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Club W Wine Subscription Review & Coupon – January 2016

Lindsey Morse
ByLindsey MorseJan 18, 2016 | 1 comment

ClubW-January-2016-Box

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.

ClubW-January-2016-Quiz

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.

ClubW-January-2016-Inside

My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

ClubW-January-2016-BoxWines1

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!

ClubW-January-2016-Cards

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.

ClubW-January-2016-Recipes

Printed on the back of each tasting card is a suggested recipe pairing.

ClubW-January-2016-Wines

2015 One from the Quiver Malbec- $13

Malbec is one of my favorite red wines, so I was very much looking forward to this bottle. It’s from Mendoza, Argentina, which probably the most famous region for the grape. This is a young Malbec, but it’s meant to be opened right away. The earthy, dark fruit flavors hold up well to grilled meats and powerful flavors like The Kitchy Kitchen’s Chimichrri Pasta Salad (the recommended pairing), which is packed with lots of fresh herbs, garlic, and red pepper.

2015 Brethren of the Road Gewurtzraminer- $13

Gewurtzraminer, on the other hand, isn’t a wine I typically reach for. I usually prefer dry, crisp wines like Sauvignon Blanc, but I’m always up for trying something a little different! Brethren of the Road has “abundant floral characters that’ll have you thinking you’re in a field of blossoms.” It’s an off-dry wine from California grapes, and I actually really like it. I enjoy pairing slightly sweet wines with spicy food, so I’m planning to save the rest of this bottle to pair with something that offers a little heat. One of my new years resolutions is to eat more veggies, so maybe I’ll try pairing it with this recipe for Vegan Vietnamese Banh Mi Sandwiches.

2014 A Beautiful Waste of Time Appassimento- $13

This wine comes from Puglia, Italy, and is inspired by the country’s famous Amarone wine. Interestingly, Appassimento refers to the process used to create it: after grapes are harvested, they’re dried on bamboo mats before pressing. “Dating back over 3,000 years, it’s a time-consuming, taxing, and risky procedure, but it produces powerful wines with concentrated flavor, richness, and depth.” Fascinating!

Carbonara Polenta

Each month, I look forward to trying one of the Club W recipe pairings. This month, I decided to make Carbonara Polenta, Club W’s pairing suggestion for the 2014 A Beautiful Waste of Time Appassimento.

ClubW-January-2016-PolentaRecipe

I don’t have a lot of experience cooking with polenta, but I loved the look of this recipe. I’m a fan of pasta carbonara, and polenta carbonara is such a fun twist on the classic dish.

To begin, I sautéed chopped prosciutto until crispy. (Note: the recipe called for guanciale, but my grocery store didn’t have any.) When it was ready, I transferred it into a bowl and set to work on the polenta.

I combined water, chicken broth, and milk to a boil and added the polenta. After 15 minutes of simmering, I added grated pecorino Romano cheese and heavy cream. I seasoned it to taste, transferred it to bowls, and topped each one with more grated cheese, crispy prosciutto, a drizzle of olive oil, black pepper, and a poached egg.

ClubW-January-2016-CarbonaraPlated

I served it alongside pan-roasted chicken and sautéed greens.

ClubW-January-2016-MealPlated

The polenta was creamy, rich, and SO comforting. I thought it was a delicious addition to a hearty winter meal, and my husband deemed this to be the best Club W recipe we’ve ever tried.

ClubW-January-2016-WinePlated

Typically, I serve white wine with chicken, but I think the richness of the polenta held up well to the 2014 Appassimento. All together, this was a fantastic meal!

Verdict: This was a solid box from Club W, and the polenta carbonara recipe was incredible.  I really enjoyed learning about the appassimento process, and, as always, I had a great time reading about and sampling new wines. If you like trying new small-production wines that you can’t find in the grocery store, I definitely recommend checking out Club W!

Do you subscribe to Club W?  Which bottles did you pick this month?

Lindsey Morse
Lindsey Morse

Lindsey is a professional baker, cold brew coffee addict, and rosé aficionado who loves writing about food and wine. When she’s not sharing her love of subscription boxes with the world, you’ll find her in the podcasting studio, perfecting her cake decorating techniques, or cursing her way through the New York Times daily crossword puzzle. 


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1 comment

Anna

This is my first order with them! It actually just arrived about 10 minutes ago! I love a sweet red wine ( or Alcoholic Grape Juice). I hate trying to pick wines so i made my hubby pick 3! We also got the Beutuful Waste of Time Appassimento, 2013 Dime Red Blend and 2014Prismus cabernet franc =) Is it too early to sample? If you have any sweet red recommendations please let me know…super excited!

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