All of us get the email from our airline frequent flyer programs offering miles for buying a product from a partner company. Well I received one with an offer to join one of the wine clubs offered by Vinesse. They offer 6 different clubs, each with a different focus. When I read the offer and saw all those frequent flyer miles I began to think of how hard Stacy and I have worked all these years and boy could we use a treat. We are adults now and instead of ice cream as a treat we want wine! I did not step lightly into the wine club world, I dove headfirst and joined Vinesse’s most exclusive club, the Elevant Society. As the website describes it, this club offers:

The club featuring the most exclusive, highest quality wines, and you receive your choice of two or four bottles of pure bliss delivered to your door. The Elevant Society is a connoisseur’s service that provides super-premium wines from around the world, but with a slight leaning toward America’s best, and toward the reds rather than the whites. These wines may be cellared, but they are mature upon arrival, ready for immediate enjoyment. Such quality wines, of course, carry a higher price, and membership in the Elevant Society is not for everyone.

Stacy and I love big bold reds, and this is exactly what Elevant offered. We did exercise some restraint and only ordered the two bottle per month package. This package cost us $84.93 per month including shipping and we were glad to do it to get some “exclusive” red wines.

I waited expectantly for the first shipment to arrive. I couldn’t wait to see what the wine experts at Vinesse had selected for us. Finally, the bottles arrive and I open the box expectantly. I take a look at the two bottles and for some unknown reason think the wines don’t have an “exclusive” look about them. The two bottles were; 2003 X Winery Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005 Luna Benegas Mendoza, Argentina Cabernet Sauvignon. After a little googling I realize that I can buy these wines from online merchants for $15 and $10 respectively. Today, one year after this experience, the wines are still available for $22 and $10 respectively.

This discovery angered me right away. I had paid $84.93 for $25 worth of wine. This is a horrible deal in anyone’s book. I know I need to pay shipping in the club but $60 of shipping and handling is outrageous. I called and emailed Vinesse immediately and expressed my disappointment. I will say that Vinesse was very polite, responsive, and cooperative in our discussions. They did not have a satisfactory reason for why they send “average” quality wines for an “exclusive” quality wine club. They would not refund my money but offered to send replacement wines. I asked them to only send one bottle and that would be the end of our short lived relationship. They sent a bottle of 2002 Amicitia Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon which sells for $28 today.

After this experience, I realized I would be better off randomly buying two bottles a month for $85 at a local wine retailer. I would recommend you be skeptical of wine clubs in general but Vinesse wine club in particular.