Gold Series Wine Club by Gold Medal Wine Club Review

Overview

Since 1992, Gold Medal Wine Club has been a leading independent wine club provider offering five different membership levels to fit any individual's tastes and budget. Their most affordable and most popular wine club is the Gold Series, which features red and white California wines that have been produced in limited quantities from some of the best family-owned and operated wineries in the state. Unlike some other wine clubs, Gold Medal Wine Club has a rigorous selection process and doesn't rely solely on the palate preferences of an in-house tasting panel when choosing their featured wines each month. Before a bottle can even be considered, it typically has to have received multiple silver and/or gold medals at major wine competitions and a rating of at least 88/100 points from a national wine publication (ex. Wine & Spirits, Wine Enthusiast, Beverage Tasting Institute, Wine Spectator, and Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate). Gold Medal Wine Club will also take into consideration the wine's seasonality and consumer varietal preferences before making a decision. Occasionally, they will offer members a "Special Selection", which is a sneak peek at a wine that has yet to be released to the public or submitted for any awards. These wines are chosen based on their "legacy", i.e., previous vintages of the varietal have won awards and been highly rated.

As with all of Gold Medal Wine Club's memberships, the Gold Series has a highly flexible membership, and members are not required to pay dues or purchase a minimum number of shipments. You will choose between receiving shipments of 2 or 4 bottles of wine and whether you want them delivered on monthly, bimonthly or quarterly basis. In a standard membership, you will typically receive a red and a white varietal, but, occasionally, you could receive two red varietals. You can also opt to receive just 2/4 bottles of the white varietal or 2/4 bottles of the red varietal from that month. In addition to your wine, Gold Medal Wine Club also includes their fun and educational newsletter, The Wine Press, in each shipment. The Wine Press will provide background on the wineries and tasting details on the featured wines, as well as offer some other interesting pieces (detailed below). Gold Medal Wine Club is so proud of all their featured wine selections that they've archived every newsletter since 1992 on their website for the public to review. They also offer an easy online reordering system on their website for members to purchase more of their favorite bottles at a discount of up to 45% off winery-direct prices.

You can purchase a membership to the Gold Medal Wine Club's Gold Series Club starting at $35/month for 2 bottles (standard mix or white-only), or $63/month for 4 bottles (2 bottles of each varietal or 4 of the white varietal). If you'd prefer only to receive red wine, the membership is $37/month for 2-bottle shipments or $66.60/month for 4-bottle shipments. Please note that prices do not include taxes (where applicable) and shipping costs. Shipping will vary depending on the number of bottles and the destination zip code. For 2 bottles, shipping is $10.50 per delivery in California and varies from $11.50 - $13.00 per delivery in other states.

Product Report Card Grade

We give Gold Medal Wine Club’s Gold Series Wine Club an A- because we feel it not only features some of the best inexpensive wines but also offers awesome member benefits (ex. deep discounts on wine reorders, referral bonuses, etc). We also really like that Gold Medal has a strict selection process and publicly archives all their featured wines since 1992. We deducted a few points because we would have liked for them to offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee and include two different varietals in red-only and white-only shipments.