Winc: Discover Your Wine Preference

Riesling

Discovering which types of wines you find most enjoyable is an art. Everyone has their own style and preference. It’s not something you know right off the bat. It’s something you discover over time. Let’s be honest – that discovery process is the fun part. Plus, you’re constantly learning. Some people swear certain types of of wine gives them headaches (though CJ over at Judd’s Hill could probably give you a lesson on tannins). Others prefer only sweet or only dry. Everyone is different; there are so many different varieties of wine out there that it can be a total shot in the dark. That’s where Winc comes in.

What does Winc have to do with
learning about wine?

Formally known as ClubW, Winc helps you discover different types and flavors of wine. The way it works is that you start off with a simple 6 question quiz so they can get an idea of your palate.

Winc: Discover Your Wine Preference | Bottles & Banter

The quiz will ask you things like “how do you like your coffee?” and “how adventurous are you when it comes to food & drink?”. After you finish up the quiz, you’ll see a list of recommendations suited to your personal flavor profile.

Winc: Discover Your Wine Preference | Bottles & Banter

You can choose to buy Winc’s recommended wines or you can ditch them in lieu of bottles you find more compatible with your tastes. It’s really up to you how to proceed. It’s all about discovering new flavors and brands, so if you’re not really sure what you like, the recommended wines are a good plan. We went with a mixture. We chose some of the recommended and after reading the descriptions of all available wines, we swapped a couple out.

Pick your favorites, place your order, and wait for it to show up. After you’ve polished them off, you can rate your wines so the recommendations learn from your preferences and keep getting better over time. And that’s Winc in a nutshell. We’ve already mentioned who can really benefit from Winc, and that’s people who are really interested in discovering new types, brands, and flavors of wine. But it’s also great for a few other reasons.

Personalized Wine Experience

From my experience with subscription boxes, one of the biggest downfalls is that you don’t always have a say in what you’re going to get. Luckily with Winc, you don’t have this problem. If you know you only like reds or you don’t like rosé, you have the ability to say no. No one wants to pay for a box of four wines and you really only want to drink two of them. Personalization is the key to discovering new wines that you will actually want to drink again and again. This is why we love the different features of Winc like the palate quiz and personalized recommendations.

Winc: Discover Your Wine Preference | Bottles & Banter

Flexible Member Features

With Winc there is no one-size-fits-all product that you get with a lot of companies. If you want to skip a month for any reason, you have the quick and easy option to do so. If you want to cancel your monthly subscription, you can cancel at any time.They also offer a satisfaction guarantee so you never have to pay for a bottle you don’t like. Can’t beat that.

Recipe Pairings

Ok, this is one of my favorite things about Winc. With every bottle of wine, you’ll also receive a fun new recipe that pairs perfectly with your bottle. I love trying different combinations of food and wine, so the recipe cards make it really simple to plan dinner. We did a mix of creating our own recipes to pair with the wine and using some of the pre-assembled recipes. You can’t go wrong either way. With one of our reds, we created a mushroom stuffed potato cake and, I may be biased, but it was so delicious along with the wine.

Winc: Discover Your Wine Preference | Bottles & Banter

And just in case you’re looking for some recommendations, here are the wines we tried and what we thought of each.

NV Déclassé Red Wine

Described as containing notes of cherry, forest floor, and herbs, I would say that’s a pretty accurate description. This wasn’t our favorite of the bunch because it’s a bit on the bitter side. That’s not to say we like our wine so sweet we are practically drinking a port, but this is geared more toward bitter earthy tones. For those that like this kind of taste, this wine is right up your alley.

2015 Chop Shop Cabernet Sauvignon

This was probably our favorite wine of the bunch. We absolutely love Chop Shop. It’s a dry red wine with great flavor. The strong, but not overly bitter taste makes it very drinkable. And it has a nice body to it. One of the benefits of this wine is its versatility. This wine is perfect to pair with dinner or it’s flavorful enough on it’s own. You could bring it to a party and it would be a hit. For those that love cabernet, I recommend giving this one a shot. Even those looking to experiment, this is a good one to get your toes wet.

2014 Alchymist Noir Red Blend

We are major noir fans, so this is the one I was most excited to try. And it did not disappoint. If you’ve had noir before, this will not be your typical variety. It’s a blend and it has an almost flowery component to it. The flavor is powerful, but in a good way. It’s strong without being too bitter or too sweet. The flavor was surprising and not what you would expect. It’s get a thumbs up from us for it’s unique quality.

2015 Wilhelmina Riesling

Typically, our go to wine is red, so we don’t drink a lot of white wine. However, when we do have a white wine, our preference is usually Riesling. And we felt we would be doing ourselves a disservice if we didn’t get at least one white wine in our Winc box. I have to say, we made the right decision. This Wilhelmina Riesling has excellent flavor. It’s light and crisp, with such a subtle sweetness to it. Often you will encounter a wine that is overly sweet or almost too crisp. This one was somewhere in the middle. The wine is drinkable for just about every occasion. If you’re a white wine lover, add this one to your list.

Winc: Discover Your Wine Preference | Bottles & Banter

We’re excited for you all to try Winc for yourself. And to get you started they are offered a super nice discount for your order. Use this link or the code “bottlesandbanter” to receive $22 off your first month of wine. The offer lasts until August 26, 2017. Let us know how you like it!

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