Club W is a wine subscription box that re-imagines the traditional wine club. They offer a regularly changing selection of unique, small production wines that are sourced directly from vineyards and winemakers.
When you sign up to join Club W, you take a short, fun “palate profile” quiz that helps determine your taste in wine. Based on your answers, Club W makes bottle recommendations for you every month. You can go along with their recommendations or choose your own bottles from their regularly changing selection.
If you don’t login to make your monthly bottle selection, your recommended wines will be sent by default. You can skip a month at any time.
When my box arrived, it seemed noticeably smaller than usual. Upon opening the box, I realized that Club W has introduced new packaging this month! I like that the tasting cards now have a dedicated nook.
My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
The Subscription Box: Club W
The Cost: 3 bottles per month start at $39 + $6 flat rate shipping. (Shipping is free on orders of 6 or more bottles.)
The Products: Small-lot wines sourced directly from vineyards and wine makers.
Ships to: All US states EXCEPT: AK, AL, AR, DE, HI, KY, MS, OK, PA, RI, DS, and UT
Check out our previous Club W Reviews or visit the Drink Subscription Box Directory for more boozy boxes!
Club W includes a tasting card for each of the wines in your shipment. Each card includes a description of the wine, tasting notes, and information about the flavor profile.
Printed on the back of each tasting card is a suggested recipe pairing.
2014 Piu Gioia Pinot Grigio- $13
Pinot Grigio is a popular Italian white wine, and it’s one of my go-to picks when I’m looking for something to pair with a light Italian meal. The Piu Gioia has a nice minerality and a good balance of fruit, and I found it to be refreshing and very easy to drink.
2014 Wonderful Wine Co. White Blend- $13
This white blend from Wonderful Wine Co. has a beautiful, fruity aroma with notes of lychee and honeysuckle. Club W suggests drinking this wine while lounging by the pool or relaxing on the patio, and I definitely think it’s a good wine to enjoy outside on a warm day.
Club W compares this wine to The Prisoner, an extremely popular red blend from Napa. Several years ago while visiting Napa, my husband and I had a bottle of The Prisoner with dinner one night, and he’s been in love with it ever since. I received a bottle of Alchymist Noir in a previous Club W shipment, but my girlfriends and I drank it before my husband had a chance to try it. Since it seems like this wine was made for him, I decided to order another bottle. It’s a big red wine with a little bit of sweetness. Club W recommends pairing it with chocolate truffles, and I think I might run with the idea of pairing this wine with chocolate and try serving it alongside chicken mole.
Blue Highway Sauvignon Blanc- $13
When I’m shopping for white wine, Sauvignon Blanc is usually my default choice. Club W compares Blue Highway to a Sancerre, which is actually my favorite kind of Sauvignon Blanc, so this wine is a perfect choice for me. It’s dry and crisp, with some flavors of grapefruit and nice minerality.
2014 Passarola Vinho Branco- $13
Vinho Branco is a general term that applies to any of Portugal’s white wine blends, and I think this might be my first time ever trying one. I’m a big fan of Vinho Verde (a young, slightly effervescent Portugese wine), so I jumped at the opportunity to try another popular type of wine from the area. I really like the Passarola. It’s crisp and citrusy. I also really like the whimsical airship featured on the label.
2014 Chop Shop Cabernet Sauvignon- $13
I’ve seen Chop Shop featured on the Club W site since I started subscribing, and I think it’s become something of a signature wine for them. Despite this, I don’t believe I’ve tried it before now! Club W calls Chop Shop “the mac and cheese of wines” because it pairs with a variety of food staples like pizza, burgers, and steak. This wine has nice red fruit flavors but is also a little earthy. It’s a big juicy wine, and I agree that it’s very food friendly.
Creamy Cauliflower and Roasted Garlic Linguine with Lemony Shrimp
Each month, I look forward to trying one of the Club W recipe pairings. This month, I decided to make Creamy Cauliflower and Roasted Garlic Linguine with Lemony Shrimp, Club W’s pairing suggestion for the 2014 Piu Gioia Pinot Grigio.
I began by boiling cauliflower in salted water and roasting a head of garlic. When both were ready, I made a sauce in the food processor by pureeing cooked cauliflower, olive oil, milk, Parmesan, roasted garlic, and nutmeg.
I then boiled my linguine and cooked shrimp in a saucepan with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, lemon zest, and chopped rosemary.
When the linguine was al dente, I strained it and stirred in the cauliflower cream sauce and fresh arugula. I plated the pasta and topped each portion with shrimp, a pinch of lemon zest, and a sprinkle of Parmesan.
Both my husband and I thought this dish looked beautiful and couldn’t wait to dig in. Unfortunately, it looked better than it tasted. My husband wasn’t a fan of the cauliflower sauce, and I didn’t really like the addition of arugula. (I thought spinach would have been a better choice. In my opinion, the bitterness of the arugula didn’t work well with the other components.) Still, after a glass or two of the Piu Gioia Pinot Grigio, we weren’t too upset about it, and we were happy to salvage the meal by eating the shrimp alongside some toasted bread that we spread with the leftover roasted garlic.
Verdict: I’m very happy with the wine I received in this month’s Club W, and I particularly enjoyed trying Vinho Branco for the first time. I struck out with this month’s recipe, but I typically have good luck with Club W’s suggested pairings, so I’m inclined to shake it off. Hopefully, I’ll have better luck next month!
Do you subscribe to Club W? Which bottles did you pick this month?
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