Not sure what wines to buy? Always buy the same thing? Looking for a regular supply of wines direct to your door? If the answer is yes to any of the above, then you should consider joining a wine club. Wine clubs have become increasingly popular in recent years and offer a number of benefits when it comes to buying wine.
The main advantage of joining a wine club is that you get to enjoy a regular supply (monthly or quarterly depending on the wine club) of expertly selected wines. Unlike a supermarket or wine shop when you are faced with rows and rows of wines and unsure what to buy, with a wine club all the research is done for you. You get to taste a whole host of award winning wines, customer favourites, pre-releases and undiscovered gems that you otherwise may not have chosen. What’s more, you’ll be sure to have a bottle of wine to hand, perfect for every occasion.
Another advantage of joining a wine club is that you will receive detailed information about each of the wines. This can help when it comes to picking out wines in the future (particularly if you are new to wine), as you get to learn more about what you are drinking and the winemakers who produce the wines. Some wine clubs encourage you to rate or comment on the wine. This can be useful as you get to remember your favourites and you also get to see what other customers think of the wines before you taste them.
Joining a wine club is one of the easiest ways of buying wine. As you sit back and enjoy your wines, you can rest assured that the hard work is being done to prepare your next wine club case for you. And with delivery direct to door, you don’t have to lift a finger.
Some wine clubs offer an incentive to encourage you to join, such as a price reduction or free gift. Once you’ve joined, you’ll also probably benefit from other savings such as discounted cases or exclusive promotions. Virgin Wines’ online wine club goes the extra mile and offers a money back guarantee, so if you find that you don’t like a wine that has been selected for you, you can get your money back.
In addition, as a member of a wine club, you may receive invitations to tasting sessions or events. These can be a great way of meeting other people interested in wine, chatting to the experts who select your wines and trying new ranges.
Finally, with many wine clubs to choose from, it’s worth picking one that offers you freedom and flexibility. So if you decide that you want to skip a case or modify the selection where you don’t like a wine, this shouldn’t be a problem.
A wine club is a great option if you are looking to learn more about wine and they are a really convenient way of keeping stocked up with wine. Wine clubs do vary from one to another, so it’s best to check the details and terms first to ensure that you choose the best one for you. To find out about Virgin Wines’ Discovery Wine Club, which specialises in bringing you boutique wines from up and coming winemakers, and which offers all of the benefits mentioned above plus more, visit virginwines (dot) com.
The Sunday times has been running the “Sunday Times Wine Club” for quite some time now, for the savvy investor it is a wealth of information about new trends in the wine market and can be used to tern a profit for both long term and short term investments in wine. If you’re new to investing in wine, then it is best to stick with the Bordeaux wines as this counts for up to 90% of the investor market, and has more liquidity if you where to decide to cash in your investment.
The minimum time frame people usually look at investing in fine wines is 1 year though 5 years is considered the maximum about of time for a long term investment, you can see returns of up to 30% a year from your portfolio.
Before investing in any wine it is best to get expert advice on what wines are likely to make high yielding investments, any wholesale wine merchant that supplies for the investment market should have a good idea on what’s hot at the moment but a bit of knowledge yourself can never hurt.
Wine is certainly less volatile than the stock market, and has out performed the FTSE 100 for three consecutive decades with lack of interest form investment bankers and hedge funds due to the small size of the wine market this has allowed it to remain open for normal investors to profit from.
Wine has become increasingly popular in the alternative investment market and continues to grow, the main reason is that there is solid demand for the product outside the investor market which means the prices are help purely from speculation like you may find with stocks and shares.
Popular Wine Varieties
There are many types and varieties of wine available. For anyone wanting to try and match a great wine with a specific type of meal, then you can’t go wrong making your choice form one of the more popular varieties around.
Let’s take a look at some of the more popular wine varieties:
Cabernet Sauvignon
Often abbreviated to the less-than-lovely name ‘cab-sav’, the flavorful cabernet sauvignon is a classic French wine that is one of the most widely recognized red wine varieties. This full-bodied red wine blend can be the ideal accompaniment to a fine steak, a roast lamb or on its own as a drinking red wine.
Merlot
Merlot should ideally be a very soft red wine that is also quite rich without the high tannin levels of other reds. Whether on its own or blended with a great cab-sav, merlot is lovely served with chicken or can an excellent drinking red wine.
Shiraz
This very dark red wine is rich and full with amazing peppery flavors. An excellent complimentary wine for any meat dish, with a barbecue or on its own, Shiraz wines can be matured for several decades and just get better.
Shiraz was originally produced from grapes from the Middle Eastern countries although South Australia’s brilliant wine region is now said to produce some of the finest award-winning Shiraz wines in the world.
Served with peppery or mustard-based sauces on spicy, garnished meats, Shiraz is the perfect complimentary red wine.
Grenache
Grenache is a very soft, subtle red wine that is often blended with other types of wine to produce distinct flavors and blends. A glass of chilled Grenache goes beautifully with most spicy foods.
Pinot Noir
Pinot noir is a stunning light- to medium-bodied red wine with a fine fruity aroma. When this fine wine is well aged, it can develop lovely floral flavors
Chardonnay
Chardonnay is easily one of the most popular white wines anywhere. Traditionally these wonderfully melon flavored wines are allowed to mature in oak barrels for up to 3 years. Chardonnay is ideal served along with salmon.
Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon blanc is a very ripe tasting white wine that can have a quite aggressive aroma as compared to other white wines. Sauvignon Blanc is a lovely white wine that is excellent with seafood and a great accompaniment to Japanese sushi, but is even better on its own as a drinking white wine.
Semillon
This classic full-bodied dry French white wine is often misunderstood by people living outside of France or Australia. Often criticized for lacking in intensity, Semillon has a distinctly fruity flavor that is more subtle than some of the ‘heavier’ white wines and so it’s often blended with a Sauvignon Blanc to create a wonderful light drinking wine.
Riesling
Riesling was original a German wine that is now made successfully in many countries around the world. Rieslings are classically fruity and can be either sweet or dry, which makes them an ideal compliment to many spicier cuisines.