The wine club lottery

Wine clubs - Laithwaites, the Sunday Times, Virgin - are tempting to join, usually because of their introductory offers, but easy to get tired of.  I’ve been a fickle member of several, initial enticement often dwindling into boredom and, when I decide to drop out, annoyance that they keep pestering me with new proposals that tend to look like old ones in disguise. 

But I like to keep at least one membership running, the latest being Naked Wines from Norfolk,  who make an effort to encourage promising young wine producers in different countries, demonstrating what good value and how interesting their products  are. Some of them, in my experience, are better than others, but the ones I have grown to like and who have proved exciting enough to attract me, have helped to make me a continuing customer. 

The rules applied by Naked Wines are pretty standard. They email  you a frequent, extending wine-list and you tell them what you want. You order by the twelve-bottle case, which can consist of your own choice of wines or, if you prefer, something pre-packaged. Delivery is prompt and, more often than not, free.  Your account balance grows monthly by direct debit and when,  within two or three months, you have accumulated enough cash, you can place your next order in the expectation that it will be both worthwhile and uncommon.

There are various incentives. In your support of the ambitious  young wine producers you can become an “angel,” which enables you to get price  reductions. Every wine gets a listed percentage valuation of how many customers have bought it and been happy with it.  And every so often, if you order at the right moment, you get a free bottle or two. It’s not a bad system, even if you sometimes carelessly miss a bottle you seriously want to try, and for me it has worked well enough up to now.

It’s in identifying  producers you like, and avoiding those you don’t, that the system grows increasingly useful. Benjamin Darnault of the Languedoc is someone I’ve become more and more impressed with.   He produces a lovely fresh, dry Picpoul de Pinet, with a faint hint of prickle, which I’ve ordered several times and of which, this week, I’ve received the 2013 vintage. His pale pink (in some lights almost colourless) grenache is a deliciously dry summer wine, aptly named Pique Nique, and his red Minervois La-Liviniere I would certainly be happy to drink again. 

Rod Easthope’s New Zealand wines, including a fine fruity Pinot Gris, are also worth sampling. Naked Wines, like other wine clubs, may have their lottery aspects, but they have a good policy about returns and for the moment I’m sticking with them.

10 July 2014