Wine Selectors Review

Overview

Wine Selectors has the focus of bringing their customers the best in Australian wine, hand-selected by their expert Tasting Panel.

They work with both boutique and big-name producers and currently stock 3,000+ Australian wines.

In addition to their online wine shop, they offer customers a range of wine subscription plans for regular wine deliveries. These fall into the categories of Standard Plans and Customised Plans.

In our view, Wine Selectors is a good option for people who want to learn more about Australian wine and explore wine of different varietals or from different regions.

It appears less suited to those who want to get the absolute best value bottle possible.

RELATED: The Best Wine Subscription Clubs

Subscription Club Details

Standard Plans

There are 15 standard plans to choose from, the most we’ve seen from any Australian wine club. This provides customers with the ability to choose a plan that best suits their personal preferences.

Examples include:

• Varietal Releases – focusses on your favourite varietal (e.g. Chardonnay, Shiraz, Cab Sav) and lets you learn about the influence of region and winemaking style.
• Organic Releases – a selection of wines from certified organic vineyards and wineries.
• Winemakers Releases – features superior quality wines that are the benchmark wines for their variety and region.

We also like the sound of the Regional Release, which lets you “travel through a different Australian wine region in every delivery”. 

Each of their Standard Plans come with tasting notes and they range in delivery frequency from every 2 weeks to every 12 weeks. With many of the plans, you have the option to choose the frequency, while with others this is fixed.

Many plans are available in either 6 or 12 pack cases, and most can be Mixed, Reds or Whites.

On the whole, these are very flexible wine delivery subscriptions, which is great.

According to Wine Selectors, their Standard Plans offer 15 – 20% off the normal RRP.

Customised Plans

The Wine Selectors Customised Cellar Door Release provides members with the ability to choose their preferred wine styles and varieties and specify their preferred delivery frequency.

This is one of the few wine clubs we’ve seen that offer this level of customisability.

What’s more, once you’ve set up your wine plan, you still have the ability to change the styles and varieties at any time.

Wine Selectors customised wine plans appear to have a flat rate of $210 per case of 12.

One thing we’d love to see, that currently isn’t offered, is the ability to add organic wines to the customised wine plan, even if it does bump up the price a little bit. 

Wine Club	Wine Selectors
Name	Standard Plans, Customised Plans
Type of Wine	Reds and/or Whites
Why try them?	3,000+ Australian wines
Country of origin	Aus
Price (per box of 12)	$157 – $338
User reviews	Good
Satisfaction guarantee	Yes
No repeats	No
Request wine changes	No
Delivery frequency	Every 2 – 12 weeks
Lock-in contract?	No
Membership Fee	$22/year
Cancellation Fee	None
Shipping Fee	Free on orders of $299+
Ability to pause/skip	Yes
Customer support	Email, phone
Tasting notes included?	Yes
Organic options?	Yes
Low/no alcohol options?	No

What We Like

Focus on Australian wine

We all know that Australia produces some of the best wine in the world, so why drink wine that has to be shipped all the way from Spain or France?

By focussing solely on Australian wine, Wine Selectors are able to offer wine plans that showcase specific varietals or regions in a way that other wine clubs can’t.

Flexibility

In addition to the range of subscription options outlined in our Subscription Club Details section above, members have a good amount of flexibility once they have signed up for a plan.

This includes the ability to skip or hold a delivery at any time, or to completely cancel. Although, we wish all these could be done online, without needing to call customer service.

Wine tasting panel

Wine Selectors employs a tasting panel to select the wines they offer their customers. The panel is made up of nine wine professionals ranging from wine show judges to sommeliers and wine educators.

Each year, the panel tastes and rates thousands of wines, using the Australian Wine Show judging system. This means that every wine is blind tasted and assessed on colour, nose, and palate.

Only wines that achieve at least a bronze medal are selected to be included in the Wine Selectors range.

Organic wine options

Wine Selectors is the only wine club we’ve seen that offers a regular delivery of 100% organic wine.

This is great to see and hopefully something more competitors offer going forward.

Satisfaction guarantee

We’ve come to expect this with Australian wine clubs, but nevertheless, it’s good to see Wine Selectors stand behind their wine with a guarantee that you’ll enjoy it.

If you don’t like any wine they send you, they will refund you.

Value Guarantee

Bargain hunters will be happy to see that Wine Selectors also has a Value Guarantee, which ensures you won’t pay less for wine anywhere else.

If you can find wine advertised elsewhere at a lower price, they will match that price or refund the difference.

What We Don’t Like

Annual Membership Fee

While at only $22/year it is a fairly minimal amount, as Wine Selectors is one of the few Australian wine clubs we have reviewed that has an annual fee, we feel it does need to be mentioned.

In exchange for the annual fee, members receive up to six free Selector Magazine copies in their wine deliveries and one copy of their Food and Wine Matching Calendar each year.

Members also receive access to wine deals across Australia and invitations to meet Australian winemakers and celebrity chefs at their Member Events.

Delivery Fee

Wines Selectors only offer free delivery on orders over $299. Given that many of their wine plans cost less than this, any customers will be charged for shipping with each delivery.

More traditional varieties

If Orange wine, Pet Nat, or Biodynamic wines are your thing, then this probably isn’t the wine club for you.

While Wine Selectors do have a great range, it appears to be limited to the more traditional varieties found in Australia.

Have to call to cancel membership

We’re of the view that you should be able to cancel any subscription online. The fact that you need to call Wine Selectors and have customer service try to talk you out of your decision is a negative for us.

Customer Reviews

Reviews are generally very positive for Wine Selectors with customers praising the high quality of wine they receive.

They also appreciate the comprehensive tasting notes and the ability to leave your wine selections in the capable hands of the Wine Selectors expert tasting panel.

Negatives relate mostly to their sales tactics and customer service, including:

• Hard to reach customer service (which is required for cancelling subscription)
• Unsolicited and harassing sales calls
• People being sent a case of wine with an invoice when unclear they had ordered anything

Wine Selectors FAQ