Saw It On Social: Winc

Apr 4, 2019

Winc has popped up on blogs, in my inbox, and on social media.  So when a friend (who has kept me in wine at many Happy Hours) told me that he earned $30 for each new person he signed up, I decided to give it a try.  Because how often do you get to help out a friend by drinking wine?

Winc is a wine subscription service that recommends new, seasonal wines to suit your palate.  They work with winemakers across the globe to create smaller batch wines for their customers.  It’s essentially a modern wine of the month club.

The service asks you about your palette — your flavor likes and dislikes — and then recommends a selection of wines.  Members can choose how many reds and how many whites they want to receive each month.  And if you don’t like a wine that was selected for you, you’re reimbursed.  The service also offers wine gifts you can send to friends.

Now, if you follow me on Instagram, you know that I don’t drink a lot of wine.  Partially because it seems like there is so much to learn about wine.  And that knowledge level intimidates me into sticking with he simplicity of vodka.  But the idea of a service that could cater to my tastes appealed to me.

I decided to order four bottles in my first box — two red, two white.  The service selected them for me based on their palette test.  After they arrived, I invited a few colleagues over to help me taste test the wine.

The two bottles of white were the Outer Sounds Sauvignon Blanc and the Au-Dela Semillon.  We cracked both bottles and quickly pronounced the Semillon too sweet, verging on undrinkable.  The Outer Sounds was definitely better.  A good wine to drink with friends.

The two reds were the Lost Poet Red Blend and the Mercana Malbec.  My guests really enjoyed both wines.  In fact, two went home and bought bottles of the Lost Poet (which non-members can do for a slightly increased price per bottle).

Since we all disliked the Semillon, I decided to ask for a rebate.  I sent an e-mail to customer service, and two days later, a credit for the price of that bottle showed up in my account.  If you really like trying new wines, this rebate makes it possible to try something outside of your comfort zone without fear.

All in all, I enjoyed Winc.  The service was reliable, shipping was fast, and the customer service was excellent.  I’m going to get one more box of wine and then decide whether to keep the subscription going.  I simply don’t drink enough wine to enjoy the subscription to its fullest.  But for those who enjoy wine, I think it would be a good option to keep a few bottles on hand or try new things.

**A reader mentioned that I forgot to discuss the cost.  Not important information at all. ????‍♀️  I paid $58 for my first month, not including the $20 that you receive off your first order if you sign up for a membership.  Memberships start at $39 for basic wines and go up from there.  Shipping is $9, unless you order four bottles or more, and then it’s free.

I purchased the Winc subscription with my own cash, and tried all of the wines myself.  Even the sweet as candy Semillon.  No gifts were solicited or accepted, and no monetary benefit is generated by this post.

Features, Saw It On Social

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  1. Carlie says:

    I’ve been using Winc since September 2017 and I love it! I am a wine drinker, so this is a very convenient service for me. I also find it great to have bottles on hand to give away as gifts when I need a last minute gift. You can pick the exact wines you want before your order ships. So, if you don’t like Chardonnay, for example, and you see one in your scheduled shipment you can switch it out for a Sauv Blanc or something else.

  2. DCP says:

    I used to have Winc and loved it! Only reason I had to stop was because it was causing me to drink too much wine (sigh). I also got a bottle that was pretty terrible once and customer service was great about it. FWIW I also don’t know much about wine, other than that I like to drink it, so a real snob might consider my tastes horrible.

  3. H. says:

    Love the Saw It On Social posts, and this is definitely an intriguing service.

    (FYI — and I really don’t mean this to sound rude or pedantic, but thought you would want to know — the spelling you want is “palate” rather than “palette” when referring to taste. Super easy to confuse!)

  4. jess says:

    I just signed up after reading this! I love wine but have no idea really what bottles to choose, so I walk around in Costco just kind of grabbing whatever. I ended up getting a $20 coupon just now so the monthly cost for my first box was $38. Worth it to give things a try.

  5. e says:

    Thanks for covering Winc, I’ve been interested in trying! How much did you spend on your first month, and what is the range of cost each month?

    • Belle says:

      I paid $58 for my first month, not including the $20 that you receive off your first order if you sign up for a membership.  Memberships start at $39 for basic wines and go up from there.  Shipping is $9, unless you order four bottles or more, and then it’s free. You can also buy bottles without the membership, and those run $2-$5 more than the member price.

  6. Leah says:

    I’ve been using winc for over a year now. It’s far more convenient than going to the store, and you can choose the wines you want. They do have an option to skip months. I get an email a few days before my box is scheduled to ship and can cancel if I don’t need wine that month.

  7. Meredith says:

    I used Winc for a while a couple of years ago. I loved it at first but I realized that I was constantly choosing the upgrade wines. I also felt like it was encouraging me to drink more often because I would have 4 bottles of wine in the house at once. If I buy wine in the store I typically only buy 1 bottle at a time. I ended up stopping the service because I wanted to cut back on the amount I was drinking per week and because I usually ended up paying more than the flat fee due to upgrades. It was fun for a short period of time and is a great service if you’re starting from ground zero in terms of wine knowledge.

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