers that source, sell and write about natural wines from all over the globe. Despite being managed by a natural wines team, the Eater Wine Club does not offer only organic, natural, or biodynamic wine bottles. The club is more than happy to add chemical-free and minimal intervention red wines such as the Cardedu Caladu.
The wine collection is highly predicated by the current month’s curator who will choose his/her favorite wine picks to ship to the subscribers. The same applies to the regions of production which makes the Eater Wine Club a one-in-a-million experience for the avid wine enthusiast.
Some of its collections include Pampaneo Ancestral which is made from Airen, an indigenous Spanish grape. This type of wine is made using the traditional method of bottling the wine before fermentation is complete. It is a sparkling wine that will offer you a yeasty taste, a lively feeling, and an overall delightful experience.
You will also find the currently popular carbonic-macerated natural red wines of the Beaujolais and Loire Valley. An example of this is the Premier Jus that tastes like cherry Kool-Aid. This wine is made from Carignan and Grenache grapes which are aged in barrels for six months.
The wine collections are curated by the sommeliers depending on where they draw their inspiration. For example, the June 2021 package was curated by Liz Martinez, a certified sommelier, who drew her inspiration from France and Spain. These two countries are considered the origin place of modern winemaking through the use of popular grapes like tempranillo and cabernet sauvignon.
Liz opted to bring attention to less-common but yet diverse wines which included; Skouras Moschofilero., Pilizota Babic, Domaine Lupin Roussette de Savoie, and Raventos I Blanc de Nit Cava Rose. These bottles were hailed from different regions that included Nemea in Greece, Croatia, Frangy in France, and Spain respectively.
What Are Some of the Membership Benefits?
At the moment, if you visit the Eater Wine Club website, you will be met with a pop-up notification that will prompt you to sign up at a 10% discount on your first shipment. This is the only discount that the club offers apart from the common free shipping that comes with each subscription. It should be noted that any discount codes that are offered by the club won’t be applicable to gift purchases.
The club also ensures quick deliveries with typical shipments taking less than 5 business days to arrive at your doorstep. It may take longer for new subscribers due to shipment schedules and region of residence. The package may also be delayed by a day or two if you stay in rural areas.
Like most wine clubs today, the Eater wine club offers ‘free shipping’ by ensuring taxes and ground shipping costs are summed up together with the wine prices in your subscription package. You have the option of speeding up the process by reaching out to the company via email – [email protected] and paying a small fee for the shipping – a price that is set by the company itself.
You will also have no reason to worry about damaged bottles since they offer a full refund or new bottles for any that don’t arrive or get damaged in transit. You can reach out to them via the same email to notify them of any mishaps with your delivery.
You can also contact them in case you aren’t satisfied with the purchase and they will work with you to solve the issue. If it ends up warrantying a return, you will have to cover the price of sending it back and this should be done within 30 days of delivery.
Eater Wine Club Plans
The Eater Wine Club does not have a plethora of club options like other wine clubs that feature 10 + options. You only get two subscription plans that include 4 bottles per month subscription and a 2 bottle per month subscription. Both are recurring subscriptions which means that they will automatically renew each month unless you cancel the subscription or pause it in the ‘Manage Subscription’.
The subscription price for 2 bottles per month is $70 inclusive of taxes and shipping costs. The 4 bottles per month subscription on the other hand comes in at $110. As you can already tell, Eater Wine Club isn’t a cheap wine club like Wine of the Month club or First Leaf Wine Club.
The $70 and $110 price points may seem high, but remember Eater’s club provides you with a unique experience that is unparalleled by any other wine club. Eater Wine Club is meant for those wine lovers who want to experience new exotic flavors each month. Not only that, you will be able to taste wines that are professionally tailored to please every taste bud in your mouth through the help of these expert curators.
Before you select your subscription plan, the landing page will inform you of the current theme so that you know when to sign up. You can choose to wait till they introduce an interesting theme that picks your interest in the subsequent months. This feature makes Eater’s plans a mile ahead of its competition.
For example, this month’s theme is ‘Crushable wines made for drinking at the beach.’ This theme is well-tailored for July since it takes into consideration the summer outings that usually entail going to the beach. The theme also shows the curator, who is Lauren Friel of Rebel Rebel and Wild Child. It shows her background knowledge but makes sure to leave out the wine selections to surprise you.
Eater’s Gift Options
The same club subscription plans are available for gifting your friends and family. That means you can choose to gift 4 bottles per month or 2 bottles per month at the same $110 and $70 price point. Unlike the normal subscription, you have the option of choosing the number of months from the get-go. You can opt for one, two, three, or six months.
You will need to enter the recipient’s shipping address instead of yours. Once you input the address, you will be prompted to pay upfront and the package will be immediately shipped between the 10th and 22nd of that month. If you select the subscription past the 22nd, you will have to wait till the following month when the package will be shipped in the same 10th -22nd-time frame.
You will receive a confirmation email after your payment has been processed. The email will contain a tracking ID to help you know where the package is and if it has arrived. The email will also contain a link that can be shared with the recipient so that they can opt for Eater Wine Club emails after they enjoy the wine.
How to Cancel Membership With Eater Wine Club?
You have the option of canceling your membership, pausing it, or skipping a month or two. You can also choose to adjust the number of bottles you want at any time. The club will send you emails regularly to inform you of the next month’s theme so that you can choose to opt-out or keep it as it is. The wine club gives you a convenient and hustle-free way of doing this by simply logging in to your account on their site.
When you sign up for any club plan, you will create an account that will showcase your subscriptions and any relevant details about your purchases. Head over to ‘Manage Subscription’ on Eater Wine Club’s website and adjust your shipment frequency as you see fit. There are no commitments which means you can cancel at any time you so choose.
Who Should Join the Eater Wine Club?
The major deciding factor on who should opt for this club is the curation. Eater Wine Club prioritizes its professional curators so that they can choose their best picks for you. Instead of letting the customers guess what they may like, the club has opted to leave the selection to experienced experts to help you enjoy the best wines available.
Some wine lovers may not like the use of curators since the sommeliers are free to pick any wine they want from whichever region they want. Wine tasting is not an exact science which means different wine tasters may have different opinions on a given bottle.
With that said, you shouldn’t be worried about getting a bad bottle since the curators change every month with different selections. This provides for a cool experience since you are always trying a different bottle each month.
Apart from the wines that come in the package, they also include a newsletter from the club and an invite to Eater Wine Club’s monthly wine party. The newsletter showcases basic information about the wines, the curator’s tips and tricks on drinking the wine, and also provides insight into their lives, food experience, and so much more.
Additionally, the newsletter will have a short note inviting you to Eater Wine Club’s next virtual wine tasting event that happens over Zoom. Instructions will direct you to RSVP at voxmediaevents.com/eaterwineclub and also save a bottle of wine that will be tasted during that event.
These events are educational ones where you meet the curator and learn the reasons behind the selections. With the required wine at hand, you will be informed on how to drink it and how to taste the various ingredients. Apart from that, the virtual meetings are casual and fun-oriented with some having pop culture trivia games to entertain the attendees.
With all these perks, you probably know if you are going to sign up by now. However, beware that the Eater Wine Club ships to all states in the United States apart from Alaska, Hawaii, Alabama, Kentucky, Utah, and Mississippi. Also, your first month’s package will be shipped between the 10th and 28th of that month, whereas subsequent subscribers will receive their shipment any time after the 10th.
Alternative Clubs
Depending on what you are looking for, there are multiple alternatives out there to Eater Wine Club. When it comes to price, you can choose to go for cheaper options like Winc Monthly Wine Club which starts at just $39 per month for three bottles. Another cheap option is the Wine of the Month Club which starts at $39 per month for two bottles.
Additionally, these alternatives come with multiple subscription options that range from two bottles a month to twelve bottles. Wine of the Month Club also comes with a unique box that is well decorated to entice any wine enthusiasts.
Final Thoughts
Eater Wine Club provides a special experience to the wine-loving community. The wine pros have been able to consistently provide world-class selections that have earned the wine club a respectable audience in its short life. Hopefully, with time, we will get to see an increase in subscription plans and even reduced prices.