With all the many different wine clubs out there I wanted to focus on one in particular, a wine club that I myself actually belong to, that I myself give money to each month. The wine club I am talking about is Naked Wines and I have belonged to them for about 4 years now. When I first started out looking into wine clubs, I was very disappointed. I sent an email to eight different wine clubs and told them I was doing a review of wine clubs and asked them if they were interested in participating. A few answered back and told me they were not interested but some answered back and sent me some wines to review. In the end, all the clubs failed except for one. A couple of the clubs sent wine but sent the wrong information sheets along with their wines calling into doubt their attention to basic details and customer service in general. Such lack of basic attention had me questioning just how well the company was run in general and what potential issues I would have with them down the road. To give you an example, I would for instance receive a 2020 ABC, Cabernet Sauvignon but receive a tech sheet that would say 2019 DEF, Cabernet Sauvignon. This is sloppy folks and not something that any knowledgeable wine consumer wants to see. Now reasonably, you might think this was simply just a mistake and so did I at first but the same issue applied to the other five wines that were in the box as well and this was to me at least, unacceptable.
Putting all of that aside though, the wines themselves that I tasted were coming across as simple jug/bulk wines merely repackaged into smaller bottles, they had no sense of place, nothing giving away where they were from on the palate, and nothing that presented anything more of a thought then "yeah, okay and?" In short, the wines were unimpressive. I received wines which were without vintages (non-vintage) or the labels would simply say "California" or "Oregon" meaning the grapes came from various (anywhere really) places in those states. The lack of a specific AVA or area is usually not the sign of a quality wine. I was really upset at what I was receiving overall guys but I had one more club to check out and that club was Naked Wines. By the time I got to
them I had the mindset of, "these clubs all suck" but, I had one more to take for (the team:) To say that I was impressed with what Naked Wines sent me is an understatement so let's get to discussing them now.
SHIPPING - Let's start off here with discussing shipping because what good is
wine if you either never receive it or, the bottles that you do receive were damaged or leaked in
transit. For so many companies, the shipping costs they charge is used
as just another area in which they make profit. I don't know about you
but this really pisses me off as the cost of shipping should be just that, the
cost of shipping and not an additional way to up-charge the customer.
You made your profit now give me my product! In the case of Naked Wines, they charge $9.99 to ship a case of 6
bottles of wine which is also the minimum you need to order. If the order is $200
or more, the wine ships for free and you can't beat that. Try getting 6 or more bottles of wines shipped to your home from a winery or anyone else for either $9.99 or for
free and see
successful you are. By the way, if you add more wines you must order in increments of 3. As far as the protection offered to the wines goes, the packaging
itself was securely done and just as good as if it were to have been received from any
Napa Valley winery. Unless the box was dropped from a decent height, there
would be no issues receiving your wine in one piece. The box itself also had a
place on each side where you can place your fingers in order to make lifting the box very
easy.
VISUAL APPEARANCE OF THE BOTTLES - I
don't know about you but I am a label person. Every wine review I do
has a paragraph on the label on the bottle. When I opened the box and
pulled out the first wine, I was immediately
impressed as the label seemed to have been well thought out and without
goofy, childish or silly art drawings on them. After I had the opportunity to check out all of
the six labels, it was clear to me that the winemakers of these wines
took their product seriously and had big time respect for not only their
customer base but the industry they were in as well. This was a good sign in
my book that the wines might be good. All labels were placed on the bottles straight and none of them were smeared, distorted or, looked as if they were designed as an after thought. Neck labels on the bottles were in
great condition and again were not tattered or discolored. As far as any
issues with corks protruding or appearing as if they were close to failing is concerned, I had none. All screw
caps were sealed properly and none of them were dented or stained.
In short, all
six wines I observed appeared to have been stored properly.
CUSTOMER SERVICE - Customer
service to me can make or break a company. In this area, Naked Wines has always been top notch. What good is a money back guarantee
if you either can't get hold of the customer service department or they either
fail to respond or if they do respond, give you a hassle either on returns or other issues you may
have.When it came to getting in contact with customer service
concerning a particular wine that I didn't like (there were a couple), they responded promptly. Naked Wines does offer a
money back guarantee on any wines that you do
not like and although rare, I have had the occasion to use that
guarantee a couple
of times mostly on Chardonnay as I am really hard on the varietal.
Having opened a bottle, I just did not like the wine. I
immediately emailed Naked Wines and informed them of my dislike of the
wine and
within a couple of hours I received a very friendly but apologetic email
back from them stating that my money was refunded and placed back on my account along with what appeared to be a sincere apology from the employee (company). There was also no questions asked and there was even a time when not only was I given my money back but a credit for a free bottle of wine as well. I have
also contacted customer service in order to get more questions answered
on a particular wine I was reviewing and they went out of their way to contact the actual
winemaker who did get back with me with the answers I needed.
IS IT A SCAM? - There have
been people who claim that they were signed up for monthly deductions
without their knowledge or permission. Folks...adult folks...if you pay attention and read any offer that you either receive in the mail or see online from Naked
Wines, you will very clearly see that you are indeed agreeing to have
money come out on a monthly basis. If you don't believe me, go to the Naked Wines website and click on "how it works". Then click on "become an Angel". A big box will drop down and in part say "By clicking "I agree," you agree to become a Naked Wines Angel and to be
charged $40 per month on your designated payment method, which you can
use for future wine purchases. Your membership will renew automatically
each month until you tell us to stop. ". You can also cancel at any time and yes, I have tested their cancellation policy once in the past to see the companies follow through and there were no issues. Those who feel they were misled
were clearly not paying attention to what was in writing right in front of them. In
my opinion Naked Wines is very transparent about what they do at all
times.
COMMUNICATION - Communicating with both the winemakers and other Naked Wine customers is an awesome ability that the Naked Wines website
features.
Yes folks, you can actually communicate with the actual
winemakers and guess what, they answer. Once you log on to the website and go to the page of the wine you either want to discuss or comment on, you can follow and send questions to specific winemakers as well as customers themselves who bought the wine. Here you can discuss thoughts on the wine and
even recommend other wines you might like since you both appear to have
the same palate on that particular varietal. There is even the ability to see the winemakers general comments
on the wine. I can tell you that from experience, I have contacted
winemakers of a particular wine with a question(s) and to my initial
surprise, they actually answered. As an example, let's say that you want
to find out more or about want to discuss the (delicious) 2021 Matt Parish,
Petaluma Gap, Chardonnay
(
https://us.nakedwines.com/products/matt-parish-petaluma-gap-chardonnay-2021).
You simply type in the wine name in the search engine and everything
including the ability to order it comes right up. The winemakers
actually seem more then happy to engage with customers even if one of
them complains about a particular wine they made. By the way, if you do
join the club, I very highly recommend you buy a bottle of that Chardonnay.
VOUCHERS - We have all received those vouchers in the mail from Naked Wines but are they real? Are you really getting $100 (or more) off? Yes folks, they are indeed real and yes, you really do get $100 off. Okay so check this out. The wines that I see on Naked Wines are not available anywhere else so to say up front that you are getting any amount of money off let alone $100 does take some thought. Naked Wines gives two different prices when you go to order wines. One price is the "market price" and the other is Angel (a member) price". Market price is the price that Naked Wines believes a comparable wine bought elsewhere would cost. Now as a consumer, it is up to us as individual wine drinkers to determine what a comparable wine would (or should) cost.
From a personal point of view, as a wine reviewer and therefore someone who has tasted a lot of wine, my opinion is that the market price is indeed an accurate assessment of what a comparable wine would cost if bought elsewhere. In conclusion here, yes, I do believe you are getting $100 off.
WHAT WOULD I CHANGE? - Being
someone who is deeply interested in wine here is one aspect of
Naked Wines that I think needs some changing. Many times (too many
times) I have had to send messages to the winemaker asking for more
specs on a particular wine. For whatever reason, Naked Wines winemakers do not
initially disclose where the grapes are from, the brix (sugar) level of the
wine nor do they offer up a "spec sheet". They don't disclose the percentages of a blend they might make nor any information concerning the oak they might use. I would
think that with wines selling for up to $70, the company would know that
part of their customer base is serious about the wines they enjoy and
wants to know this type of information. The most rounded and experienced
of the winemakers is Matt Parish and to his credit he has stepped up his game as far
as the information he provides on his wines goes. Anyway, as I said, the winemakers
to their credit do answer and provide the answers to all your questions.
HOW DOES IT WORK? - When you agree to become an Angel, you agree to have a minimum of $40 a month deducted from your account each month. You even get to pick the date the money comes out. The company says that your money goes into an account that they say they use in order
to help small winemakers produce their own wines. Basically in reality you are
giving them money to do whatever they want with. This money is always
yours and you can allow it to build up until you
either want to spend it or, you can use it right away. You place wines in your cart until you have at least
six bottles and then you have them delivered for either $10 or for free, that is it. From what I
have found out, all of these small winemakers have been in the wine
industry but where not making wines in big numbers, or were making them for very small
wineries.
Wines start as low as $10.99 as with the 2022 Kruger Family,
Unoaked Chardonnay all the way to $70 for the some of the wine that Mr.
Matt Parish makes as
his wines are out of this world and yes, I can attest to that as I have
reviewed not only his 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon -
Reserve (
https://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2023/02/2020-matt-parish-cabernet-sauvignon.html)
giving it 97 points but at least five other wines as well. As a side note, Matt has worked for such wineries as Beringer
and Stags’ Leap Winery and has been running wineries and been on their
boards for many years. Aside from varying prices, there are also many
different varietals available and from different countries as well.
FINAL THOUGHTS - I want to start off here by telling you that I am in no way working with Naked Wines nor am I getting anything in return for this review other then satisfaction that you my readers get a great deal on wine(s). As a matter of fact, Naked Wines doesn't even know I am doing this review. Without any doubt, in my opinion, I think Naked Wines offers up tremendous value, great customer service, quality wines and, is truly interested in bringing the wine community together providing that wine community all of this at great prices.
The Desert Wine Guy
Alright guys, I need to close this extremely short review out by letting you know that a "reputable" wine magazine rated this wine at 87
points which on their scale means "very good". I think that I should let
you know that this magazine and I almost never agree as they rate what I
consider to be bad wines high and what I consider to be good wines,
low. I will tell you straight out that I do not consider this wine to be
a good wine. As I thought in the beginning, this is simply a bulk wine
repackaged into a smaller bottle and nothing more. Dominated by oak and vanilla,
this wine is missing anything compelling, anything exciting or in short,
anything worthy of a decent score. On The Desert Wine Guy rating scale, I
am giving this wine 84 points. While it is barely drinkable, there is
nothing positive about it that I can pick out and nothing that would
have me buying it if I happened to come across it in the future. 
