Wine subscription road-test: Booze you don't have to choose
Meet the new players delivering wine 'mixtapes' to your door.
Are you genuinely delighted when acquaintances drop by unannounced? Love a fly-and-stay mystery package? Do you wave away restaurant menus, directing the waiter to "just bring us food"? In short, are you the kind of thrill-seeking #freespirit likely to commit yourself and your credit card to a monthly program whereby a complete stranger chooses your booze and delivers it to your door?
Whether that's you, you're suffering from decision fatigue, or are chronically time-poor, these are the new wave of wine subscription services.
The concept isn't new. Australia's Wine Society, founded in 1946, has been offering subscription plans since Ben Ean moselle and the Beatles were big. Individual wineries offer all kinds of price and privilege incentives for customers who commit to regular deliveries. Over the past decade, several online wine retailers have encouraged customers to sign up to scheduled deliveries.
Melbourne-based liquor store group Blackhearts & Sparrows is the latest to join the fray, having coupled with publisher Schwartz Media to launch a new subscription service. It is, says Blackhearts co-founder Paul Ghaie, an extension of the informal in-store service his customers get when they ask trusted staff members to put together a half dozen tailored to their budget and preferences.
Trust in a wine ninja's judgment also underpins two other relatively recent entrants – the Wine Gallery and the Deadman's Dozen, both helmed by high-profile restaurant sommeliers. In a liquor market dominated by big discount chains, each of these three newer subscription services pitches on quality and individuality rather than price – and leans towards hard-to-find bottles or minimal-intervention wines that are, in Ghaie's words, "left-of-centre or a bit esoteric, producers that champion lo-fi techniques".
A Wine Service
The pitch "The best wine of the season, hand-picked within three differing categories."
The cred Paul and Jess Ghaie opened their first Blackhearts & Sparrows bottle shop in 2006, quickly building a reputation for a focus on small producers and chilled but expert in-store service. Seven Melbourne stores, plus an eighth opening in Canberra in June.
How it works Get online and select your category. "Classic" customers can specify reds or whites; for "esoteric" and "premium" categories it's a mix. When you sign up you can click to see the current month's selections. Choose six or a dozen, monthly or quarterly delivery.
What it costs About $20 to $36 a bottle, depending on category. A classic pack ("everyday wines … for school nights or dinner at home") is $120 for six; esoteric ("adventurous wines from small producers") is $180; and premium ("for people who know exactly what they'd like to drink") is $220. Shipping is a flat $10 Australia-wide.
What's in the box? A roast chicken recipe from chef Andrew McConnell and tasting notes on the six wines. The latest "premium" pack has riesling from a cult Victorian maker; a classic old-vines Chablis; a Yarra Valley pinot noir, and syrah from the same region. Left to my own devices I wouldn't go looking for sauvignon blanc-semillon from Beechworth, so the Sorrenberg 2017 is a happy discovery: an elegant barrel-fermented Bordeaux-style blend with citrus and subtle tropical flavours, and lovely low-key minerality. It's been a while between nebbiolos in this household and the 2016 Benevelli Piero Langhe from Piedmont is the real Italian deal: no lightweight, it's earthy and unashamedly tannic, with sour cherries and tight acid structure.
On the money? Lives up to its billing, with wines from established and emerging stars. When I looked online to find and price the individual wines I found that to buy these bottles elsewhere you'd need to track them down one by one from several different, mostly small, suppliers, pay a tonne of shipping, and be unlikely to save money on the overall package.
Best for Time-poor wine lovers keen for quality and something a little out of the ordinary – hey, it's hard to get to in-store tastings, what with juggling weekend work emails, Jasper's dance class, Zoe's footy and the reality that you're not even close to finishing the new Michael Ondaatje for Monday's book club. Jump on the iPad and you're sorted in minutes.
Details awineservice.com.au
The Wine Gallery
The pitch "Your monthly wine mixtape", personally tailored to your palate and selected by a top-flight sommelier.
The cred Sydney entrepreneur Tom Walenkamp and star sommelier Banjo Harris Plane's curated wine subscriber service, launched 2015.
How it works "It's Sunday and you're having a relaxing late-morning smoothie. Which one is it? Banana? Strawberry? Blueberry?" That's one of eight questions designed to form a picture of your palate and sense of adventure "on a scale of couch potato to Indiana Jones". Quiz completed, the Wine Gallery suggests three bottles and recommends others. After they deliver you can go online to comment on what you did or didn't like and they'll retool the following month's suggestions.
What it costs A minimum $69 (three bottles), plus $9 shipping. You can order more than three; it pans out at an average $23 a bottle.
What's in the box? Each bottle wrapped in Insta-pretty pink tissue has its own card with a story about the maker, a tasting note, food pairing idea and recipe. My welcome pack also contains a tote bag, tapenade, booklet for notes, and directions for rating my wines online "so we can keep learning about your personal palate". My six bottles are three selected according to my quiz answers, plus three I chose from my customised "recommended" list. They're an Adelaide Hills riesling, Barossa rosé, prosecco from the Veneto and a couple of Spanish whites. White rioja isn't one of my go-tos so I'm curious about the Vina Real 2014 barrel-fermented viura that came up as one of my top three; it's on target, with honeyed fruit, fine-textured oak and a clean finish. Beautiful Isle White Delicious 2016 is a tiny Tasmanian producer's curious blend of aromatic whites; unorthodox but a winner with Thai food.
On the money? The palate predictor algorithm is spookily accurate: it's as if Harris Plane peered into my fridge, saw what I usually stash and suggested some variations. This is as close as it gets to a tableside chat with a switched-on sommelier although – as in that scenario – some choices meet their mark better than others. Five of my six wines generally had RRPs slightly higher than the $23 you pay pre-shipping; I found none of them at the major liquor chains.
Best for Gen Netflix – people who've grown up or grown into expecting highly personalised online options and recommendations; drinkers of any age wanting to broaden their horizons or get a fun, jargon-free basic wine education; social media natives who love to like, follow, comment and share.
Details thewinegallery.com.au
The Deadman's Dozen
The pitch "Marion at home"; a monthly mixed dozen from Melbourne wine bar Marion, offered since 2016 and named after adjacent Deadman's Lane. Wines from the on-premise list plus others that ring the Marion crew's bells at regular team tastings.
The cred Part of Melbourne's wine-savvy McConnell restaurant group, chic Marion has a chef's hat in the latest national Good Food Guide and a list that brings together cult and classic wine producers. Sommelier Liam O'Brien is also in charge of wine buying for two-hatted Cutler & Co.
Costs A full dozen, the only option, is $270 (an average $22.50 a bottle). A six-month subscription earns free home delivery in metro Melbourne.
Process Phone or email and ask to sign up (or order a one-off dozen to pick up). No online options or quiz to determine your tastes; the Marion clientele is a pretty self-selecting group, typically with a taste for exploration, favouring small-producer and minimal-intervention wines.
What's in the box? Wine and a sheet of tasting notes. This sample includes King Valley prosecco; sauvignon blanc-semillon from a benchmark biodynamic Margaret River producer; pinot gris, chardonnay and pinot noir from different Mornington makers; a Bordeaux blend and a Spanish grenache. The 2014 Spinifex Esprit from the Barossa – a grenache blend – is floral, perfumed and open, packing a 14.5 per cent alcoholic punch. The wild card is Spanish, a 2014 Rafa Bernabe Benimaquia Tinajas moscatel blend with six months of skin contact and, according to the rustic swing tag that substitutes for a label, no added sulphur dioxide. Deep orange, it carries plenty of sediment, smelling of dried mandarin peel, with the astringency you'd expect of strong black tea – one for hard-core naturalistas.
On the money? Delivers what it promises – quality and novelty. The biggest surprise is the value: the RRPs on most of the wines in our sample dozen were well above the $22.50 a bottle you pay, with four priced at $30 or more. This will vary from month to month.
Best for The lo-fi barfly who says "surprise me!" and means it; curious drinkers keen to sample off-piste varieties and winemaking techniques as well as small-production classics; dipping into skin-contact whites, unfiltered reds and low-sulphur anything, at home and on a budget.
Details marionwine.com.au